Mark Henry

Mark Henry
Born	(1971-06-12) June 12, 1971 Silsbee, Texas, United States
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Mark Henry
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Billed weight
Billed from	Silsbee, Texas, United States
Trained by	Stu Hart Bret Hart
Debut	September 22, 1996

Mark Henry

Medal record
Men's Weightlifting
Pan American Games
	Mar del Plata 1995	+ 108 kg

Mark Gordon Henry (born June 12, 1971 in Silsbee, Texas) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment performing on its SmackDown! brand. He is also a 1992 Olympian and winner of the Arnold Classic Strongman competition.

Career

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

Henry was billed as the "World's Strongest Man" after he qualified for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics Weightlifting Competition, where he finished tenth in the super heavyweight class. After the WWF sponsored Henry in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, he was signed to a ten-year contract, an anomaly in pro wrestling. Trained by Stu and Bret Hart, his first feud in the WWF was with Jerry Lawler who had some harsh words for Henry on a "Monday Night RAW" in March. At SummerSlam 1996, Henry came to the aid of Jake Roberts who was suffering indignity at the hands of Lawler. His first television wrestling match was at In Your House: Mind Games on September 22, 1996, where he defeated Lawler.

Henry joined the Nation of Domination in late 1997, where he was allied with The Rock. After that faction disbanded, he became allied with D'Lo Brown, with whom he formed a tag team. During a match at SummerSlam 1999 between D'Lo and Jeff Jarrett for the WWF Intercontinental Championship and WWF European Championship (both held at the time by D'Lo), Henry turned on D-Lo and helped Jarrett win the match and the titles. The next night, Henry was given the European title by Jarrett.

Henry gained notoriety with the nickname "Sexual Chocolate", the name taken from a fictional funk band in the movie Coming to America. After this, Mark Henry was seen on television romancing WWF women from Chyna to Mae Young as part of the gimmick. He feuded with Viscera during this time as part of a storyline where Viscera big splashed Mae Young while she was carrying Henry's child. Young would go on to give birth to a hand. Along with this, Henry was made part of various other embarrassing and infamous storylines, including performing sexual actions with a man in drag (unbeknownst to Henry at the time) the admission that he was a sex addict, and that his first sexual experience was with his sister.

In 2000, Henry was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) to improve his conditioning and skills. Later that year, he went on hiatus from wrestling to concentrate on weightlifting, and on February 23, 2002, he won a strongman competition, during the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio, claiming a $75,000 Humvee as his prize.

2002-2005

Henry returned to the WWF the next month and was sent to the SmackDown! brand, where his "feats of strength" gimmick met with little success, competing against such superstars as Test, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, and Brock Lesnar. After being used sporadically on WWE (formerly WWF) television during 2002, Henry was sent back to OVW for more training. During this time Henry would alter his look by growing his hair out and having it braided. Henry would also lose the babyface gimmick and become a heel wrestler; often playing the part of a monster heel, or thug for hire.

In August 2003, Henry returned to WWE television on the RAW roster, where he found some success as a member of "Thuggin' And Buggin' Enterprises," a group of African Americans led by Theodore Long who worked a race angle in which they felt they were victims of racism and were being held down by the 'white man'. During that time, Henry was involved in a brief program with World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg when former champion, Triple H, put a bounty on Goldberg. On an episode of RAW in February 2004, Henry faced Chris Benoit. At the end of the match Benoit put Henry in the Crippler Crossface which made Henry tap out. After the match Henry underwent surgery following a shoulder injury he sustained while in the Crippler Crossface. Henry was then utilized by WWE as a public relations figure during his recovery.

After yet another rehabilitation stint in OVW, Henry returned to WWE on November 28, 2005, in a dark match for RAW. His planned involvement at Taboo Tuesday was scrapped after Steve Austin walked out of a program with Jonathan Coachman.

2006

During an episode of SmackDown! taped on December 27, Henry interfered in a WWE Tag Team Championship match, helping MNM defeat Rey Mysterio and then-World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, for the titles. As a heel, Henry had seemingly joined with MNM and would be managed by Melina. A week later on SmackDown! Henry got in the face of the World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, and would go on to interfere in a steel cage match between MNM and the team of Rey Mysterio & Batista, helping MNM to retain their titles. Mark Henry then had another match with Batista at a live event where Batista received a severely torn triceps that required surgery, forcing him to vacate his title. On the January 10, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, Henry was involved in a battle royal for the vacated World Heavyweight Championship. He was finally tossed out by Kurt Angle, who won the title. A week later, Henry then got assistance from Daivari, who turned on Angle and announced that he was the manager of Henry. Henry with Daivari at his side, would face Kurt Angle for the World title at the 2006 Royal Rumble, in which he lost when Angle hit him with a chair (without the referee seeing) and pinned Henry will a roll-up.

On the March 10 episode of SmackDown!, after putting Kurt Angle through a table with a splash from the second rope, Mark Henry was then challenged to a casket match by The Undertaker at WrestleMania 22. Henry vowed to take Undertaker's unbeaten streak at WrestleMania 22, but was unsuccessful in this quest as The Undertaker would defeat Henry at the event. Henry would get a rematch against the Undertaker on the April 7 episode of SmackDown!, however it ended in a no-contest when Daivari announced his new client who was making his debut, The Great Khali. Khali then went to the ring and started to attack the Undertaker, thus ending the feud between them.

During the rest of April and May, Henry would get two pinfall victories against the World Heavyweight Champion, Rey Mysterio in non-title matches. Henry would also enter the King of the Ring 2006, in which he was defeated by Bobby Lashley in the first round. He later cost Kurt Angle his World title opportunity against Mysterio, when he jumped off the top rope and crushed Angle through a table. Henry was then challenged by Angle to face off at Judgement Day, Henry then sent a "message" to Angle by defeating Paul Burchill. At Judgement Day, Mark Henry defeated Kurt Angle by count-out. Although winning, Angle got his revenge after the match by hitting Henry with a chair and putting him through a table.

Henry later went on what was referred to as a "path of destruction", causing injuries to numerous superstars. Henry "took out" both Chris Benoit (in revenge for injuring Henry two years previously) and Paul Burchill on this path of destruction, and attacked (but did not injure) Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero. This path of destruction led up to a feud with the returning Batista, whom Henry put out of action with a legit injury months before hand. When Batista returned he and Henry were scheduled to face one another at The Great American Bash. However, weeks before that show, on an edition of WWE Saturday Night's Main Event, Henry was involved in a six-man tag team match with King Booker & Finlay against Batista, Rey Mysterio, & Lashley. During the match Henry was injured. Doctors later found that Henry completely tore his patella tendon off the bone and split his patella completely in two.

2007

Henry appeared on the May 11 edition of SmackDown!, after weeks of vignettes hyping his return. He attacked The Undertaker after a World Heavyweight Championship Steel cage match with Batista, allowing Edge to take advantage of the situation and use his Money in the Bank contract. Henry then began a short feud with Kane, defeating him in a Lumberjack Match at One Night Stand. Shortly after, Henry made an open challenge to the SmackDown! Locker Room, which nobody ever accepted. In the coming weeks he faced various no-name jobbers and destroyed all of them. On August 3 he showed why nobody accepted the open challenge to step into the ring with him by presenting footage of his assault on the Undertaker. The Undertaker responded over the following weeks, playing mind various games with Henry. Henry finally faced Undertaker again at Unforgiven 2007, losing to him after being given a Last Ride. The following friday Mark Henry was in a follow-up match with The Undertaker, losing to him by Chokeslam followed up by Pin fall victory. After Smackdown! went off the air The Undertaker's Druids came and carried him away.

Personal life

Mark Henry currently lives in Austin, Texas with his wife Jana and his young son Jacob. He still drives the Hummer that he won in the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic.

Wrestling facts

• Finishing and signature moves

• World's Strongest Slam (Falling Powerslam)
• Big Splash
• Bearhug
• Canadian backbreaker rack - 1996
• Death From Above (Banzai drop to the back of opponent)
• Running full body block
• Leapfrog body guillotine through the middle rope onto the opponent crouched over the second rope

• Managers

• Daivari
• Melina
• Kenny Bolin
• Jim Cornette
• Mae Young
• Ivory
• Jacqueline
• James Hogan
• Theodore Long
• Terri Runnels

• Nicknames

• "The World's Strongest Man"
• "Sexual Chocolate"
• "The King Of The Jungle"
• "The Silverback"

• Theme music

• "Some Bodies Gonna Get It" by Three 6 Mafia (2006-Present)
• "Sexual Chocolate" composed and produced by James A. Johnston
• "Power" (as part of the Nation of Domination), composed and produced by James A. Johnston

Championships and accomplishments

• Professional wrestling

• World Wrestling Federation

• WWF European Championship (1 time)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him # 472 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.
• Ranked # 41 of the PWI 500 in 2006.

• Weightlifting

• Olympic Games team member (1992, 1996)
• Pan American Games Silver Medalist (1995)
• Senior American record holder in Snatch, Clean and jerk, and Total (1993-1997)
• Senior National Championship (1993, 1994, 1996)

• Powerlifting

• All time world raw (unequipped) squat world record holder (430 Kilograms)

• Strongman

• Arnold Classic Strongest Man (2002)
• First person to clean and press the inch dumbbell, 175 pounds plus, putting the bell overhead using only his right hand.

External links

• WWE Profile
• Mark Henry at IMDb