Joe Hendry Tried To Make Match Against John Cena Happen, Didn’t Want To Push Boundaries & ‘Go Into Business’ For Himself

A candid response from Hendry about why the match with Cena did not happen.

During the early portion of John Cena’s retirement run, then-TNA World Champion Joe Hendry stated that he wanted to have a match with Cena before the 17-time WWE World Champion put a bow on his in-ring career.

That match did not come to fruition, but Hendry tried to make it happen, and he shared that while on Busted Open After Dark. Hendry stated that he did not want to push too hard because of boundaries and not wanting to make Cena’s retirement run about him by constantly bringing up the idea of a match between them.

“I tried. I tried (to make the match with John Cena happen) … So, this is interesting. It’s a tough game to play — that one — because there is you have to be bold but within the — there are guidelines that you must respect. What you don’t want to do in this business is to go into business for yourself, and so anything that I did to try and get that — for example, you remember when I did the billboard? So I put my face up on the billboard next to a WWE show when they were in Glasgow. That, to me, was something that was fun that didn’t interfere with business. I felt I gave everything that I could that was respectful. I didn’t wanna make it about me, because it’s John Cena’s retirement tour and I was very honored to be a part of that last show. I can’t tell you how much it meant for me to be one of the roster members to walk down to be there in John’s last moments in the ring. To have a moment to talk to him and I came back through the curtain. The advice that he gave me at Royal Rumble and then to tell me that he felt I took that advice at WrestleMania and executed it well, and then to be in the locker room when he made his final speech to the locker room, I was so proud and grateful to be a part of those moments. I’m a great believer that things are supposed to work out the way that they work out and I’ll be completely honest with you, I said if I get that match, it’s on me. If I don’t get that match, it’s on me. Perhaps I didn’t take myself to where I needed to get to to guarantee that match, to secure it. But maybe, that’s what made me regroup and go, you know what? We’re going back to basics. I’m going training every day, and the amount that I’ve advanced in a six-month period, I’m so excited for the fans to continue to see this. I just continue to get better and maybe if I’d just got the John Cena match, maybe that ego would have came back and it’s like, well, everything I manifest comes true. Maybe I needed to not get the John Cena match to get what’s gonna come next.”

Hendry was part of Saturday Night’s Main Event in December, which was centered around Cena’s final match. He had a segment with R-Truth and The Miz.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit Busted Open After Dark with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.