WWE’s November 2 Crown Jewel show has transcended the world of professional wrestling and is now a geopolitical talking point. As the controversial show continues to make headlines, it’s garnering no shortage of opinions from fans, media, and even US Senators.
And now, Mark Henry has something to say.
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In an interview with TMZ Sports, the WWE Hall of Famer discussed the highly polarizing show has both John Cena and Daniel Bryan refusing to make the trip to Saudi Arabia. To Henry, as employees of WWE, it most or less every Superstar’s duty to toe the company line. Per Henry, Cena and Bryan pulling out puts other people within WWE in tight spots.
“I wouldn’t never say that person is making the wrong decision,” Henry said. “I would say that’s not the decision I would make. I would stand by my guns and do what’s best for business. I’m a firm believer in not leaving people out to dry, and I’ve done a lot of things in my career and in my life, my personal life, where I could say I’m not doing that. But there were people hanging in the balance and I didn’t want to screw those people over. So that’s the situation that this is in, our fans, they want to see you. You know, give our fans what they want,” he said.
The controversy stems from the alleged murder of Washington Post Journalist, Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi officials. Khashoggi’s death is under investigation, but several companies have severed or frozen ties with the Saudi government. WWE has felt pressure to follow suit but doubled down on Crown Jewel. Henry thinks that’s the right call as all of the facts have yet to be nailed down.
“I think it was a horrible situation that it puts our whole country in, first off,” Henry said. “But that’s policy. That’s up for the country to decide and that’s up for the company to decide. It shouldn’t have any bearing on talent. Your political views should be your political views. I believe in business, being non-partisan. Doing your job and then letting the companies be the ones to work out all of those international particulars. So basically, I’m not saying shut up & dribble, like some people would, like somebody told me on social media – ‘That’s what you’re saying, shut up and dribble!’ No, I’m anti-that. What I’m saying is, we do our jobs until we know different and we don’t know different yet,” he said.
WWE has been the target of social media rants, nasty headlines, and comedy segments for their refusal to end their Saudi arrangements. To Henry, isolating WWE as the only “bad guy” isn’t exactly fair.
“My response is, it’s a horrible thing,” Henry said. “That person that lost his life, that family is without a brother, without a dad, without a son. They’ve lost somebody. Any time there’s loss, it’s more serious and we’ve been… it’s not a war situation, he was a journalist. And I do believe that all of the ducks need to be in a row. They need to figure this out, they need to own it and apologize for it, and to make good by it, and do everything you can to fix the situation. But again, it’s government policy. The government has not said, this is what you don’t do, you don’t go over there. They haven’t done that, they haven’t done that to any corporations. WWE is just one business. There are hundreds of thousands of business that are doing business internationally, why pick on one?”
Hate it or love it, Crown Jewel will live on the WWE Network at 12 noon ET.
