"He just tries to act like a tough guy" – AEW star reveals Vince McMahon called him after his mother's passing

Vince McMahon has a reputation for being a demanding boss, but the reality might be different.

During the latest episode of Busted Open Radio, AEW's Mark Henry revealed details of a phone call from Vince McMahon following the death of his mother.

Henry admitted that Vince McMahon would hate for him to disclose some personal information as it paints a contrasting picture of the WWE Chairman.

The WWE Hall of Famer said that Vince McMahon does not want people to know he is compassionate and that the veteran merely acts tough:

"He hates this. Vince is gonna hear this [and] he's gonna be a little pissed because he don't want nobody to know that he has compassion, that he actually cares about the people that work for him. He'll act like he don't because he's just the old curmudgeon. He just tries to act like a tough guy. He is a tough guy. But he wants the image of the tough guy more than enforcing it, and I always take that, you know, to my grave, like, you know, like he did for me what I know a lot of people will never get."

Mark Henry's mother passed away in 2001, and Vince McMahon was one of the first people to call the superstar after the unfortunate news.

McMahon knew how close Henry was to his mother, and he was willing to give the superstar all the time needed to recover from the loss.

Mark Henry took a brief hiatus from the WWE after his mother's passing. He recalled that company officials didn't contact him when he was out of action until he was fully ready to return:

"The one that was the most effective to me is my mother died, and Vince knew I was a mama's boy. My mother came to shows. And he saw that there was, you know, I was definitely a mama's boy. And when she died, he called me. He might have been like one of the first two or three people that I answered the phone. And he said, 'listen, I don't want you to say nothing.' He said, 'You deal with this the way that you deal with it. Don't worry about work.' He said, 'You come back when you get back if it's six months from now if it's a year from now.' I was thinking to myself, like, what? Like he — they never called me."

---

Bosses don't do that: Mark Henry on Vince McMahon's gesture

Mark Henry continued to receive his WWE paychecks during his break from in-ring action, and he, in turn, developed immense respect for Vince McMahon.

Henry fondly remembers the phone call with Vince McMahon and said there aren't many bosses who deal with their employees like the WWE Head Honcho:

"For three and a half months, I stayed at home. I got my check every week. And there was a level of respect that I gave him for the rest of my career because of that day he called me. Bosses don't do that. You have a death in the family? In a week, they call and go, 'Hey, are you okay? Can you be at work on Monday?' That's the way bosses operate. This dude was like, no. And I'm not the only one."

Fans have read several stories that put Vince McMahon in a bad light, but most of the talents will always attest to the WWE CEO's compassion and empathy.