TNA Talent Not Concerned By Joe Hendry Losing In 3 Minutes To Randy Orton At WWE WrestleMania 41

Joe Hendry received a huge reaction inside Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, April 20 as he was revealed to be Randy Orton's surprise opponent in his open challenge.

Hendry's match with Orton was an even contest, although the match came to an end after three minutes when Hendry did his trademark spin straight into an RKO from Orton. Post-match, Orton raised Hendry's arm to the crowd before hitting him with a second RKO. Orton then mocked Hendry by doing the spin into the 14-time world champion's trademark pose and gave Hendry a pat before celebrating with the crowd.

The match has received some criticism, with complaints about the match being a glorified squash emerging since WrestleMania. This criticism doesn't appear to exist within TNA Wrestling, however.

Fightful Select has reported that they asked a number of TNA talent and staff about the length and layout of Hendry's WrestleMania match and "they didn't take as much of an issue with it as the general online response." Instead, people within TNA felt the match provided more exposure for TNA.

Hendry himself also disagrees that his loss was a glorified squash, telling Busted Open Radio:

"I disagree. The offence was back and forth, whereas a squash, to me, it could have been 'ding, ding, RKO,' there you go. For me, what I was thinking about, my different title reigns are defined by different things. When Josh Alexander was TNA World Champion, it was classic match after classic match. My job as TNA Champion and what defines this reign is business and getting as many eyeballs on TNA Wrestling as possible.

"You know who else lost quickly at WrestleMania in a similar fashion? John Cena. All of a sudden, I'm going to say I'm too good to do that? To me, that's exactly how it should have gone. Do you know what CM Punk told me? We had a great conversation after, CM Punk told me, 'That's exactly how it should've gone.' If it had gone longer, I think it would have worked out worse for me. There is no shame in taking a RKO and losing to a legend like Randy Orton."

While Hendry ended up facing Orton at WrestleMania, a popular former WWE Champion was also initially considered to be Orton's opponent.

H/T Fightful

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