Lio Rush Reacts To Mark Henry's Legal Threat

By Joshua Gagnon

Earlier today we wrote on the back and forth between Lio Rush and WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry over comments Henry made about Rush in 2019. Henry said he tried to navigate Rush during his time in WWE, but Rush apparently passed.

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"I pulled him aside the last time I saw him and told him, 'I'm hearing stuff in the locker room, what's wrong?' He said nothing's wrong, but it was a blatant lie to my face," Henry said in 2019. "I let him know that if he has a question, right now is the time to do that."

Earlier this week, Rush posted a video clip of Henry mentioning those comments again and didn't appreciate Henry talking about him still.

"Don't even know why I'm entertaining this," Rush wrote. "Keep my name in your mouth, if you please. You literally have nothing better to do then to continue to talk [s---] on a situation that happened over a year ago about a 25 year old who just lost his damn job. ... Sorry guys, but I've been holding my breathe for way too long. People like this need to get called out. It's sickening, it's disappointing and extremely discouraging. I love my fans and I pray that one day in the future the state of this kind of matter progresses. ... And this is why African American talent on the biggest platform will continue to not have equal opportunity because people like you constantly tear your own people down. A damn shame honestly."

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The latter part of that quote bothered Henry enough to tell TMZ Sports he's considering legal action for slander.

"The reason he came out with it now is because he knew I get a lot of attention and I have a lot of followers," Henry said of Rush bringing up his comments from last year. "He released an album ? or a song, or something ? and he wanted to use that to get some attention, get some buzz. Not mad at him, if he would have called me I would have done it anyways, we just would have worked it.

"But now, he said something slanderous, and you can't question my blackness. Nobody can pull my black card, no. Not allowed, nobody. If you go down to the Performance Center in NXT, probably 25, I think, people of color in the facility. Probably about 80-plus percent, I helped get them there. I mean, it's completely the opposite. ... For him to go there was absolutely was the worst possible thing he could have done. It's one of those things if I take legal action for slander, then I will, but I'm not sure yet."

This morning Rush reacted to Henry's video, which garnered another response from Henry, claiming to have partially saved Rush's spot with the company last year.

"Couldn't I just do the same for publicly de framing my name on national radio?" Rush asked. "@TheMarkHenry come on man, [you're] going out sad. You deserve to be remembered for the greatest heel turn ever, not for threatening to sue a 25 year old in the middle of a pandemic."

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"You probably mean (Defame), you have done that to yourself," Henry responded. "Just own it and move on. This is the last time we communicate, unless it's for a apology. And by the way, you're welcome for me asking the company not to fire you a year ago. Tell your fans!"

Rush responded with the following:

"That god damn auto correct," Rush wrote back. "Silly me. Listen MARK.... you went on your 'Worldwide' podcast with your 1.3 million followers and called me a liar DEFAMING my name. It's clear that your chasing clout [here]. You told on yourself in that TMZ video. This is sad. Real sad. BIG SAD.

"And by the way @TheMarkHenry, if you saved my job back then, THANKS. You were my first wrestling toy back in the day. Luckily it didn't talk. ... One more thing if you don't mind @TheMarkHenry, good for you for getting that 80% hired. I wasn't one of them though, so I owe you NOTHING. You weren't signing my checks, nor did I work for you. I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU. Stop being weird. I was taught not to talk to strangers."

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