John Cena put over current champion backstage after winning the Undisputed WWE Title

John Cena met with a current champion after winning the Undisputed WWE Championship. He put over this champ backstage.

Joe Hendry is one of the most popular stars on the TNA roster and the current TNA World Champion. Given his rising popularity, he has made many appearances for WWE, particularly NXT, over the past year. He also competed at WrestleMania 41 Night Two, where he was revealed to be Randy Orton's surprise opponent. Joe, however, lost the match.

During a recent interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, Joe Hendry recalled John Cena coming up to him after winning his 17th World Title and telling him he was great tonight.

"I was backstage, there's filming going on all the time — and I hope John doesn't mind me saying this because John has spoken publicly about conversations we've had — so I will do the same. Not everything, but respectfully. John came back from Gorilla and came right up to me, and there were multiple camera crews, and he basically said what he said on Pat McAfee. John said, 'You did exactly what I told you to do, and you were great tonight.' He gave me some advice."

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Hendry further stated what it meant to him for someone like Cena to publicly compliment him.

"For him to say on Pat McAfee's show that he thinks I'm going to be a major player — that was the biggest compliment. I really did take his advice to heart. It was very important to me to show John that respect because, in my opinion, John Cena is the greatest professional wrestler of all time," stated Hendry. [H/T WrestlingInc.]

Rikishi picks John Cena to win at WWE Backlash

After John Cena defeated Cody Rhodes to win the Undisputed WWE Championship on Night Two of 'Mania, he was attacked by Randy Orton on RAW following The Show of Shows. This kickstarted their rivalry, and now both men are scheduled to face each other at WWE Backlash.

Speaking on his Off The Top podcast, Rikishi picked Cena to win over Orton at Backlash.

"I gotta go with John Cena, 'cause we all didn't see that coming. We all definitely, for sure, we thought Cody Rhodes is the future. Cody Rhodes is the guy, he's a lot younger, he's healthy to run. (...) Right when we think they're going right, they went left. That's the beautiful thing about professional wrestling, so, to see him go up against Randy, man, that's going to be an iconic match," Rikishi said.

It will be interesting to see who will emerge victorious at WWE Backlash.

About the author

Sunil is a pro wrestling journalist, covering AEW and WWE news stories at Sportskeeda. He holds an MBA degree in Marketing, and has nearly 7 years of experience. A wrestling aficionado since childhood, Sunil used to imitate his favorite wrestlers as a young kid, and started writing professionally about the sport via Sportskeeda’s revenue-sharing opportunity.

Sunil admires former world champions AJ Styles, Will Ospreay, and Kenny Omega for their ability to consistently deliver great matches as well as entertain crowds with their mic skills.

If ever given a chance to change a storyline, Sunil would have booked Roman Reigns to end The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak instead of Brock Lesnar. According to him, The Tribal Chief needed the victory more than Brock Lesnar, as the latter was already an established performer when he defeated ‘Taker. He would’ve also made that as Taker’s final match.

Always focused on making his work accurate and reliable, Sunil thoroughly checks his facts before writing his articles. When not writing for pro wrestling, he spends his time watching cricket.

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Edited by Neda Ali