{"id":154367,"date":"2026-03-05T07:00:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T12:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=154367"},"modified":"2026-03-04T21:50:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T02:50:39","slug":"did-ricky-saints-absolute-experience-get-in-the-head-of-nxt-champion-joe-hendry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/03\/05\/did-ricky-saints-absolute-experience-get-in-the-head-of-nxt-champion-joe-hendry\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Ricky Saints’ “Absolute Experience” Get in the Head of NXT Champion Joe Hendry?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On March 7,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>2026,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>at Vengeance Day<\/a>, Ricky Saints will be the next challenger to face Joe\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Hendry for the NXT Championship.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>However,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>the March<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>3 NXT saw some interesting pre-match festivities. <\/span><\/p>\n

Saints came out with a guitar and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>started si<\/span>nging<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>calling his performance the \u201cAbsolute Experience<\/a>\u201d and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>clearly mocking Hendry. After complaining about the microphone and guitar, he had the latter swappe<\/span>d, b<\/span>ut\u00a0<\/span><\/span>a hand<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>couldn\u2019t<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>let it go<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Saints<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>stood up, revealing Hendry<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>sma<\/span>sh<\/span>ing<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the guitar over his back. <\/span><\/p>\n

After a back and forth of punches, the Vanity Project arrived to\u00a0<\/span><\/span>beat up<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Hendry<\/span>, who isn\u2019t a fan<\/span>\u00a0of his<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>NXT North American Champion\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Myles Borne<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>helped him<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>by clearing\u00a0<\/span><\/span>the ring of Saints and the Vanity Project.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>They raised their titles in the air as the show closed.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>It seemed the mockery<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>didn\u2019t<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>rattle Hendry. But could it change his approach for Saturday\u2019s match?<\/span><\/p>\n

Hendry Embraces the Memes and the Mockery<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Everyone knows Hendry\u2019s disposition and how he conducts himself. Most of the time, he\u2019s the happy, fun-loving guy who loves to play guitar and sing. However, there are times when he needs to be serious. It may seem like he would get mad about Saints\u2019 performance, but this time isn\u2019t one of them. He knows how close Saints got to winning the NXT Championship last month<\/a>. After all, he held it last year for a 70-day reign. <\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019ll do anything to get it back, even mocking the current champion. The performance wasn’t an attack on how he likes to do business in NXT. It\u2019s an attack that will hopefully get into his head so that he loses. He knows Saints are only doing this as a defense mechanism. It isn\u2019t personal, so he won\u2019t be taking any more offense as he heads into Saturday\u2019s match.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His Paranoia Could Cost Him the Championship<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Saints went into Tuesday night with one goal in mind. He wanted to anger Hendry so he could do something dumb. In this case, he smashed S<\/span>aints\u2019 guitar onto his back and ignited a brawl.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The only person who came to his aid was Borne. Meanwhile, the Vanity Project came to Saints\u2019 rescue. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>hey each have close associations with Saints and Hendry<\/span>, and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>they\u2019ll<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>do anything to defend their friend<\/span>. If they all somehow interfere on Saturday,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>it\u2019ll<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>be a three-on-one helper advantage for <\/span><\/span>Saints. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Not only did he mock Hendry, but he also has three\u00a0<\/span><\/span>guys willing to defend him as opposed to one. Hendry definitely realized how dangerous Saints is<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>in a brawl. Vanity Project interference could spell disaster for him. Reacting to Saints\u2019 performance could be the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>key\u00a0<\/span><\/span>indication<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>that he will lose his NXT championship at Vengeance Day.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

How Will He Prepare for Saturday?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Hendry will have a tough mountain to climb if he wants to retain his NXT Championship. He has two choices he will have to decide between. He can shake off Saints\u2019 performance, chalk it up to it not being a personal attack, and plan accordingly in order not to risk a loss due to potential Vanity Project interference.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"WWE
Photo Credit: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But he can also interpret the performance as a mockery, allowing it and the interference by the Vanity Project enter his head, knowing that Borne is his only friend<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

One scenario leads\u00a0to him\u00a0retaining\u00a0his championship, while the other leads to Saints getting another reign. Keeping his emotions in check and not letting paranoia in his head will be the key to victory.\u00a0That should be easy, given his\u00a0generally friendly\u00a0disposition.\u00a0But with Saints super close to another reign,\u00a0it\u2019ll\u00a0be easier said than done.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On March 7,\u00a02026,\u00a0at Vengeance Day, Ricky Saints will be the next challenger to face Joe\u00a0Hendry for the NXT Championship.\u00a0However,\u00a0the March\u00a03 NXT saw some interesting pre-match festivities. Saints came out with a guitar and\u00a0started singing,\u00a0calling his performance the \u201cAbsolute Experience\u201d and\u00a0clearly mocking Hendry. After complaining about the microphone and guitar, he had the latter swapped, but\u00a0a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5338,"featured_media":149367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,3],"tags":[246,9185],"class_list":["post-154367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wwe","category-nxt","category-wwe-universe","tag-joe-hendry","tag-ricky-saints"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154367"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154388,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154367\/revisions\/154388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}