Mark Henry
| Mark Henry | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | June 12 1971 Silsbee, Texas |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Mark Henry |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (190 cm) |
| Billed weight | 400 lb (182 kg) |
| Trained by | Stu Hart Bret Hart |
| Debut | September 22 1996 |
Mark Gordon Henry (born June 12 1971) is an African-American professional wrestler, currently performing for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on the SmackDown! brand. He also is a former 1992 Olympian and winner of the Arnold Classic Strongman competition.
Career
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, he debuted at In Your House X on September 22, 1996, defeating Jerry Lawler.
Henry joined the Nation of Domination in 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.
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. He was used sporadically on WWE television during 2002, and was sent back to OVW for more training. He also had a brand new look, with his hair grown out and braided.
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's head. 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.
During an episode of SmackDown! taped on December 27, Henry interfered in a WWE Tag Team Championship match, helping MNM defeat Rey Mysterio & 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.
On the March 10th 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 7th episode of SmackDown!, however it ended in no-contest when Daivari announced his new cilent who was making his debut, The Great Khali. Khali then went to the ring and started to attack the Undertaker.
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 also would 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 crushing Angle through a table. Henry would then get challenged by Angle to face off at Judgment Day, Henry then sent a "message" to Angle by defeating Paul Burchill. At Judgment 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 would later go on what was referred to as a "path of destruction", causing injuries to numerous superstars. Henry would take out both Chris Benoit (in revenge for injuring Henry two years previously) and Paul Burchill on this path of destruction, and would attack (but not injure) Rey Mysterio, and Chavo Guerrero. This path of destruction would lead up to a feud with the returning Batista, who Henry put out on a legit injury months before hand. When Batista returned he and Henry were scheduled to face one another at The Great American Bash. However, just weeks before that show at a 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. Henry missed The Great American Bash and is expected to be out of action until at least March of 2007.
Wrestling facts
- Finishing and signature moves
- World's Strongest Slam (Falling slam)
- Big splash
- Death from Above (Banzai drop)
- Bearhug
- Full body block
- Double leg lift to opponent on the outside before driving their spine into a ring post
- Nicknames
- "The World's Strongest Man"
- "Sexual Chocolate"
- Theme music
- "Some Bodies Gonna Get It" by Three 6 Mafia (2006-Present)
- "Sexual Chocolate" composed and produced by James A. Johnston
Championships and accomplishments
- Professional wrestling
- Weighlifting
- Twice Olympic Games Team Member (1992, 1996)
- Silver Medalist In 1995 Pan Am Games
- Senior American Record Holder In Snatch_(weightlifting), Clean_and_jerk, And Total (1993-1997)
- Three Time Senior National Champion (1993, 1994, 1996)
- Strongman
- Arnold Classic 2002 Strongest Man
- First person to clean and press the inch dumbbell, 172 pounds, with one hand, his right hand. After putting the bell overhead he picked the inch up with his left hand and walked across the room and placed it on a table, a strength feat in itself. [citation needed]
External links
- WWE Profile
- Obsessed With Wrestling - Mark Henry
- Mark Henry at IMDb
- Mark Henry Hall of Fame at Weightlifting Exchange
- [1] Mark Henrys surgery highlights
- 1971 births
- Living people
- People from the Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan area
- African American sportspeople
- American weightlifters
- African American professional wrestlers
- Olympic weightlifters of the United States
- Powerlifters
- Strongmen
- Weightlifters at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Weightlifters at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Olympic athletes who wrestled professionally
- American professional wrestlers
- Dungeon graduates