Mark Henry was recently interviewed by TMZ Sports. Henry was asked about the recent news that both John Cena and Daniel Bryan are refusing to work the Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia. Below are some of the quotes (via Wrestling INC).
Henry on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and if WWE made the right decision to move forward with the show:
“I think it was a horrible situation that it puts our whole country in, first off. But that’s policy. That’s up for the country to decide and that’s up for the company to decide. It shouldn’t have any bearing on talent. Your political views should be your political views. I believe in business, being non-partisan. Doing your job and then letting the companies be the ones to work out all of those international particulars. So basically, I’m not saying shut up & dribble, like some people would, like somebody told me on social media – ‘That’s what you’re saying, shut up and dribble!’ No, I’m anti-that. What I’m saying is, we do our jobs until we know different and we don’t know different yet.”
Henry on John Cena and Daniel Bryan not working Crown Jewel:
“I would never say that person is making the wrong decision. I would say that’s not the decision I would make. I would stand by my guns and do what’s best for business. I’m a firm believer in not leaving people out to dry, and I’ve done a lot of things in my career and in my life, my personal life, where I could say I’m not doing that. But there were people hanging in the balance and I didn’t want to screw those people over. So that’s the situation that this is in, our fans, they want to see you. You know, give our fans what they want.”
On people who don’t want WWE to do the show:
“That person that lost his life, that family is without a brother, without a dad, without a son. They’ve lost somebody. Any time there’s loss, it’s more serious and we’ve been… it’s not a war situation, he was a journalist. And I do believe that all of the ducks need to be in a row. They need to figure this out, they need to own it and apologize for it, and to make good by it, and do everything you can to fix the situation. But again, it’s government policy. The government has not said, this is what you don’t do, you don’t go over there. They haven’t done that, they haven’t done that to any corporations. WWE is just one business. There are hundreds of thousands of business that are doing business internationally, why pick on one?
I hope that everybody that listens to TMZ, will understand that, you have an opinion and so does everybody else. Don’t be a bully. Try to look at something from both sides before you draw that line in the sand and say I wouldn’t do it. It’s un-American. It’s not un-American to go and do your job, and when you’re expected to go and do your job.”