Mark Henry Debates FOX Sports 1 Host Over Adults Watching Pro Wrestling

FOX Sports 1’s Rob Parker kicked a hornet’s nest when he took shots at adults who watch pro wrestling, and Mark Henry recently sat down to debate him on the stance. Parker made the comments on his FS1 show The Morning Kickoff, saying that he didn’t understand “grown men” who still love pro wrestling.

Parker’s original comments were as follows:

“I can’t understand how grown men are still into wrestling. We all went to the zoo. We all went to the circus as kids, right? And at some point, you grow out of it. I just cannot get over how older guys who are sports fans, who watch the NFL, watch Major League Baseball, watch the NBA. They live and die for that stuff, but they have this soft spot for wrestling, walking around with the belts, going to a watch party at a sports bar. I need somebody to explain it to me, because I don’t understand it.”

Henry appeared on 1300 The Zone with Parker and they debated the topic of pro wrestling. Henry pushed back on Parker’s stance that wrestling was just for kids or that it presents itself as real, while Parker took issue with sports outlets like ESPN reporting on the industry. You can see highlights below:

Henry On the History of Pro Wrestling:

“You said you wanted to know. You said, ‘Why? Somebody, tell me.’ Well, I’m somebody. I want to give you a little history lesson. You do realize that President Abraham Lincoln was a pro wrestler… As well as during the Civil War, Ulysses Grant and Robert E. Lee were meeting about peace treaties. And Ulysses Grant told Robert E. Lee, ‘Hey, excuse the way everything looks around here, we had wrestling last night.’ Wrestling is a part of Americana. It goes back to the early part of the 1900s. And we take a lot of pride in the fact that we come from history.”

Henry On Wrestlinng As an Entertainment Property:

“Are you a fan of like the Marvel Universe or DC. Or Star Wars, Star Trek, any brand, franchise of entertainment? I equated to wrestling to being in those sports genres, or those entertainment genres. I know Superman is not real, but I still love Superman. I know Black Panther is not a part of history, is not real. But I’m entertained by it.”

Parker On Pro Wrestling Being Scripted:

“You brought up Abraham Lincoln. They didn’t have Vince McMahon and the script written when they were wrestling back in those days. Even college, high school wrestling, I get it. It’s not predetermined.

My only issue is when you talk about entertainment, you talk about TV shows, and people talk about, ‘Well, what about all these other things?’ The difference is they don’t try to make it as if it’s a real competition. And it doesn’t mean that you don’t have athleticism; it doesn’t mean that you don’t work on your moves, and there’s a skill that’s involved to do the things that you do in the ring. My biggest issue is blurring the lines and trying to make it like there’s some real competition, and we don’t know what’s going to happen at the end.”

Parker On ESPN Reporting On Wrestling:

“That’s where I have the push back as far as it being like on SportsCenter, and they’re talking about it like the NFL, like Major League Baseball, like the NBA. And here’s my perfect example. You have never in your entire life had ESPN give you a Harlem Globetrotters [vs.] Washington Generals score, and say, ‘yesterday the Harlem Globetrotters beat the Washington Generals for the 519th straight time by a score of 133 to 89.’ You’ve never heard that, because we already know that the Globetrotters are going to beat them every single game.

“So that is my only issue. At the end of a TV show, they don’t say that Will Smith won the show with his performance. They admire his performance. They love what he does. Why are you crowning people acting like they won — not for their athleticism, not for their moves, not for their skill, but actually like for the competition?”

Henry On Parker’s Take Of Wrestling Presenting As Real:

“You’ve been misinformed. Over the last 10 years, the pro wrestling industry has come out as being predetermined. It sounds like you feel like your education and your intellect is being assassinated, like these people have been living under a rock. These are not ignorant people that don’t know better. These are people that choose to look for pro wrestling.

“I’ve had Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, and your boss come to my shows because they wanted to see me. So when there’s a market for people like Jacob Ullman, who runs Fox, to be able to come and say, ‘Hey, man, I enjoy the product. I like this. I think it’s great entertainment. It’s a good selling thing.’ I’m about making a doller, and that’s what pro wrestling has become.”

Parker On Adults Being Wrestling Fans:

“I’m not mad at that. When I see grown men in the airport with the wrestling belts and all that, I just — it’s shocking to me that you’re buying a $500 belt to walk around and acting as if you know, your favorite wrestler — I grew up with wrestling. I was nine years old, growing up in New York, and I watched SD Jones get beat every single time. It used to drive me crazy. He dominated the entire match. And every time, at the last five seconds, he would get flipped over, and the referee would count him out in three seconds, and it would be all over. I was like, I just can’t believe SD Jones, Special Delivery Jones, who couldn’t win the match.

“And that’s all I’m saying is, I understand that people know it’s scripted and they they just love the entertainment of it. It’s not a competition. It’s not because competition means we don’t know who’s going to win.”

Henry On the Stance Being Outdated:

“I understand where you come from, but I have to still disagree with you that the war between athletes and academics is over, just like the Civil War is. And I want you to come into the new millennium. Like, let it go. The people that lied to you and told you that pro wrestling was a sporting event, and they offended you and they hurt your feelings, I feel bad for you. I went through this. Santa Claus is not real, too.”

Parker’s Rebuttal:

“You know what? They should be able to enjoy Santa Claus and Christmas when they’re kids, and when they get older, they figure it out, and it’s okay. You don’t have to tell them. They figure it out at some point.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 1300 The Zone with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.