Mark Henry Discusses Crowd Booing Fan Favorite Babyface Sami Zayn On WWE SmackDown

John Cena's final appearance on "WWE SmackDown" on his retirement tour took place in the city where he debuted in 2002, Chicago, Illinois. His last stop on the blue brand wasn't just marked by a promo thanking the fans, however, he actually went one-on-one against United States Champion Sami Zayn in Zayn's newly announced US Open Challenge, a challenge Cena made famous back in 2015 when he held the strap. Their match was something "Busted Open After Dark" host Mark Henry didn't expect, and he didn't expect the crowd's initial reaction, either.

"I did not expect Sami Zayn to come down to the ring and not only did Sami come down to the ring, he got booed," Henry said. "They were like, 'Wait a minute. You're stepping on John Cena. You're stepping on our guy.' But, he turned them. He turned the crowd in a Sami Zayn-type of way, too. Sami Zayn is one of those guys that, with a microphone, he's masterful. I always say, if you go back to COVID, you got back to 2020, Sami Zayn saved wrestling... And he did it again tonight. Was not expecting that."

Henry said he loved the match, which he reminded the audience went over 25 minutes on regular WWE programming, through two commercial breaks. He said he wasn't a fan of the picture-in-picture aspect, but that's just wrestling these days. 

He praised the quality match that Cena and Zayn put on before the bout was interrupted by Cena's Wrestlepalooza opponent, Brock Lesnar. The Hall of Famer was impressed and entertained by Cena playing the hits of his former opponents and using their finishers, like Edge's spear, throughout the match.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Busted Open After Dark" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.