Mark Henry Says Black Wrestlers Are Divided ’50-50′ On Hulk Hogan’s WWE Return

For three years, Hulk Hogan has been “suspended” from anything having to do with WWE and he was just reinstated on Sunday, but not everyone was all smiles about it. After his 2015 release from the company due to racists remarks he made on film, Hogan was essentially scratched from existence in WWE. Now, he’s been reinstated to the WWE Hall of Fame and will likely return to the company at some point, but Mark Henry reveals that he won’t be welcomed by all.

On Sunday afternoon, WWE revealed that Hogan had been reinstated to the WWE Hall of Fame, but there have been mixed reports as to whether he has signed a new contract or not. For now, he’s not expected to be back on WWE television anytime soon, but there will arrive a day when he comes back.

With Hogan being backstage at Extreme Rules and speaking to the locker room to apologize, not everyone is sweeping everything under the rug. According to TMZ Sports, Mark Henry says there is a flat-out split among black wrestlers regarding the return of Hogan since he spoke down on an entire race.

“It’s 50-50. I’ve talked to guys that were like, ‘Man, the hell with him.'”

It is a rather big locker room in WWE, but not being accepted by more than half could cause problems in the future.

Back in February of this year, Mark Henry went as far as to say that Hulk Hogan could return to WWE if he did one specific thing. As reported by the Inquisitr, Henry said that Hogan owed an apology to “all the existing African-American talent” on the roster.

Backstage at Extreme Rules on Sunday, Hogan tried to make amends for the errors he committed and the horrible things he had said. He attempted to let all the superstars know that he was wrong and that they needed to be careful in the words they used and who was around them at all times.

Even though Hogan may not have individually apologized to every single WWE superstar, Mark Henry believes that the former world champion has been punished enough.

“I do feel like he genuinely wants to clear his name. He (Hogan) sees people that used to respect him, they look at him different. And it hurts. And he brought that on himself. But he’s trying his best to clear that up.”

Wrestling Inc. is reporting that after giving his speech and apologies at Extreme Rules, Hulk Hogan returned to his home in Florida and he won’t be on WWE television this week. It is not yet confirmed if he has signed a new deal with the company, but he has officially been reinstated. It has been three years since the racist remarks incident that led to his release and Mark Henry feels enough time has passed, but other black superstars don’t feel exactly the same.