Cody Rhodes drops a major reference about recently-departed AEW star ahead of WWE Clash at the Castle 2024
AEW suffered one of its biggest departures in early 2022 when Cody Rhodes left the company. The former EVP is now the Undisputed WWE Champion and at the very top of the roster. AEW recently lost another big name, and Rhodes just referenced this person in front of a wild crowd.
Mark Henry became a pro wrestling legend over the course of his 25-year WWE career. The World's Strongest Man was an Olympic weightlifter, plus an accomplished powerlifter and strongman, and is now a WWE Hall of Famer. He joined AEW as a commentator and coach in May 2021 but left last month when his contract expired. The one-time World Heavyweight Champion had many memorable storylines in WWE, but one of the more widely-praised angles came during RAW on June 17, 2013.
While injured, the Texan had been teasing retirement until interrupting then-WWE Champion John Cena on RAW. Henry gave an emotional retirement speech that was revealed to be a ruse when he laid Cena out with a World's Strongest Slam. The performance received high marks from fans and wrestlers alike but unfortunately led to Henry coming up short against The Face That Runs The Place at Money In the Bank 2013. The 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic winner officially retired in April 2018.
The American Nightmare is set to defend his WWE Championship against AJ Styles on Saturday, in an "I Quit" match at Clash at the Castle: Scotland. After losing to Rhodes at Backlash France in May, The Phenomenal One ended up pulling a retirement ruse on SmackDown, which was similar to Henry's infamous promo right down to the suit, and compared by many to the Henry segment.
The ruse led to AJ receiving another title shot on Saturday. Speaking at today's Clash at the Castle Kickoff event in Glasgow, Rhodes referenced his former AEW colleague. Michael Cole mentioned how Styles tried to pull a retirement ruse to force Cody's hand for a second title shot, and how many people say Rhodes was suckered into the match. The second-generation star quickly replied.
"Was I suckered into this, or did I get Mark Henry'd into this?," Cody Rhodes asked. [From 23:43 to 23:57]
The WWE Universe crowd outside of the OVO Hydro in Glasgow immediately responded to the former AEW TNT Champion with spirited laughter. Henry has been a topic of discussion on social media ever since, but as of this writing he has not publicly acknowledged the mention.
Former AEW coach Mark Henry recalls controversial WWE storyline
The WWE Attitude Era is generally considered to be one of the hottest periods in the history of the company. However, many storylines and moments from the era are widely seen as some of the worst as well.
After a strong run with The Nation of Domination, Mark Henry was re-packaged as Sexual Chocolate. The Olympic competitor was characterized as a ladies' man and admitted sex addict, and he was paired with Mae Young for a romantic storyline. The program included an angle where Viscera splashed the then-76-year-old Young while she was allegedly pregnant with Henry's child.
This led to the WWE Hall of Famer giving birth during a February 2000 RAW episode, but what came out was a Caucasian rubber hand. Speaking to The Undertaker on his Six Feet Under podcast, The World's Strongest Man recalled what Vince McMahon told him about the segment, which differs from past comments. Taker asked if the former AEW coach had seen "The Hand" lately.
"[Mae] was special, man, and that whole Sexual Chocolate thing was fun as hell. They paid me, and I'm glad they paid me to do it, but man, I would've done that s**t for free. It was so much fun, every week it was something funny. I had to ask Vince. I said, 'Vince, what's the deal with the hand? Like, why would they pull a hand out?' He said, 'Because I'm giving you a hand.' I said, 'A what?' He said, 'Mark, I'm giving you a hand [claps slowly],' and I went, 'You messed up, man, you alright?' [laughs] Like, Vince is something else, man," Mark Henry said.
Henry and Taker joked about how this was bad or great TV, depending on the way you look at it, and then agreed that it was so bad that it was great. The former ECW World Champion went on to recall what really happened during a controversial hotel room segment with Young. Taker and the former AEW commentator also praised Mae for her work.