WWE Hall of Famer, Mark Henry recently shared a story about losing his cool on Vince McMahon over an idea creative threw at him. Finding the name racially insensitive, he was not impressed and wasn't about to let it slide.
The World's Strongest Man and former WWE Superstar, Henry told Vlad TV during an interview that he was incensed when he found out what WWE creative had been tossing around as an idea for his character back when he was part of WWE. The moment he heard their idea, he said he went storming for Vince's office.
Apparently, the writers wanted Henry to start calling himself "Silverback". The term is often associated with a state of mind where a person loses all human inhibitions and becomes a silverback gorilla. Henry said, "You will not refer to this black man as a 'Silverback' - I am not a primate".
Whether McMahon knew about the idea or not beforehand is unclear, but Henry's stance on the idea was heard loud and clear. Vince understood that Henry might have been frustrated for good reason and it wasn't wise to call his star a gorilla on TV. He gave Henry his blessing to tell creative it was no-go.
Henry Is Still Dealing With Connections to Race
While this story was just one example of a time Henry felt he was dealing with his race in relation to wrestling, he's recently been in the news as he's got a beef with recently released star Lio Rush.
Rush and Henry have had issues dating back to the time Rush complained about his financial situation and being asked to do "rookie" hazing traditions in WWE but refused, calling into question he was being asked because of his skin color. Henry suggested Rish was trying to get out of traditions every wrestler has gone through and should have saved his money more wisely. Their feud has continued to this day, most recently because Rush accused Henry of holding down people of color when he wouldn't help promote Lio Rush's new album.
Henry threatened to sue Rush saying Rush could do a lot of things to get under his skin, but "You can't bring into question my blackness."