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What’s the story?
WWE Hall of Famer and former World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry will be coming out of retirement for the Greatest Royal Rumble. He recently spoke about the same, and his current in-ring status.
In case you didn’t know...
Before today's Greatest Royal Rumble event, Mark Henry had last wrestled at WrestleMania 33 in Orlando, in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
It was revealed that Henry had retired shortly thereafter and had transitioned into a backstage producer's role. Strangely, news of Henry's retirement re-emerged back in January, with many media outlets reporting it, as if it was brand new information.
The heart of the matter
While hosting a WWE Community event with Mojo Rawley in Jeddah earlier this week, Mark Henry told a group of young kids that he was coming out of retirement for the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Here is what he had to say:
"I've been retired now for 10 months and I'm only coming out of retirement this one time for you."
Henry's math was a little off here, as it has been over twelve months since he wrestled his last match, at WresteMania 33 in Orlando.
What's next?
The Greatest Royal Rumble event takes place today April 27th, at the King Abdullah Sports City's, King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The show features 10 matches including the 50-man Royal Rumble match.
Author's take
To be honest, Mark Henry started off his WWE career as a very dull performer in the ring. The only role to ever suit him properly was the comedic Sexual Chocolate gimmick, and it remained this way for a number of years.
It wasn't until the late 2000's that Henry really became such a good performer in the ring, particularly in 2011 when he won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and had great matches with the likes of Randy Orton, Sheamus and Christian. As this will be Henry's final match, I look forward to one last solid performance from 'The World's Strongest Man'.
