WWE Hall of Famer and current AEW announcer, interviewer, and executive Mark Henry recently spoke with Lucha Libre Online about his work with the promotion, which included the World’s Strongest Man opening up about their efforts to make the roster, and the staff, as diverse as possible. Highlights from the interview are below.
Thinks AEW has done a good job with diversity on-screen and behind the scenes:
Well you can see that there’s a lot of diversity in the way the talents look. Not just the African-American talent but the Spanish talent, the Japanese talent, the Indian and so on and so on. Everybody gets an opportunity to try to rise to the top and in the office, you have Black talent in the office, ethnicity’s in the office at the highest-level including Tony Khan so, any negativity, we try not to dwell on or think about. We only think about the positives and we’re doing a really good job in that department.
On Jade Cargill’s hard work and success in AEW:
Well I mean, it’s not — I don’t look at it as — they did the work, I just opened the door and I can’t take the credit for people’s success. What I did was I recognized from one conversation if somebody is full of it or they’re telling me the truth and if they’re telling me the truth then I feel like, ‘Okay, they’re willing to work as hard as it’s gonna take’ because I don’t lie. I tell everyone, ‘This is very difficult.’ If you’re married, your spouse is gonna miss you. You’re not gonna be there every day. Your kids, if you have kids, they won’t see you every day. The people that want attention, Valentines, holidays, funerals, wedding, you’re gonna miss it because you have to be there for the work and she [Jade Cargill] was like, ‘I’m willing to sacrifice’ and I said, ‘Okay, well, if you’re willing to sacrifice then let’s go’ and I introduced her to the coaches that I thought would be — the coaches that could get the most out of her and she put the work in and she’s achieved it and that’s what it takes. If you want my help, you’re gonna have to make those commitments and I’ve been very lucky to be able to see who’s been telling the truth and who’s not.
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling
)