Mark Henry Likens Ricky Gibson To Former WWE Opponent

Every so often, WWE will shine the spotlight on someone you least expect. In 1995, longtime enhancement talent Barry Horowitz got his day in the sun with a midcard program against Chris Candido. In 2016, James Ellsworth turned a squash match against Braun Strowman into a two-year run. And now fans can't stop talking about Ricky Gibson, the journeyman indy wrestler who briefly appeared as Kevin Owens' tag team partner on the USA Network return of "WWE SmackDown." On "Busted Open Radio," Mark Henry said Gibson's appearance reminded him of another talent whom Henry had worked with on WWE's reboot of ECW.

"I love it when a wrestler who's not on the radar gets put involved in something and meets the expectation. That happened with Colin Delaney," Henry remembered. "Colin was an extra talent. They brought him in just like any other show that we would do ... I told him, I said, 'Look, I want you to crawl under the ropes ... and when I come to you, I want you to throw the most feeble, old man granny punch at my thigh that you can muster.' And he did. And when he did, the crowd went, 'Oooohhh!' Because they knew that I was gonna go apes*** on him."

Henry took partial credit for helping Delaney's half-underdog, half-comedy act get over, which ultimately led to him landing a WWE contract. "They told Colin, hey, we want you to come back next week. ... They hired him after that. ... off one feeble little punch." After spending roughly nine months primarily in losing roles, Delaney was released from his WWE contract in August 2008. Delaney resurfaced in AEW for a handful of appearances in 2021 and 2022, once again in losing efforts.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.