During a recent interview with The Dallas Morning News, AEW Superstar Mark Henry gave some high praise to Ethan Page and Ricky Starks. He also discussed working with Darby Allin and Will Hobbs, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On his decision to join AEW: “I feel like I have a lot left to give. I have a lot of understanding, a lot of knowledge, a lot of experience in different things and I was not doing enough of those things as a job. I had a lot of value and I had a lot of understanding, and I was not getting paid for those jobs and I wanted to do that. But if I couldn’t do it [with WWE], then I’d have to do it somewhere else. It just so happened that AEW needs a Mark Henry – somebody that wants to be an executive, wants to work behind the scenes and build the brand and have an imprint on the business.”
On what he’s been involved with already: “Darby Allin, a lot of stuff outside of wrestling. Will Hobbs, in wrestling. He had a match with [Adam] Page two weeks ago that was the best match he’s ever had. All of the big guys, I want them to concentrate and focus on being big guys. There’s a negative stigmatism to being big in wrestling – you’re not athletic, you can’t move, you can’t flip or fly. There’s a place for it if you’re the big guy, and it’s my job to teach them and give them the understanding. All of them know how, but my expertise is when and why?”
On working as a coach in AEW with Paul Wight and Dustin Rhodes: “It’s awesome. I never thought I was a teacher. I never thought I had those chops. My wife was a teacher by trade, and I didn’t think I had enough patience to be a teacher. I can’t teach math. I can’t teach English. I won’t be able to teach science. But wrestling is so much a part of the oxygen that I breathe that it’s very easy for me to do. If you are a pro wrestler, and you have a conversation with me, you’re going to come away from that conversation knowing more about yourself because I diagnose whatever your illness is, and then I give you the cure.”
On who catches his eye in AEW: “Man, Ethan Page. All ego. The dude is something else. Ricky Starks. I mean, Ricky, he’s been injured, he comes back one week and just murders the screen, just kills it. The Brian Cages of the world, the Darby Allins, the Britt Bakers – I didn’t even mention the [Young] Bucks or Kenny [Omega], the people that are fixtures on the show. You asked me about who struck me. And Ethan Page and Ricky Starks, they special.”
