Former WWE Champion Mark Henry spoke on one of the only storylines he ever rejected, due to its racial undertones.
When Henry was recently a guest on The illumi-NERDI WRESTLING ORDER, he was asked if there was ever a story angle that he refused to do, or was ended for an unforeseen reason. This is what the WWE Hall of Famer had to say:
“The whole Silverback thing. I refused to continue to do that because I just thought it was kind of demeaning and being an African-American male and the history of people calling black people primates and monkeys and stuff, I said ‘I’m not going to be a part of that,’ and I said ‘I don’t like it and I want it to change.’ And Vince said, ‘you know what, we’re not going to do that if it makes you feel that way.’”
WWE Has A History Of Offensive Storylines And Wrestler Personalities
A lot of people talk negatively about WWE and how they handle sensitive and offensive topics. They had a wrestler pretend he was mentally challenged, had women wrestle in their underwear and be highly sexualized, they’ve had a wrestler who was a pimp and would be accompanied to the ring by his sex workers. Vince McMahon takes the blame for all these issues and he should because he has final say. However, it is really nice to hear that he listened to Henry and killed that idea.
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Progress Is Slowly Being Made
WWE needs to move away from ideas like that and it has in recent years for the most part. They have made their mistakes and a lot of stuff does fall through the cracks. I’d like to think that once Vince retires, and by retires I mean dies, because I don’t think he will ever retire, Triple H will hopefully take over one day. Triple H is much younger and has young children. They can tell him “you can’t call people that anymore” and a lot fewer things will slip through the cracks. WWE has already made a lot of progress when it comes to the Women’s division.
Mark Henry and The Greatest Love Story Of Our Time
Mark Henry is not hard on creative ideas or someone who rejects a lot of ideas it would seem. My favorite Henry storyline and I doubt I’m in the minority here was when he was Sexual Chocolate. Henry was very interested in some of the female wrestlers at the time. After trying and failing to woo Chyna (woo in the courting sense not the Ric Flair way) Mark Henry found love. Her name was Mae Young. He was 29 and she was a spry 77, but what they had was love that still brings a tear to my eye. They conceived a child, but unfortunately when Young went into labor she only gave birth to an adult-sized hand.
Mark Henry has had some wacky storylines, but he put his foot down when he saw something was offensive. Kudos to Henry for being able to stand up to Vince and calling something out when it was offensive. A lot of people would have been way too scared to do that to Vince.
What was your favorite storyline Mark Henry was involved in? Leave your answer below in the comments and on social media. Make sure to visit and bookmark our Wrestling section for all the latest bone-crushing news inside and out of the ring. Don’t forget to subscribe to The illumi-NERDI WRESTLING ORDER so you don’t miss an episode.
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