Account
WWE's Mark Henry Wants to Avoid Lawsuit vs. Lio Rush After Defaming Allegations
May 17, 2020
WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry threatened recently released WWE Superstar Lio Rush with a lawsuit Saturday amid their ongoing war of words on Twitter.
In an interview with TMZ Sports, Henry said he was considering a lawsuit due to "slanderous" remarks made by Rush:
The issues between Henry and Rush date back to last year when Rush spoke to Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp about issues he was having in WWE, including not having enough money to pay for his rental cars and hotel rooms.
Henry addressed the situation on Busted Open Radio and claimed that Rush "lied to [his] face" when he pulled him aside and asked him if there were any issues. Henry also expressed his belief that Rush wasn't being financially responsible:
Just one year after that issue occurred, Rush brought it up in a tweet on Thursday. Rush also accused Henry of tearing down African American wrestlers:
🥀 Ever After OUT NOW! @itsLioRushWoke up remembering the time Mark Henry said I lied to him to his face & then continued to bury me on his podcast while telling me i need to learn how to spend my money better. Shit was crazy. Sorry man, i didn’t mean to have a wife and two kids on top of other responsibilities.
Rush also posted several other tweets regarding his issues with Henry, while The World's Strongest Man offered a simple response:
During the interview with TMZ Sports on Saturday, Henry expressed his belief that Rush went after him on Twitter as a means of drumming up interest in his album: "He knew that I get a lot of attention. I have a lot of followers and he released the album, or song, or something, and he wanted to use that to get some attention. Get some buzz."
Henry said that if Rush simply would have reached out to him he would have worked an angle with him and helped generate buzz that way rather than getting personal.
The 48-year-old veteran especially took issue with Rush's claims that he holds down black wrestlers. Henry pointed to the fact that he is responsible for getting many people of color hired by WWE: "If you go down to the performance center at NXT, probably 25 I think, people of color in the facility, probably about 80-plus percent of them I helped get them there. I mean, it's completely opposite."
Henry added: "And, you can't question my blackness. Like nobody can question my blackness, pull my black card. No, not allowed. Nobody."
Rush also took another shot at Henry on Sunday:
While Henry acknowledged that he doesn't necessarily want to sue Rush, he said Rush has to apologize to him in order to stop him from taking legal action.
The 25-year-old Rush is currently in limbo as far as his wrestling career is concerned, as the former NXT cruiserweight champion was released from his WWE contract last month as part of wide-ranging budget cuts due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).