On the latest episode of āDinner With The Kingā, Jerry Lawler confirmed Mark Henry confronted him backstage at the Royal Rumble over an apparent issue with Peter Rosenberg.
Lawler recently said on his podcast (transcription credit to Bill Pritchard for Wrestlezone.com)Ā that Henry had approached him the day of the Royal Rumble, and said the following about getting ācalled to the carpetā by The Worldās Strongest Man:
When I first got to the dressing room at the Royal Rumble, it was early in the day, about 1:30. I hate getting there early, but I did get there early. We started the pre-show at, 5? I think 5 oāclock. So, I got there and the first person I saw was Mark Henry. And all of the sudden Mark Henry has got this real serious look on his face, and he says āI think me and you are gonā have to fight.ā
I said āare you kidding?ā and fortunately he was sitting down when I walked up to him, so I sat down right across from him and I said āme and you are going to fight? About what?ā and he said [his] friend. I said āwho is your friend?ā and he said āPete. Pete Rosenberg.ā I said āwhat about Pete Rosenberg?ā and he says āI got him hereā and he said [Rosenberg] is a huge fan and his house is like a shrine to wrestling. Everything in his house is wrestling, his whole life is about wrestling. And he said, I guess he and Mark were close friends somehow, and I guess heās the guy that got Pete hired up there, or at least got his foot in the door. And [Henry] said āhe thinks you donāt like himā and I said no, I really donāt even know Pete. Iāve only seen him, Iāve never really even had a conversation with him, Iāve really only seen him on the air. I said I guess I was trying to throw a little conflict into the show, play a littleās āDevilās Advocateā or something, I guess I said something about his name. I mispronounced his name and I think he took exception to that. And [Henry] said āOh. Maybe itās just him being too sensitive.ā I said āyea! If he really thinks for real that I donāt like himā, because⦠I donāt have anything against Pete Rosenberg. Heās a fine guy. We donāt hang out together, I donāt know him that well. I guess I should say I donāt know him well enough to dislike him. So, that was interesting, and then to go onto the pre-show and to have Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens say they didnāt like him, I almost had to stick up for him there on the show.
To put it in context, Rosenberg, who appears on-air for WWE and is Henryās friend, recently had an issue with Kevin Owens over his knowledge (or lack thereof) regarding incoming WWE talent. As seen on the Royal Rumble kickoff show, Owens and Sami Zayn then refused to answer questions from Rosenberg, and Lawler had to step in. According to BodySlam.netās Brad Shepard, this was not scripted.
Check out the audio clip on the Dinner With The King YouTube channel below: