Tony Khan Comments On Mark Henry Joining AEW, Says He Has A Handshake Deal With Lio Rush

The World’s Strongest Man is AEW bound. 

At Double or Nothing, Mark Henry was announced as the promotion’s newest signing and will serve as an analyst for their new show, Rampage, which debuts on Friday, August 13. Furthermore, he will also be a coach in AEW. 

Speaking at the post-show media scrum, AEW President Tony Khan commented on the WWE Legend joining his company and what he believes Henry will bring to the table. He said the following:

“Mark Henry and I are friends. Mark told me he was available and to do things that I would be really interested in doing. I thought that would be really interesting because he’s not only a good friend but a really respected person in the wrestling business. A great wrestler, a great mind, a great scout, and a great analyst in wrestling. He gives his opinions on the radio, but he provides great scouting reports and he really has helped mentor a lot of wrestlers in addition to being a great wrestling mind. I think he could be not only a great on-air personality but a great backstage influence. He’s a great friend and person, so it’s just great to have Mark in the AEW family, and it was great to announce it on such a special show.”

With this signing, AEW became only the second company to sign Mark Henry as he had been dedicated to WWE since his start in wrestling in 1996.

The other big debut coming out of Double or Nothing was Lio Rush, who appeared as the Joker in the Casino Battle Royale. 

Khan said about Lio, “I haven’t got pen to paper but Lio and I have a handshake where he can work here and New Japan. He wanted to keep working here and I think we’ve worked something good out on a handshake. I think he has a handshake with New Japan too and that’s what we’ve been doing and it’s been pretty good. I think it’s a good way to work. So far, so good.”

Tony also mentioned he wanted to bring in Lio last year, but he was filming MTV’s The Challenge.

It is unknown if Lio will return to AEW. He has worked for MLW and NJPW in 2021. 

Visit the Fightful YouTube page for all of the AEW media scrums, as well as our post-show review podcast.

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