Jerry Lawler has hinted that members of the WWE office weren't pleased with Mark Henry's pleading with Owen Hart's widow to let the company induct the deceased star into the Hall of Fame. The Canadian was the victim of an unfortunate accident that saw him lose his life whilst on the job back in 1999, and his wife, Martha Hart, has never forgiven the WWE for it.
Martha blames the company for her husband's death and as a result, has refused to allow him to be posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Henry, who was a close and personal friend of Owen's, was one of the most recent inductees. Towards the end of his speech during this year's ceremony, he made a direct plea to Martha, asking her to allow her late husband to be included amongst the business's honored greats.
Henry made sure to toss in a disclaimer, expressly stating that what he was about to say was not in any way influenced by the company or other wrestlers, before he made his request.
“This is not from other wrestlers,” a tearful Henry said. “This is from his other brother.”
“He needs to be here. And I hate that I haven’t kept up like I should have. I’d love to be able to look down one day and see Oje [the late wrestler's son] able to be among us. It’s his birthright.”
Henry's statement was well received by an applauding audience. Yet according to Lawler, the former wrestler's plea may have been frowned upon by the back office, with the commentator seemingly suggesting that the business heads weren't too happy with that part of Henry's speech.
Speaking to Glenn Moore in a Dinner With the King podcast, Lawler said that while Henry did mean well, he chose the wrong place and should have probably made a phone call instead. The King also insisted that the WWE does want Hart to be inducted and that Henry's plea has possibly made things worse. "I don't think it helped," Lawler said. And when asked if people were upset, he refused to shed light. "I'm not gonna say," was his response, which does hint that persons were indeed unhappy.
Of course, Henry being a personal friend does leave him feeling like he should push for Hart's inclusion, yet the heads of the WWE could be feeling that they've been put on the spot despite the plea being directed at Martha and not at the company.