Mark Henry Told Jerry Lawler He Might Have To Fight Him Backstage At The Royal Rumble

WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler revealed on his podcast this week that Mark Henry confronted him backstage at the Royal Rumble because on-air personality Peter Rosenberg, who is a good friend of “The World’s Strongest Man,” felt that Lawler did not like him and was effectively burying him on WWE’s pre-show broadcasts.

Lawler explained on Dinner With The King, “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 o’clock. 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 ‘I think me and you are gon’ have to fight.’

“I said ‘are you kidding?’ and fortunately he was sitting down when I walked up to him, so I sat down right across from him and I said ‘me and you are going to fight? About what?’ and he said [his] friend. I said ‘who is your friend?’ and he said ‘Pete. Pete Rosenberg.’ I said ‘what about Pete Rosenberg?’ and he says ‘I got him here’ 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 he’s the guy that got Pete hired up there, or at least got his foot in the door. And [Henry] said ‘he thinks you don’t like him’ and I said no, I really don’t even know Pete. I’ve only seen him, I’ve never really even had a conversation with him, I’ve really only seen him on the air. I said I guess I was trying to throw a little conflict into the show, play a little’s ‘Devil’s Advocate’ 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 ‘Oh. Maybe it’s just him being too sensitive.’ I said ‘yea!

“If he really thinks for real that I don’t like him’, because… I don’t have anything against Pete Rosenberg. He’s a fine guy. We don’t hang out together, I don’t know him that well. I guess I should say I don’t 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 didn’t like him, I almost had to stick up for him there on the show.”