Elijah Burke At SmackDown (Photo), Mark Henry On Why He's Coming Out Of Retirement, WWE - Cricket
- As noted, 2018 WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry has been confirmed for the 50-man Greatest Royal Rumble match on Friday in Saudi Arabia. Above is new video of Henry discussing the ring return while hosting a WWE Community event with Mojo Rawley in Jeddah this week.
The World's Strongest Man told a group of kids that he was coming out of retirement for the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Henry said, "I've been retired now for 10 months and I'm only coming out of retirement this one time for you."
- WWE just announced the following on their 2018 Business Partner Summit that was held during WrestleMania 34 Week in New Orleans:
2018 Business Partner Summit
During WrestleMania Week, WWE's executive team discussed the company's record-breaking year and its 2018 strategic plans at the annual Business Partner Summit. This year's Business Partner Summit was hosted by Renee Young and Byron Saxton and included appearances by WWE Superstars John Cena, Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair, Elias, The New Day, Bayley and Bobby Roode.
Highlights from the Summit, found in the video seen here, include:
* WWE's Business Strategy: Record-Breaking 2017 Results and Road Map for 2018 (Michelle Wilson and George Barrios)
* WWE Brand: 2017 Successes (Stephanie McMahon)
* Sales and International (John Brody)
* Digital and Social Media (Jayar Donlan)
* Talent Recruitment and Global Localization (Paul "Triple H" Levesque)
* WWE's Business Partner of the Year Award presented to Cricket Wireless (John Cena and Charlotte Flair)
- Former WWE Superstar Elijah Burke was backstage for Tuesday's SmackDown in Louisville, Kentucky. We noted before how boxing legend Evander Holyfield was also backstage and it appears the two are friends or business partners. No word yet on if Burke was just visiting or if he's looking to make a return. We last saw him working for Impact as an announcer and a part-time wrestler in 2017, using the name "Da Pope" D'Angelo Dinero. Burke announced his TNA/Impact/GFW departure in mid-August of that year. He last worked for WWE in 2008.
Below is a photo of Burke backstage with Kofi Kingston last night:
Great seeing my friend and former travel partner @TrueKofi at Smackdown Live, but I gotta ask," Why the surprised look?" ~PHS #WWE #SmackDownLive #RealDealPope #TheRealDealBoxing pic.twitter.com/CLCFVPFGMB
? Elijah Burke (@DaBlackPope) April 25, 2018