Mark Henry Blames TMZ for “Got What He Deserved” Backlash—But Still Stands by His Take on Syko Stu

Mark Henry is pushing back after taking heat for his comments on the brutal assault involving Raja Jackson and Syko Stu—but he’s not backing down either.

On a new episode of Podcast Heat Wrestling, the WWE Hall of Famer addressed the firestorm that erupted after a TMZ clip made it sound like he said Syko Stu “got what he deserved.” According to Henry, the clip was cut too short and completely warped what he actually meant.

“Raja is very lucky Stu didn’t die. I’m very happy that he recovered because he didn’t deserve what came to him,” Henry said. “I said that from the beginning, but it was such a short clip on TMZ that all people heard was, ‘Oh, Mark Henry said he got what he deserved.’”

Still, Henry didn’t walk back his overall take. He admitted that while the attack on Stu was unacceptable, Stu himself helped create the situation by reacting without understanding who he was dealing with.

“Stu played a serious part in it. He didn’t know the situation, so he lashed out and acted aggressively toward someone who can really fight. He didn’t know. The end result is what you get when you don’t have self-education.”

Henry doubled down on his now-controversial “bite off more than you can chew” line too, explaining the difference between someone walking into a fight they asked for—and someone walking into one blind.

“When I said, ‘Sometimes you can bite off more than you can chew,’ I meant it. I bit off more than I could chew a couple of times. Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin—I challenged those guys and they beat me. But I asked for it. Stu didn’t ask for it.”

He also pushed back on people trying to turn the situation into a racial issue:

“I’m not siding with him because of his color, I’m not siding with the company because they did everything right, and I’m not siding with Stu because he was a victim. Everybody involved was at a deficit, and it’s a horrible situation.”

While Henry expressed regret that his message got lost in TMZ’s soundbite-driven coverage, he made it clear he still stands by what he said..

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.