Two-time world champion's John Cena tribute reportedly omitted from WWE RAW due to mention of AEW
Two-time WWE World Champion and current AEW personality Mark Henry's John Cena tribute video was reportedly omitted from RAW this week.
Cena celebrated his 20th anniversary in World Wrestling Entertainment on the June 27 episode of RAW. During the show, several WWE stars past and present sent video messages to Cena. Among the legends were current AEW stars Paul Wight, Bryan Danielson, and Chris Jericho.
As per the Wrestling Observer, Mark Henry was also contacted to send a video, but his got omitted before it could make it to television. The report states that Bruce Prichard got in touch with Tony Khan for the footage of Jericho, Wight, Bryan, and Henry. All four men have had a lengthy history with Cena during their time with WWE.
It was also stated that Tony Khan has a great deal of respect for the 16-time world champion and left the decision to the AEW Stars.
All four are said to have been more than happy to pay their respects after Senior Vice President Megha Parekh reached out. However, as the other stars made their way onto RAW, Mark Henry never made the cut. A potential reason suggested has been a supposed mention of AEW and "pro wrestling."
Mark Henry fought The Cenation Leader several times during his WWE tenure. Perhaps most notable of their clashes was their WWE Title clash at Money in the Bank 2013, which saw the former World's Strongest Man feign retirement to kickstart the feud.
AEW star Mark Henry recently talked about the importance behind WWE's branding of WrestleMania
The two-time world champion recently described the value of WWE's branding when it comes to their marquee WrestleMania event.
During an interaction with the Swerve City Podcast, Henry stated that pointing to the WrestleMania sign can be more important for a superstar than their careers. Henry also stated that WWE wants the WrestleMania sign to be a "prominent thing."
“Pointing at that WrestleMania sign is more important than your career. It’s more important than the main event and anybody that’s in it. Anybody that’s on the show. They can put anybody they want on the show. They want that [the WrestleMania sign] to be the prominent thing." [H/T Wrestling Inc.]
Mark Henry joined All Elite Wrestling in May last year after departing from WWE. He has been active as a commentator and backstage coach. It will be interesting to see whether Henry will appear in his former company in the near future.