Since retiring from in-ring competition, WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry has embarked on a new career as a radio show host and wrestling analyst. His new job entails him sharing his views and opinions about the happenings taking place within the wrestling industry, and WWE is naturally a topic of conversation when he’s on the air.
Per Wrestling Inc. , in a recent edition of his SiriusXM Busted Open show, the former Olympic weightlifter shared his thoughts on current WWE Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, revealing that he wasn’t too fond of the cocky personality her character has adopted since winning the title from Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 35 .
“That arrogance thing is not for her, that’s for Baron Corbin, that’s for Sami Zayn. If you want to be over, don’t be an a**hole. Be the person that’s like, ‘Look, I’m fighting for the fans. I never had anybody stand up for me.’ That’s what I want her to be, ‘Nobody ever stood up for me. I had to do it myself.’ That’s what I want out of Becky. That’s the way it was.”
In Henry’s opinion, Lynch is no longer a woman of the people, out to fight for the honor of the WWE Universe. Prior to winning her current title from Rousey, she was considered an underdog babyface, as the former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter dominated the WWE Women’s division.
With Rousey on hiatus from the company at the moment, though, Lynch has replaced her as the superstar to beat.
Never one to shy away from expressing her own opinions, Lynch took to Twitter to respond to Henry’s criticism. In her post, she claims that she’s always been clear about her goals and has backed up her words when it matters.
“I said it, I did it, and I backed it all up. Live with it.”
Afterward, Henry took to his own Twitter to elaborate further, standing by his original statement. He wrote that he likes to “feel” for the babyfaces when he watches wrestling.
Clearly, Henry and Lynch have differing views on what makes a good babyface. He believes that over confidence is the hallmark of a heel. Meanwhile, she thinks that speaking her mind and backing it up in the ring isn’t the same thing as arrogance. At the end of the day, it’s a matter of different strokes for different folks.
Of course, many fans would argue that Lynch is a tweener, which is a character whose traits contain elements of both face and heel characteristics.
