AEW's Mark Henry Opens Up On Falling Out With Jim Cornette After NWA Racism Controversy

Despite admitting Jim Cornette had a monumental impact on his wrestling career, AEW's Mark Henry is not on speaking terms with the controversial wrestling historian. Henry opened up about their issues in an appearance on "Wrestling with Rip Rogers," explaining why Cornette continues to hold a grudge. 

"Jim Cornette, like you know, got p***** at me because there was videos that surfaced of him saying the n-word, and I guess I didn't come to his aid enough for him," Henry started. 

Cornette resigned from his commentary position with the National Wrestling Alliance in 2019. This came after he incited controversy over a racially insensitive joke he made during an "NWA Powerrr" taping, which was deemed to perpetuate harmful stereotypes surrounding Black people, as well as jesting about sensitive issues in Africa. Amidst the controversy, Cornette refused to apologize – despite Mark Henry delivering his own ultimatum — as he claimed it was a "starvation joke" rather than a racist joke. However, videos emerged showing Cornette using racial slurs repeatedly, painting the Kentuckian in an entirely different light.

After Cornette's comments in 2019, Henry admitted to feeling a sense of mourning over the ordeal, owing to the impact he had on his career. However, he demanded that his mentor apologize and mean it. Otherwise, he should be open if he does share a racist stance toward Black people.

Mark Henry continued explaining why he felt he couldn't defend Cornette's words, especially being Black. 

"Listen, I defended him, but the one thing that I'm not ever going to make an apology for, being a Black dude, is it's okay to say s*** you shouldn't say," he said. Henry explained that late Black wrestler Robbie Dicks Jr. — better known by "Slick Robbie D" from his time in Ohio Valley Wrestling — had also coined the phrase, but he still doesn't think it was something that should have been said by either person. 

"The whole promo that he did anyway was some s*** that Robbie Dicks had said... Jim shouldn't have said that because you're repeating something that some Black dude said, but that's not saying that it's okay for Black people to say dumb s***." 

Jim Cornette oversaw OVW as head booker starting in 1999, during which time it served as WWE's developmental territory. Mark Henry had a spell in developmental despite coming to WWE's main roster in the '90s, and he credited his time working under Cornette for keeping him in wrestling, eventually spending 25 years with WWE before joining AEW in 2021. 

"I respect the s*** out of him. But I wasn't gonna dumb myself down and accept s*** or say something that wasn't true. I never said that Jim was a racist; I never said that," he said, concluding, "So you know, I felt like I got unnecessary heat. Man, I'd love to be able to talk to Jim Cornette again, but like, I've done all the apologizing I'mma do."