Lil Rush was let go by the WWE when they slash the roster because of the Coronavirus. Rush had been previously suspended by the WWE and Mark Henry spoke on how he was trying to stop Rush from making the same mistakes he made as a young wrestler, but Rush didn’t listen and lied to his face.
That interview was over a year ago, but Rush decided to bring it back up and his disappointment with Henry. He took aim at Henry in a series of Tweets, including the very serious accusations that Henry is the reason black wrestlers don’t get pushed in the WWE. Henry took the high road and invited Rush to speak on his podcast, but Rush says he couldn’t get through.
https://twitter.com/itsLioRush/status/1260925840113774592
https://twitter.com/itsLioRush/status/1261026628215418885?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1261026628215418885&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ringsidenews.com%2F2020%2F05%2F14%2Flio-rush-says-mark-henry-tears-down-african-american-wwe-superstars%2F
I spoke exclusively to Henry and here are a few quotes from our conversations.
“I think he is delusional”
That is how the conversation started but what Henry wanted people to know how he has helped black wrestlers throughout his career, the HEAT that was on Lio and how he saved him once for being fired by WWE.
“I have worked with WWE talent development to help African-American wrestlers even before there was a WWE performance center. About 80% of those black wrestlers in the business have a six degree of separation from Mark Henry.”
“Lio had personal HEAT in the locker room where people wanted to punch him in the face and get him fired, not just other black talent, but multiple wrestlers. Lio needs to apologize to me and stop bringing my name up to try to sell albums.”
“Every young wrestler in the business goes through the ribbing (carry bags, getting food and etc) to become a good brother in the locker room no matter your race. When I was young in the business I felt the same way, I wasn’t carrying anyone bags, but that ostracized me from the locker room, wrestlers had to take me under their wing to help me understand the business, no liked me for my first 3 years in the WWE and I didn’t want that for Lio. That is what I was trying to teach Lio, it was out of love, so he didn’t make same mistakes as me. It is no different than a fraternity or football team. When you are an intern at a company they want you to be the first person there and last one to leave so you can gain their respect.”
“Lio can’t go around talking about people’s black card, when the reality is stuff didn’t go his way because he burned all his bridges and I feel bad for him.”
“I went to my lawyer and paid money of my pocket to set up a protocol for Lio after he was suspended by the WWE. They wanted to fire him back then but I talked them out of it. I really tried to mentor him, but it wasn’t even a week before he broke the protocol we set up for him. I can’t help you if you don’t want to help yourself. He didn’t even know I spent money to help him because I did it for the right reasons. I don’t regret going to the higher ups at WWE and helping him not get fired because that is what we are supposed to do for each other.”
“I haven’t given up on Lio yet.”
Strong words for the World’s strongest man. I understand that Lio is upset that he was let loose from the WWE, but Mark Henry has been doing good things in our community for over 20+ years and has a lot of respect not just in the wrestling community but just in general.
Hopefully, Lio will pick up the phone and they can work this privately.