{"id":158754,"date":"2026-04-16T07:00:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T11:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=158754"},"modified":"2026-04-16T04:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T08:45:13","slug":"why-keanu-carvers-beatdown-of-joe-hendry-was-a-perfect-nxt-sendoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/04\/16\/why-keanu-carvers-beatdown-of-joe-hendry-was-a-perfect-nxt-sendoff\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Keanu Carver’s Beatdown of Joe Hendry was a Perfect NXT Sendoff"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span>Joe Hendry\u2019s NXT journey began way before he\u00a0won the NXT Championship on the February 3,\u00a02026\u00a0episode of NXT.\u00a0In the summer of 2024,\u00a0NXT\u00a0began a working relationship with TNA Wrestling, with him\u00a0making several appearances\u00a0for the rest of the year. He then appeared at the\u00a0Royal Rumble and WrestleMania<\/a> last year\u00a0before\u00a0signing with\u00a0WWE in November.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But on the April 14 NXT, he had a concert after losing the NXT Championship at Stand & Deliver. He teased going to the main roster, but before any words about that could come out, Keanu Carver attacked him.\u00a0Even though he got hit with the guitar, Carver attacked security guards and speared Hendry through the barricade.\u00a0It seems now that Hendry\u00a0is headed to the main roster. If\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0the case,\u00a0this was\u00a0a great way\u00a0to send him there.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s Time for Hendry to Go to the Main Roster<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Every year around this time, NXT veterans say goodbye and head to Monday Night Raw and Friday\u00a0Night SmackDown. Some of those wrestlers only stayed for\u00a0a short time, as\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0been wrestling for several years. Others had long reigns with\u00a0championships, and\u00a0deserve\u00a0the call up. Hendry is in both categories.\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0been wrestling for over a\u00a0decade\u00a0and he just had a reign as NXT Champion<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With a new batch of talent getting spotlighted, the veterans move\u00a0up\u00a0so they\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0keep opportunities away from young wrestlers. It\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0be a challenge for him, as\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0had several appearances already on the main roster. In addition,\u00a0he\u2019ll\u00a0get to sing for hundreds of more people on the main roster, which will make his popularity grow even more.\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0more than\u00a0deserving of\u00a0a main roster call up, which will\u00a0probably happen\u00a0immediately.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Carver is Being Positioned as the Next Monster Heel<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

If\u00a0<\/span><\/span>there\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>one guy that WWE is really putting the spotlight on right now,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>it\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Carver. He made\u00a0<\/span><\/span>a huge impact<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>on WWE LFG and Evolve, and now\u00a0<\/span><\/span>he\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>bringing destruction to NXT. His rivalry with Booker T has been fun to watch, and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>he\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>already\u00a0<\/span><\/span>tried to get physical with him several times.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>He won against<\/a><\/span>\u00a0Jasper Troy before beating him and Josh Briggs in\u00a0<\/span><\/span>a\u00a0<\/span><\/span>triple threat match<\/span>, showing his athletic dominance in a huge way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now he potentially sent Hendry to the main ros<\/span>ter, which will get him more heat with the fans. But\u00a0<\/span><\/span>that\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>a good thing, as NXT now has a new monster heel that can wreck everyone in his path.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>It\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>only a matter of time before he\u00a0<\/span><\/span>challe<\/span>nges for<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the NXT Championship. If that happens, it\u00a0<\/span><\/span>wouldn\u2019t<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>be surprising if he\u00a0<\/span><\/span>wins<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>it on his first try.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Attack Works Out for Both Men<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

To some people, this might look like the typical heel on face attack<\/a>. Carver will get boos from the fans while Hendry will get sympathy from them. But this attack is much more than that. Since this is the time of year\u00a0where call ups happen, a new set of wrestlers make their presence known.\u00a0It\u2019s pretty clear that Hendry deserves a main roster call up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Instead of him simply going up after Stand & Deliver,\u00a0one final\u00a0concert\u00a0on night 1 of NXT Revenge was needed so he could move up properly. Unfortunately\u00a0for his many fans,\u00a0it\u00a0was ruined by Carver\u2019s attack. This positions him as NXT\u2019s newest monster heel, someone that delights in pushing people around and winning matches convincingly.\u00a0Hendry can now get called up to Raw or SmackDown while Carver can get a push that hopefully gets him a championship.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe Hendry\u2019s NXT journey began way before he\u00a0won the NXT Championship on the February 3,\u00a02026\u00a0episode of NXT.\u00a0In the summer of 2024,\u00a0NXT\u00a0began a working relationship with TNA Wrestling, with him\u00a0making several appearances\u00a0for the rest of the year. He then appeared at the\u00a0Royal Rumble and WrestleMania last year\u00a0before\u00a0signing with\u00a0WWE in November.\u00a0 But on the April 14 NXT, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5338,"featured_media":157623,"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":[2192,4,5,3],"tags":[246,9604],"class_list":["post-158754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-nxt","category-wwe-universe","tag-joe-hendry","tag-keanu-carver"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158754","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=158754"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158826,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158754\/revisions\/158826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}