AEW Tony Khan Helped Lio Rush & Mark Henry Squash Their Beef

The Man of the Hour has detailed how the AEW President helped smooth out his issues with Henry.

by Andrew Pollard
Mark Henry Lio Rush
AEW.com

With Lio Rush now officially in AEW, the Man of the Hour has revealed how Tony Khan helped him to squash his previous beef with Mark Henry.

If you remember, Rush and Henry had a very public falling out shortly after Lio's release from WWE in April 2020. The pair exchanged words on social media, with it getting to a point where the World's Strongest Man threatened legal action against Rush.

Lio explained earlier in the year how he had spoken to Henry during the one-time NXT Cruiserweight Champion's Double or Nothing 2021 appearance, and now he's detailed to Renee Paquette how Tony Khan helped to mend this fractured relationship.

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Speaking on Paquette's Oral Sessions podcast (as per Fightful), Rush explained:

"Me and Mark Henry's relationship is super cordial now. I think it came down to two very strong personalities and two very different eras of wrestling, and we agree to disagree. We're about to be working together now, and AEW is such an incredible place. It would be foolish of us to carry on any kind of whatever it was, as it was pretty random and wild."

Rush continued on:

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"The first time I meet Tony Khan, I was walking backstage trying to meet him for the first time and somebody told me he was in his office. I'll never forget, it was like a movie scene. I open up the door a little and I see Tony Khan. I open it up more and I see Mark Henry. I'm like, 'Of all times, why now?', but I'm glad it happened that way because Tony knew about the issues we had together and he said we should probably talk it out, which we all agreed."

Lio added how he and Henry talked on that night, then continued to talk things out "the other week" - which seems to suggest the two had another healthy conversation around the time Rush returned to AEW last month.

Rush formally became #AllElite on 29 September, and, while he's yet to step back in an AEW ring yet, audiences have seen several vignettes for Lio's new businessman gimmick of LBO Lio.

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Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.