Theodore Long
Ring name(s)	Teddy Long Theodore Long Theodore R. Long T-Lo Peanut Head
Billed height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1]
Billed weight	173 lb (78 kg)
Born	(1947-09-15) September 15, 1947 (age 64) Birmingham, Alabama
Resides	Miami, Florida
Billed from	Atlanta, Georgia
Debut	1985

Theodore Rufus^[1] "Teddy" Long (born September 15, 1947)^[2] is an American professional wrestling manager and former referee who is currently signed to WWE, performing as a servant for John Laurinaitis. He is best known for being a two-time general manager of WWE SmackDown.

Professional wrestling career[link]

National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling[link]

Long started out as an errand boy for wrestlers Tommy Rich and Abdullah the Butcher. He eventually became a member of the ringcrew and was promoted to referee in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985 as Teddy Long.^[3] In 1989, at the Chi-Town Rumble event, Long ran in and counted three, making Ricky Steamboat the NWA World Champion. Shortly thereafter, Long began to turn into a villainous character when he started to bend the rules for the villains. On April 2, 1989 at the Clash of Champions in New Orleans, Long blatantly made a fast count allowing Mike Rotunda and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams to defeat the Road Warriors for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. After this match, the National Wrestling Alliance relieved Long of his refereeing duties. This was actually a story lifted from Championship Wrestling from Florida, where Long had been a referee and did several heel-decisions in the ring, including one for Ron Simmons over Skip Young. While riding with Kevin Sullivan and Eddie Gilbert, Long would DJ for them. After hearing Long talk, the two convinced Jim Ross to give Long a managerial role, managing "Norman The Lunatic".^[3] Long became the manager of Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed) and led them to the World Tag Team Titles. He also managed Johnny B. Badd, One Man Gang, Norman the Lunatic, The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious, Dan Spivey and Mark Calaway), Marcus Bagwell, 2 Cold Scorpio, Joey Maggs, Craig Pittman, Jim Powers, Bobby Walker, Ice Train and Bobby Eaton while in Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW.

World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (1999–present)[link]

Long debuted in the WWF as a referee in 1999 at the Royal Rumble and stayed with that role until September 2002, when he was taken off the road. Like his previous referee stints, Long went by the shortened Teddy Long name during this period. He was a referee at the Over The Edge 1999 PPV, during the match after Owen Hart's tragic death: a mixed tag match between Jeff Jarrett/Debra and Val Venis/Nicole Bass. Long was the referee when Darren Drozdov ended up paralyzed and can be seen in WWE's Don't Try This At Home warning looking at the paramedics lift Droz up on a stretcher.

He was re-packaged as a villainous manager once again under his full name, and perhaps his most notable managing stint in this period came when managing D'Lo Brown, Rodney Mack, Christopher Nowinski, Rosey, Mark Henry and Jazz at different times, telling fans to "get Down wit' da Brown" and to "Back da Mack." When he was drafted to SmackDown!, he managed Mark Jindrak.

SmackDown! (2004–2008)[link]

After Kurt Angle was fired from the General Manager position in July 2004, Long became the new and first African-American General Manager of SmackDown!. Long immediately turned face on his first night as GM when he fined Angle $5,000 for not having his wrestling gear with him. Because of his face turn, his new position saw him giving the fans what they wanted and making matches that put villains at disadvantages, notably JBL, a stark contrast to other WWE managers, such as Eric Bischoff and Mr. McMahon, who would blatantly favor heels. At first, he continued use of his "Hate-orade" talk, but less aggressively, and with humor. One example was when he stripped Booker T of the US Championship for "drinkin' Hate-orade." Long would also introduce the New Talent Initiative during this time, which saw the likes of Bobby Lashley and Mr. Kennedy debut in 2005 and MVP in 2006, among others. The New Talent Initiative would continue when Long moved to ECW in 2008 and would see the debuts of Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, Braden Walker, Ricky Ortiz, Gavin Spears, and Jack Swagger.

As part of the Raw vs. SmackDown! feud, Long defeated then Raw GM Eric Bischoff at Survivor Series 2005 with the help of The Boogeyman.^[4]

Theodore Long still had problems with Booker T and his defense of the United States title, however, as Booker T attempted to get out of title defenses on a number of occasions by pretending to be injured, and having other wrestlers fight on his behalf. Eventually, Long got tired of these shenanigans, and at No Way Out 2006, Booker was told to face Chris Benoit or be stripped of the US title. Benoit won the match and was congratulated by Theodore Long.

After Randy Orton had cheated to obtain Rey Mysterio's title shot at WrestleMania 22, Long placed Mysterio back in the match and made it a Triple Threat match, at the same time warning Orton that he could still remove Orton from the match if he disobeyed Long.

At Judgment Day 2006 Long fired Melina and Johnny Nitro from SmackDown!. On the following SmackDown!, JBL suffered the same fate after losing the United States Championship to Bobby Lashley, and then losing a World Heavyweight Championship match to Rey Mysterio in his Judgment Day rematch.^[5]

On the September 4, 2006 episode of Raw, Long appeared to a tremendous ovation in his hometown. During a six-person, intergender tag match between Randy Orton, Edge, and Lita against Trish Stratus, Carlito, and John Cena, some fans chanted Theodore's name.^[6]

In April 2007, Long became the on-screen boyfriend of Kristal Marshall, after weeks flirting with each other backstage. Long then began to look for an assistant so he could spend more time with Kristal, eventually revealing Vickie Guerrero as his new assistant on May 25, 2007, an appointment made partly at Kristal's request.^[7] On the June 22, 2007 episode of SmackDown!, Long asked Kristal to marry him. Kristal ran out of the ring, crying, but later agreed to marry him. On the July 27, 2007 episode of SmackDown!, Ron Simmons was named the best man for "Theodore Rufus Long" and Kristal's wedding on the September 21, 2007 episode of SmackDown! emanating from Long's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. The wedding was not completed, however, due to constant disruptions and Long having a heart attack just as he started to say "I do". He then fell in to a coma.^[8] The storyline never finished out as planned as Marshall left the WWE shortly afterwards due to creative differences. Long returned on the November 30, 2007 episode of SmackDown! as the Assistant General Manager and made a match at Armageddon for the World Heavyweight Championship.^[9] He started to feud with Guerrero over her position as the General manager as she continued to favour Edge. On May 16, 2008, Long quit his role of Assistant General Manager.^[10]

Theodore Long on his way to the ring.

GM of ECW and Smackdown! (2008-2012)[link]

On the June 3, 2008 episode of ECW, it was announced that Long had become the new General Manager of the ECW brand by order of the WWE Board of Directors.^[11]

On the April 7, 2009 episode of ECW, Long announced he was returning to SmackDown! as General Manager, with Tiffany replacing him on ECW. By doing this, he became the first person in the history of the company to have a second term as General Manager. He made his official TV return to SmackDown! on April 10, when he announced that the Hardys Matt and Jeff would face each other in the first ever stretcher match in SmackDown history.

At the Breaking Point PPV, Long restarted the World Heavyweight Championship match between CM Punk and the Undertaker after Undertaker made Punk submit using his Hell's Gate submission finisher, stating that the ban on the maneuver was still in effect. On the September 18, 2009 episode of Friday Night Smackdown, WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon instructed Long to go down to the ring and explain his actions regarding the conclusion of the World Heavyweight Championship Submission match between champion CM Punk and The Undertaker in which he (Long), as well as referee Scott Armstrong and CM Punk played key roles in recreating the infamous Montreal Screwjob at the WWE Breaking Point Pay-per-view event (held at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada), site of the 1997 fiasco. This time, with The Undertaker being the target of a planned conspiracy. As he returned from the ring to the back stage area, he entered his waiting limousine only to be kidnapped by The Undertaker, who was in the driver's seat. The following week on SmackDown Long was brought into the arena inside a coffin by Undertaker's druids where he again legalized Undertaker's Hell's Gate submission hold. Teddy Long made a guest appearance on RAW and later Shawn Michaels performed his finishing maneuver [Sweet Chin Music] on Teddy Long after Long refused to draft him to SmackDown. He then began a feud with Drew McIntyre, the first part of which revolved around McIntyre qualifying for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI, which was instead won by Jack Swagger. On the 7th May episode of Smackdown, after McIntyre brutally assaulted Matt Hardy, Long stripped McIntyre of his Intercontinental Championship and fired him. As a result, the Intercontinental Championship was vacant. Thus, Long issued the Intercontinental Championship tournament involving Christian, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler. However, after Kingston emerged victorious against Christian, Long was issued a letter from Vince McMahon reinstating McIntyre and forcing Kingston to give his title back to McIntyre. He then made a match for McIntyre's Intercontinental Championship at Over the Limit against Kofi Kingston.

On the May 28 episode of SmackDown, Long read a letter from Mr. McMahon's office given to him by Drew McIntyre which stated that Matt Hardy was suspended until further notice after Matt attacked McIntyre at the Over the Limit PPV event and told Matt not to go near McIntyre and if he did so, Long would be fired as the General Manager of SmackDown.

On the June 11 episode of SmackDown!, a frustrated Drew McIntyre announced a match between Long and McIntyre would take place the following week on Smackdown per orders of Mr. McMahon. Drew said if Long didn't compete, he would be fired. McIntyre then went on to win the match the following week, after it was ordered that Long had get down on his knees, proclaim Drew as "The Chosen One" and then lay on his back and let McIntyre pin him without a fight. The next episode of SmackDown!, Long reinstated Matt Hardy into the SmackDown! brand and made Drew McIntyre compete against the returning Matt Hardy. Hardy would win the match, but after the match, Long came out and told McIntyre that his work visa had expired, and made security carry him out of the arena. On the July 9 edition of SmackDown, McIntyre was reinstated and pleaded forgiveness from Long, even going so far as to nominate Long as a member of the WWE Hall of Fame as well as get on his knees and proclaim Long "the best boss he ever had." Long, however, did not believe him and announced a Money in the Bank qualifying match (for the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view) against Kofi Kingston.

On January 21 episode of Smackdown, Long was found (kayfabe) unconscious in his office, suffering a head injury. He returned on the February 18 episode of Smackdown, where he revealed Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler to have attacked him. He then scheduled a match between the new World Heavyweight Champion Ziggler and Edge. Edge would win the match, becoming a eleven-time world champion. After the match, Long would then fire Ziggler. The following week, he fired Vickie Guerrero after she lost a mixed tag team match.

On the May 6 episode, Long scheduled a World Heavyweight Championship match between Randy Orton and Christian who had just won it for the first time five nights previous at Extreme Rules. On the June 3 episode, Christian was chosen by Long as the special guest referee for a World Heavyweight Championship match between Orton and Sheamus who beat Christian and Mark Henry in a triple threat number one contender's match for the title the week before. Christian would turn heel by hitting Orton with the title he had retained and lost to Orton again at Capitol Punishment despite his foot being under the bottom rope. Christian blamed Long and as a result Long scheduled Orton to defend his title against Christian at Money in the Bank. Christian would manage to find a way to include a clause that if Orton were to get disqualified, the title would switch hands.

On July 25 episode of SmackDown. The new COO Triple H made Zack Ryder Theodore Long's new Assistant.

On the November 25, 2011 episode of SmackDown!, after Daniel Bryan seemingly successfully cashed in the Money In The Bank briefcase on Mark Henry to win his first World Heavyweight Championship, Long rushed down to the ring and declared the title change void, as Mark Henry had not yet been medically cleared to compete in an official match. He would schedule Bryan in a fatal four-way match against Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett to determine the number one contender for Henry's world title which would be defended on the November 29 episode inside a steel cage.

After TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs, Santino Marrella replaced Zack Ryder(who had just won his first United States Championship)for Smackdown Assistant General Manager.

Feud with John Laurinaitis (2012)[link]

On February 21, 2012, Long was criticized by Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis, which resulted the WWE Board of Directors to switch the general managers of their respective shows for one week.^[12] Long took charge of the March 5 episode of Raw, with Laurinaitis taking charge of the March 9 edition of SmackDown. During Laurinaitis' time in charge of SmackDown, he set up a match between himself and Long, where, if Long won, Aksana, Long's girlfriend, would be placed in a match with Kane. Long won the match when Randy Orton attacked Kane at ringside, which distracted Laurinaitis.

A 12-man Tag match was then set up at WrestleMania XXVIII, where six superstars would represent both general managers. Long chose Santino Marella as his team captain, along with Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Zack Ryder, The Great Khali and Booker T over the following weeks. A stipulation was added that the winning team at WrestleMania would determine who would become the general manager of both shows. At WrestleMania, Team Teddy lost to Team Johnny, ending Long's run as SmackDown General Manager.

On the April 6 edition of SmackDown, Long prepared to give his farewell speech, but Laurinaitis threatened to discontinue a trust fund Long had set up for his grandchildren's college education unless he took a job as his new assistant, to which Long reluctantly accepted.

For the next few weeks, Laurinaitis would humiliate Long by doing ridiculous antics; such as wearing a huge name tag and standing guard by his door as a Queen's soldier. When things would be go wrong, he would always blame Theodore saying, "Why Teddy?", in which the other heel wrestlers would agree.

In wrestling[link]

• Wrestlers managed

• Johnny B. Badd
• Rodney Mack
• Mean Mark
• One Man Gang
• Mark Henry
• Jazz
• Eddie Guerrero
• Joey Maggs
• Craig Pittman
• Chris Jericho
• Jim Powers
• Bobby Walker
• Ice Train
• Rosey
• Mark Jindrak
• Ezekiel Jackson
• Santino Marella

• Teams and stables managed

• Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed)
• The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious, Dan Spivey and "Mean" Mark Callous)
• Marcus Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio
• Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises (D'Lo Brown, Rodney Mack, Jazz, Christopher Nowinski, and Mark Henry)

• Entrance themes

• "MacMillitant" by Miestro (WWE; 2002–2012)

Matches[link]

When Long became SmackDown General Manager, he revived old and made new match types:

• At No Mercy 2004, he put JBL and The Undertaker in a Last Ride Match. The rules are similar to a Casket Match and an Ambulance Match where one opponent must put the other into the back of the hearse and drive out the arena. JBL won the first Last Ride Match due to interference by Heidenreich. At Armageddon 2006, The Undertaker defeated Mr. Kennedy in the second Last Ride Match.^[13]

• At No Way Out 2005, JBL had to defend his title against The Big Show in the first ever Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match. The rules were the same as a normal steel cage match, but the top of the cage had barbed wire around it so nobody could escape (despite the fact that a victory could still be declared if a competitor managed to escape). This was done by Long to make sure there was no interference from any superstars, primarily JBL's stable, The Cabinet. JBL won the match when Big Show chokeslammed him through the ring, allowing him to escape underneath.^[14]

• Long also brought back the King of the Ring tournament in 2006, although it was a SmackDown!-exclusive event.

• At Armageddon 2006, Long brought back the Inferno match, where Kane defeated MVP.^[15]

• On April 10, 2009 episode of SmackDown he announced that Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy would face each other in the first stretcher match in SmackDown history.

• Long, throughout his career, also brought more popularity to the classic tag team match by featuring it in many SmackDown main events.

Awards and accomplishments[link]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Manager of the Year (1990)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • Worst Worked Match of the Year (2005) vs. Eric Bischoff at Survivor Series

• WWE
  • SmackDown General Manager (July 29, 2004–September 21, 2007; April 10, 2009–April 1, 2012) (2 times)
    • SmackDown Assistant General Manager (November 30, 2007–May 16, 2008) (1 time)
  • ECW General Manager (June 3, 2008–April 7, 2009) (1 time)

References[link]

External links[link]

Professional wrestling portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Theodore Long

• WWE profile
• Teddy Long at the Internet Movie Database

Eric Aaron Bischoff (born May 27, 1955) is an American entrepreneur, professional wrestling booker and on-screen personality who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He is best known for serving as Executive Producer and later President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and later, the General Manager of World Wrestling Entertainment's Raw brand.

With an amateur background in Tae Kwon Do, Bischoff also sporadically performed as an in-ring competitor, and is a former WCW Hardcore Champion.^[2] He wrote an autobiography, titled Controversy Creates Cash, that was released in 2006 under WWE Books.

Professional wrestling career[link]

American Wrestling Association[link]

Bischoff started in wrestling working for the American Wrestling Association under owner Verne Gagne and would eventually become an on-air interviewer and host until the AWA folded in 1991. Bischoff at first worked in the sales department on the AWA's syndicated programming, and became an on-air personality virtually by accident and at the last minute. Larry Nelson, whom at the time was employed by the AWA as an announcer, was arrested under suspicion of a DUI.^[3] Because of Nelson's sudden unavailability, Verne Gagne and his son, Greg, opted to recruit Bischoff (who initially had no desire to be in front of the camera) to fill-in on the interviews. Bischoff believed that the Gagnes thought that he would be a good replacement due to his immediate availability in the television studio, and the fact that he was already wearing a suit and tie.

During the gradual demise of the AWA, the company was unable to meet payroll, and Bischoff auditioned for an announcer's position with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1990, but was not hired.

World Championship Wrestling[link]

In 1991, Bischoff joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as an announcer, debuting at The Great American Bash.

As an announcer, Bischoff reported to producer Tony Schiavone and WCW's Vice President of Broadcasting, Jim Ross. In 1993, after WCW President Bill Watts resigned from the company, Bischoff went to TBS executive Bill Shaw and WCW Vice President Bob Dhue to ask for the job of Executive Producer. At the time, Ross and Tony Schiavone seemed to be the two top candidates. However, Bischoff was hired in Watts' place.^[4] Schiavone remained a producer until the company's demise, but Ross was released from the company and ended up in the rival WWF.^[5] Initially, Bischoff and Dhue worked together as partners, but frequently clashed over the direction of the company.

In 1994, Bischoff was promoted from Executive Producer to Executive Vice President, effectively making him the boss of the entire company. Dhue resigned, as did event manager Don Sandefeur and junior vice president Jim Barnett. Bischoff convinced Turner executives to better finance WCW in order to compete with the WWF. Almost immediately, he used the money allotted to him to sign big names such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and others away from the WWF. He also invested money in production values and increased the number of WCW pay-per-views (first 7 a year, then 10, and then once a month). The plans paid off, and in 1995, WCW turned a profit for the first time in the company's history. By 1997, Bischoff's official job title was President of WCW.

[edit] Monday Nitro

During one meeting at the CNN Center in 1995, WCW Owner (via Turner Broadcasting) Ted Turner asked Bischoff how the company could possibly compete with the WWF. Bischoff, taken aback by the question, told Turner to put WCW on prime time television against the WWF's Monday Night Raw on the USA Network. At the time, the flagship show for WCW was WCW Saturday Night, a taped show that ran on Saturday nights at 6:05 pm (EST) on TBS, and was nowhere near the production value of Monday Night Raw. Bischoff argued that because of this, there was no direct competition between WCW and WWF for viewers. To the surprise of many within the wrestling industry (and those within Turner Broadcasting), and Bischoff himself, Turner agreed, and gave Bischoff a one hour prime time slot every Monday on TNT (in 1996, due to high ratings, it would expand to two hours, and eventually three hours in 1998).

Bischoff designed and produced the new show, WCW Monday Nitro, and showcased the company as a fresh alternative to the WWF. Bischoff has stated that he wanted to draw an audience by being different from the competition and not trying to be similar. Nitro was live each week, whereas at the time Raw was live every other week (with the next week's show taped after the live Raw on Tuesday nights). Knowing this, Bischoff would often give away Raw results to encourage viewers to watch his show instead. On Nitro, he called the WWF the World Whining Federation. In his book (Controversy Creates Ca$h), Bischoff describes the design for Nitro as being a complete alternative to the WWF. Raw catered to younger crowds, so Nitro went for the 18-35 male demographic. Character-wise, Raw featured larger than life cartoon characters, while Nitro would begin to integrate edgier characters with more depth. Raw tended to have lots of squash matches on its television each week during this part of its history while Nitro regularly showcased competitive matches that would normally be reserved for pay-per-view.

Because WCW and TNT were both part of Turner, Bischoff was able to start Nitro several minutes earlier than Raw, as well as provide a late-night rebroadcast so viewers who opted to watch Raw could still see the show (Not to mention West Coast viewers who—because the Turner networks operate on a single coast-to-coast live feed—would otherwise have missed Nitro entirely because of the three-hour time difference). With the influx of new money Bischoff also began signing wrestlers from around the world, including All Japan, New Japan, and Extreme Championship Wrestling to fill the undercard with quicker paced, more action-packed matches. Although most industry insiders had predicted a short and certain death for Nitro at the time, it was an immediate success. What would be dubbed the "Monday Night Wars" began, as Nitro beat Raw in their first head-to-head week and ran neck-and-neck with the WWF for the remainder of the year. The show garnered eleven ratings-victories by the end of 1995, and slowly but steadily, the popularity of the wrestling business in general began to grow during this period, driven largely by the direct competition between the two wrestling shows.

nWo[link]

In 1996, Bischoff signed WWF superstar Scott Hall, better known to audiences as "Razor Ramon". Two weeks later on Nitro, Hall was joined by Kevin Nash, better known as "Diesel", to become "The Outsiders". Bischoff intentionally depicted the duo as WWF rebels who were not under contract to WCW. To avoid legal action by the WWF, Bischoff, in a worked interview at The Great American Bash, asked point blank if they worked for the WWF, which both Hall and Nash emphatically denied. The Outsiders expanded and became the New World Order when perennial fan-favorite Hulk Hogan aligned himself with the Outsiders in July 1996.

The nWo was depicted as a rival company engaging in a "hostile takeover" of WCW. Week to week, the angle grew more complex, with a barrage of main-eventers, mid-carders, executives, referees, managers, and announcers involved in various subplots related to the onscreen "WCW vs nWo" power-struggle.

Led by the nWo storyline, WCW overtook the WWF as the number one wrestling promotion in America with Nitro defeating Raw in the ratings by a wide margin for 84 consecutive weeks. During this era, Bischoff moved from a commentator to a manager role with the nWo. His television character, dubbed "Eazy E" by Hall, which had always been a babyface-announcer, became a dictator and egomaniac as the nWo boss. Bischoff also enjoyed some mainstream exposure in his own right at the time, appearing on the HBO series Arli$$ as well as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Downfall of WCW[link]

In 1996, media conglomerate Time Warner had acquired Turner Broadcasting. Little by little, the new owners gave Bischoff slight restrictions as to what he was and was not allowed to do with WCW. Eventually the restrictions, ranging from the presentation and direction of WCW programming to the financing/budget, increased. In the summer of 1998, Bischoff was called to a meeting by individuals representing Time Warner's Standards & Practices department, and the conglomerate's Advertising Sales wing. It was during this meeting that Bischoff was outright ordered to alter WCW's format to a more "family-friendly" output. Knowing that this would never work due to the mature nature the show had been taking since its debut, Bischoff objected to the "new direction" and outright refused to comply, but eventually resigned himself to the fate upon realizing that with Ted Turner being forced out of power, Bischoff and WCW had lost their internal support.

The forced shift in WCW's programming, the addition of new show WCW Thunder, and the addition of a third hour to Nitro, took a great strain on the resources of Bischoff and the WCW staff. At the same time the WWF, buoyed by its new "Attitude" branding and product, began beating an increasingly stagnant WCW week after week in the Monday night ratings war. By January 1999, the tide had completely turned, after Bischoff's strategy of revealing Raw results backfired, and his revelation that Mick Foley would be winning the World Championship resulted in an unprecedented 600,000 Nitro viewers switching to Raw;. According to Controversy Creates Ca$h Bischoff marks the point when the Standards & Practices and Advertising Sales departments began applying heavy restrictions on WCW's creativity section as the time when he should have left the company, but he remained.

His TV presence disappeared, and a demoralized Bischoff began to turn his attention to projects other than WCW. When Bischoff returned from hiatus in April 1999, the company was in bad shape. He would try to unsuccessfully extend the WCW brand outside of wrestling with a restaurant called The Nitro Grill in Las Vegas (which went under in less than a year) and a brand of cologne. Bischoff also tried to bring in musical talent such as Kiss, Master P, Chad Brock, and Megadeth in an effort to co-brand with WCW's product, but none of these performances were able to make an impact in the ratings.^[6][7]

Replacement[link]

On September 10, 1999, Bischoff was suddenly relieved of his management position with WCW, by TBS Sports chief Harvey Schiller. The job title "President of WCW" was eliminated. He was replaced with WCW accountant Bill Busch, who was named Senior Vice President. One of Busch's first acts in charge was the additions of former WWF head writer Vince Russo and his colleague Ed Ferrara (both of whom had worked on Raw when said show began to overtake Nitro in the ratings) to head up WCW's creative direction.^[8]

Attempted purchase of WCW[link]

In late 2000 with WCW facing major financial woes, Siegel accepted Bischoff's offer to purchase the company. Bischoff and a group of investors known as Fusient Media Ventures signed a letter of intent to buy the company.^[9] Bischoff and Fusient briefly withdrew their offer when the WWF made an inquiry on WCW (due to the terms of a settlement, WWF had a right to bid on WCW's properties, should they ever be up for liquidation). When then-WWF broadcaster Viacom objected (fearing a WWF-owned show on a competing network), the Bischoff-Fusient consortium signed a new letter of intent.

However, if Siegel wanted nothing to do with WCW, then his new supervisor in the AOL Time Warner merger Jamie Kellner (former WB Network executive) wanted even less to do with the company. Named the new head of Turner Broadcasting, Kellner formally canceled all WCW programming from its television networks.^[10] With no network on which to air its programming, WCW was of little value to Bischoff and Fusient (Bischoff: "It made absolutely no sense for us to do the deal under those circumstances."),^[11] whose offer depended on being able to continue to air WCW programming on the Turner networks. With WCW programming canceled (and Viacom subsequently no longer objecting), the company was purchased by the WWF in March 2001 for a substantially lower price (approximately US $3.5 million) than what had been offered.

Between WCW and WWE careers[link]

Bischoff was appointed President of Matrats, a youth-based wrestling company.^[12]

World Wrestling Entertainment (2002–2007)[link]

General Manager of Raw (2002–2005)[link]

Bischoff during his time with WWE.

In 2002, Bischoff was hired by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, formerly WWF) to be the General Manager of Raw. Although primarily an on-screen role, Bischoff had a wide range of contacts within WWE to whom he could pitch creative ideas.^[13] His debut as Raw GM resurrected his characteristic brand of smarminess with the GM position, again playing the arrogant heel character he had perfected as the NWO boss in WCW. During his debut on Raw he told the audience about how he was president of WCW, Creator of the NWO and how he forced Vince McMahon to change the ways he does business.^[14] His reign as GM was longer than any other GM in WWE history and included "innovations" like the "Raw Roulette" and the Elimination Chamber, as well as feuds with Stone Cold Steve Austin, John Cena, SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon, and former Extreme Championship Wrestling owner Paul Heyman. At Taboo Tuesday 2004 Bischoff would have his head shaved after failing to beat his "kayfabe" Nephew Eugene. Bischoff then began a face turn after his head got shaved. He favoured face wrestlers such as Randy Orton, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. Bischoff "kayfabe" took a vacation after allowing Randy Orton's team to become General Managers for up to four weeks with every member being the General Manager once a week.

Bischoff would turn heel again after then-WWE Champion John Cena, drafted to RAW in June 2005, refused to participate in Bischoff's vendetta against an impending ECW revival.^[15] As a result, Bishcoff "declared war" on Cena (citing disdain for Cena's rapping and "thug nature") and made wrestlers such as Chris Jericho and Christian try to take away the WWE Championship from Cena. In November Bischoff aligned himself with Kurt Angle. After numerous title shots, Cena maintained to have Angle's number. At Survivor Series 2005, Bischoff lost to Smackdown GM Theodore Long in a match which was GM vs. GM; following several months of Raw and SmackDown! Invasions, Bischoff would lose to Long after The Boogeyman helped Long beat Bischoff.

On the December 5 edition of Raw, Eric Bischoff was kayfabe "fired" as General Manager, when Vince McMahon tossed him into a garbage truck - following a "trial" where his history of unscrupulous actions were listed - and had him driven out of the arena. Bischoff then sat out the remainder of the year and spent the start of 2006 writing a book that would become Controversy Creates Cash. Bischoff was against writing a wrestling book initially, as he believes "most are bitter, self-serving revisionist history at best—and monuments to bullshit at their worst."^[16]

Sporadic appearances and departure (2006–2007)[link]

On September 25, 2006, Bischoff appeared on WWE TV for the first time in close to a year, being brought into the ring by Jonathan Coachman where he proceeded to promote his recently finished book Controversy Creates Ca$h (ISBN 1-4165-2729-X) and gave a worked shoot on McMahon and WWE. During his segment Bischoff stated, "Without Monday Nitro there would be no Monday Night Raw...without the nWo there would be no DX...and without Eric Aaron Bischoff there would be no Vincent Kennedy McMahon", after which Bischoff's microphone was immediately cut off and he was escorted from the arena by security. A few days later John Bradshaw Layfield conducted a four-part interview with Bischoff, further discussing his book on WWE.com. During the interview, Bischoff discussed various topics, such as his true feelings towards Lex Luger, his thoughts on ECW promoter Paul Heyman, his decision of giving Kevin Nash booking power, and his overall reaction to the Monday Night Wars. The book was a New York Times best seller.

Bischoff was chosen as the special guest referee for the D-Generation X vs. Rated-RKO match at Cyber Sunday on November 5, with 60% of the vote. He then cheated DX out of the win, leaving Orton and Edge the victors. The next night on Raw, Bischoff was reinstated as General Manager for one night only. During his time as the GM on Raw, he restarted matches if he did not like the outcome. He also got revenge on Maria for her statement made in his trial the year before by making her face Umaga, forced John Cena to "take the night off," and banned DX from the building. He restarted the match between Jeff Hardy and Johnny Nitro for the WWE Intercontinental Championship after Hardy won by DQ. Bischoff restarted that match as a No Disqualification match, and Nitro took advantage of that using Melina to distract Hardy and striking him with the title belt. At the end of the show, DX interfered in the main event when Bischoff tried to help Edge and Randy Orton win the tag team title, and forced him to be humiliated by "Big Dick Johnson" as revenge for costing them their match the night before.

On March 5, 2007, Bischoff made a brief appearance on Raw in Phoenix, Arizona to give Vince McMahon his thoughts on the WrestleMania 23 match against Donald Trump. Then on December 10, 2007, Bischoff made his last appearance with WWE on Raw for its 15th Anniversary Special and was confronted by Chris Jericho, the man whom he fired on Raw in August 22, 2005.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2009–present)[link]

Bischoff at a TNA event in July 2010.

In October 2009, Bischoff was in charge of negotiating a deal among Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Hulk Hogan, and himself.^[17]

He premiered alongside Hogan on the January 4, 2010, edition of TNA Impact! as part of a alliance to take over and rebuild the franchise. Behind the scenes, he was also appointed TNA executive producer and has authority to book matches.^[18]

Despite being a heel when dealing with the likes of Jeff Jarrett, Mick Foley and Abyss,^[19][20] Bischoff refereed his first TNA match at Against All Odds, favoring the face challenger Samoa Joe over the heel champion A.J. Styles in a match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. During the match, as part of the storyline, Bischoff punched out Styles' manager Ric Flair, after he interfered in the match, but the distraction led to Styles retaining his belt.^[21] On the March 15 edition of Impact! Bischoff attempted to shave Mick Foley bald as a punishment for trying to help Jeff Jarrett in a handicap match the previous week, but was shaved bald himself, when Foley turned the tables on him.^[22] At Lockdown Bischoff turned face by helping Team Hogan defeat Team Flair in the Lethal Lockdown match.^[23] The next months Bischoff worked with Hogan, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash, who claimed that they knew that Bischoff and Hogan were up to something.^[24] During this time Abyss turned on Hogan and went on a rampage, which included attacking the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the title, all the while claiming that he was controlled by some entity, that was coming to TNA.^[25][26][27] After he manhandled TNA president Dixie Carter on the October 7 edition of Impact!, Bischoff presented Carter with the paperwork that would have Abyss fired after his match with Rob Van Dam at Bound for Glory, which she then proceeded to sign.^[28]

Immortal (2010–2012)[link]

At Bound for Glory Bischoff turned heel with Hogan, as the two of them helped Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Bischoff, Hogan and Hardy then aligned themselves with Abyss and Jeff Jarrett.^[29] On the following edition of Impact! it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier, were not to release Abyss, but to turn the company over to him and Hogan. Meanwhile, Bischoff's and Hogan's new stable, now known as Immortal, formed an alliance with Ric Flair's Fortune.^[30] On the November 4 edition of Impact!, Bischoff took part in his first match in TNA, challenging the concussed Mr. Anderson to earn his shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, only for Matt Morgan to take his spot and beat Bischoff to become the number one contender.^[31] Dixie Carter returned on the November 25 edition of Reaction, informing Hogan and Bischoff that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority, indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA.^[32] On January 31, 2011, at the tapings of the February 3 edition of Impact!, Fortune turned on Immortal, explaining that they were not going to let TNA suffer the same fate as WCW.^[33][34] Hogan, having won the court battle against Dixie Carter, returned to TNA on the March 3 edition of Impact!, declaring himself as the new owner of the promotion.^[35] However, on the May 12 edition of the newly renamed Impact Wrestling, Immortal lost control of the program to Mick Foley, who revealed himself as the Network consultant, who had been causing problems for Immortal ever since Bischoff and Hogan took over the company, however, this angle was aborted just three weeks later, when Foley left the promotion.^[36][37] Also in May, Bischoff declared war on the X Division, after the legitimate firing of Jay Lethal, and on the May 19 edition of Impact Wrestling, wrestled his second TNA match, when he teamed with Matt Hardy in a tag team match, where they defeated Generation Me (Jeremy and Max Buck).^[38][39] The storyline concluded on August 11, when the Network gave the division back to the original X Division wrestlers, after the success of Destination X, which saw Immortal's Abyss lose the X Division Championship to Brian Kendrick.^[40] On October 6, it was reported that Bischoff had signed a contract extension with TNA.^[41] On October 16 at Bound for Glory, after losing control of TNA back to Dixie Carter, Hogan turned on the rest of Immortal by saving Sting from a beatdown at the hands of its members.^[42] Sting had won the match when referee Jackson James, who had earlier in the event been revealed as Bischoff's real-life son Garett Bischoff, reluctantly called the ring bell for a submission, which led to Eric hitting his son with a steel chair following the match, starting a rivalry between the two.^[42] On April 15, 2012 at Lockdown, Eric and Garett captained opposing teams in the annual Lethal Lockdown match. Garett won the match for his team by pinning Eric, forcing his father out of TNA in the process.^[43]

Production career[link]

Bischoff, with actor Jason Hervey, runs his own production company, Bischoff-Hervey Productions, which produces reality TV shows. They produced a live Girls Gone Wild pay-per-view event from Florida in 2003 with WWE and another pay-per-view about the Sturgis, South Dakota motorcycle rally in 2004. They also executive produced the VH1 reality shows Scott Baio Is 45...and Single, and Confessions of a Teen Idol, along with the CMT show Billy Ray Cyrus...Home At Last. Bishoff-Hervey Productions also produced a wrestling reality show called Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling in which ten celebrities were trained to wrestle and one celebrity is voted off weekly. Bischoff also appeared as one of the "judges" on the show. In November 2009, Bischoff helped produce Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania tour to Australia. Bischoff, also has a show in development with Food Network called "Food Fight" where pro wrestlers take on celebrity chefs in cooking and then tag-team with them in a wrestling match.

In 2011, Bischoff was promoted to Executive Producer for TNA Wrestling.^[44]

Personal life[link]

Before getting into professional wrestling, Bischoff had a number of occupations. He owned a successful landscape construction company, worked as a veterinary assistant, competed as a professional kickboxer, and ran a butcher shop, where he sold meat via van delivery. Hulk Hogan would famously refer to this time in his life during a promo at the end of the 1996 WCW pay-per-view event Bash at the Beach in Daytona Beach, Florida, saying, "If it wasn't for Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff would still be selling meat from a truck in Minneapolis."^[45]

Bischoff also appeared in a training video for bank loan officers that covered prohibited lending practices.^{[citation needed]}

Today, Bischoff lives in Cody, Wyoming, with his wife of 25 years, Loree, and his two children, son Garett (born April 20, 1984)^{[citation needed]} and daughter Montanna (born November, 1991)^{[citation needed]}.^[46] Garett, under the ring name Jackson James, made his debut for TNA Wrestling on November 7, 2010, as a referee at Turning Point.^[47]

On May 5, 2011 Eric Bischoff has announced (via twitter), that he was starting a brewing company in his hometown. Their first beverage, called Buffalo Bill Cody Beer, has the phrase "The Spirit of the Wild West" attached to it.^[48] Eric also tweeted that he had been working at this project for a couple of years.^[49]

In wrestling[link]

• Finishing moves
  • Roundhouse kick
  • Superkick

• Signature moves
  • Various taekwondo kicks and punches

• Managers
  • Miss Elizabeth

• Wrestlers managed
  • Hulk Hogan
  • The New Blood
  • nWo
  • 3-Minute Warning
  • Chris Jericho
  • Kurt Angle
  • Rated-RKO
  • Immortal

• Nicknames
  • Easy "E"

• Entrance themes
  • World Championship Wrestling
    • "Rockhouse" by Frank Shelley (used while a part of the New World Order; 1996–1999)
    • "White Train (Showdown)" by Tito & Tarantula (1997–2000)
  • World Wrestling Entertainment
    • "Back in Black" by AC/DC (2002)
    • "I'm Back" by Ted Nigro (2002–2007)
  • Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
    • "Running with the Bulls" by Dale Oliver^[50] (2010–2012)
    • "Immortal Theme" by Dale Oliver (2010–2012)^[51]

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI Feud of the Year in 1996^[52] vs. Vince McMahon
• PWI Feud of the Year in 2002^[52] vs. Stephanie McMahon

• World Championship Wrestling

• WCW Hardcore Championship (1 time)^[2]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

• Best Non-Wrestler (2005)

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Mick Foley (2000). Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-103101-1. 

External links[link]

Professional wrestling portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eric Bischoff

• TNA profile
• Eric Bischoff at the Internet Movie Database
• EricBischoff.com (Official Website)
• BuffaloBeerCodyBeer.com (Buffalo Bill Cody Beer website)
• Eric Bischoff's Interview with JBL on WWE.com
• Bischoff-Hervey Productions
• Oct 19 2006 Audio Interview with Eric Bischoff
  • Interview recap
• Nov 13 2008 Audio Interview with Eric Bischoff
  • Interview recap
• Eric Bischoff on Twitter

Mark Henry
Mark Henry in December 2011
Ring name(s)	Mark Henry
Billed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[1]
Billed weight	412 lb (187 kg)[1]
Born	(1971-06-12) June 12, 1971 (age 41)[2] Silsbee, Texas[2]
Billed from	Silsbee, Texas[1]
Trained by	Leo Burke Hart family members[2]
Debut	September 22, 1996

Competition record
Competitor for  United States
Strongman
Arnold Strongman Classic
1st	2002 Arnold Strongman Classic
Powerlifting
Competitor for  United States
WDFPF World Powerlifting Championships[3]
1st	1995	+145kg
USAPL National Powerlifting Championships[4]
1st	1997	+145kg
USPF National Powerlifting Championships[5]
2nd	1990	+125kg

Mark Jerrold Henry^[6] (born June 12, 1971)^[2] is an American powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman, and a professional wrestler with WWE, where he performs on its SmackDown brand. He is a 1992 Olympian,^[1] and winner of the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic.^[7] Since joining the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in 1996, he has become a one-time WWF European Champion and a two-time world champion, having held the ECW Championship in 2008,^[8] and the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011.^[9]

Henry was a weightlifter, and competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, where he placed tenth in the super heavyweight division. Three years later, at the 1995 Pan American Games, Henry won a silver medal in the super heavyweight division. The following year, he became a North America, Central America, Caribbean Islands (NACACI) champion. In 1996, Henry signed a ten-year contract with the WWF. Henry was trained by former Canadian professional wrestlers Stu and Bret Hart and Leo Burke. He made his television wrestling debut in September 1996. In January 1998, Henry joined the stable Nation of Domination. After the disbanding of the group, he acquired the moniker "Sexual Chocolate", which led him to participate in controversial angles.

In 2000, Henry was sent to the company's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in Louisville, Kentucky to improve his wrestling skills. That same year, he left wrestling and began refocusing on weightlifting. Henry won the inaugural Arnold Strongman Classic in 2002, competing against some of the greatest strength athletes from all over the world. In 2003, Henry returned to WWE, where he took part of the group "Thuggin' And Buggin' Enterprises", a group compiled of African Americans who worked a race angle in which they felt they were victims of racism and were being held down by the "white man".

The following year, Henry tore his quadriceps muscle, and was unable to compete for over a year. Upon his return, he was briefly involved in feuds with Kurt Angle and The Undertaker, before suffering a knee injury. After it healed, he continued to feud with The Undertaker, before being moved to the ECW brand in June 2008, where he had Tony Atlas as a manager. In June 2008, he won the ECW Championship and held it for three months. In 2011, Henry had a resurgence on SmackDown, which led to him winning his first World Heavyweight Championship in September 2011 when he defeated Randy Orton.

Weightlifting career[link]

Mark Henry pushing a tank.

During his time in high school, Henry was a three-time state champion with state records in the squat at 832 lb (377 kg), bench press at 525 lb (238 kg) and deadlift at 815 lb (370 kg).^[10] At the Texas high school powerlifting championships in April 1990, Terry Todd, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Texas at Austin and former weightlifter, spotted Henry and persuaded him to go to Austin after he graduated to train in the Olympic style of weightlifting.^[10]

Henry broke four national junior records in weightlifting after eight months of training in Olympic weightlifting.^[11] In April 1991, he placed fourth at the United States Nationals, and finished sixth at the World Junior Weightlifting Championships in Germany two months later.^[11] In Henry's first year of competing, he broke the three junior (20 and under) American records 12 times, and became the United States' top superheavyweight, surpassing Mario Martinez.^[12]

Henry nicknames himself the World's Strongest Man after he qualified for the weightlifting competition at the 1992 Summer Olympics, where he finished tenth in the super heavyweight class.^[7][12] Ten months before the 1992 Olympics, Henry had begun training with Dragomir Cioroslan, a bronze medalist at the 1984 Summer Olympics, who said that he had "never seen anyone with Mark's raw talent".^[12] At the 1995 Pan American Games Henry won a gold, silver and bronze medal, and a year later, he became a North America, Central America, Caribbean Islands (NACACI) champion.^[7] He also participated in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and was voted team captain, but finished 14th after suffering a back injury.^[7]

Professional wrestling career[link]

World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment / WWE[link]

Early career (1996–1997)[link]

Henry made his first appearance on World Wrestling Federation (WWF) programming on the March 11, 1996 episode of Monday Night Raw, where he press slammed Jerry Lawler, who was ridiculing Henry while interviewing him in the ring. After Henry competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, the WWF signed him to a ten-year contract.^[7] Trained by professional wrestler Leo Burke, his first feud in the WWF was with Lawler. At the pay-per-view event, SummerSlam in August 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.^[7] The feud continued on the live circuit during subsequent weeks.^[13] On the November 4 episode of Raw, Henry served as a cornerman for Barry Windham in a match against Goldust. He was set to team with Windham, Marc Mero and Rocky Maivia to take on the team of Lawler, Goldust, Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Crush at Survivor Series, but was replaced by Jake Roberts when he was forced to withdraw from the event due to injury. On the November 17 episode of Superstars, Henry defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Crush and Goldust in a tug of war contest. Henry's career was then stalled as, over the next year, he took time off to heal injuries and engage in further training. In November 1997, he returned to the ring, making his televised return the following month.^[14] By the end of the year, he was a regular fixture on WWF programming, defeating Steve Lombardi on the December 15 episode of Raw, and beating The Sultan on the December 27 episode of Shotgun.

Nation of Domination and Sexual Chocolate (1998–2000)[link]

Henry joined the faction with Farooq, The Rock, Kama Mustafa and D'Lo Brown on January 12, 1998.^[7] After The Rock usurped Farooq's position as leader, Henry switched loyalties to The Rock. He also competed at WrestleMania XIV in a tag team battle royal, with Brown as his partner, but they did not win.^[15] After the Nation disbanded, he engaged in a short feud with The Rock, defeating him at Judgment Day: In Your House with help from Brown, and then forming a permanent team with Brown, gaining Ivory as a manager.^[7][16] During the next year, Henry gave himself the nickname "Sexual Chocolate", and was involved in controversial angles with Chyna and a transvestite.^[7] During a match at the August 1999 pay-per-view, SummerSlam, between Brown and Jeff Jarrett for the WWF Intercontinental and WWF European Championships (both held at the time by Brown), Henry turned on Brown and helped Jarrett win the match and the titles.^[17] The next night, Henry was awarded the European title by Jarrett in return for his help.^[18] Henry dropped the title one month later to Brown at the Unforgiven pay-per-view.^[19]

After this, Henry turned into a fan favorite, and was seen on television romancing WWF women from Chyna to Mae Young as part of the "Sexual Chocolate" character.^[7] He feuded with Viscera during this time as part of a storyline where Viscera splashed Mae Young while she was carrying Henry's child.^[20][21] 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 the admission that he was a sex addict.^[7]

Hiatus/Strongman[link]

In 2000, Henry was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) to improve his conditioning and skills. In OVW, Henry teamed with Nick Dinsmore to compete in a tournament for the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship in mid-2001.^[7] Later that year, he went on hiatus from wrestling to concentrate on weightlifting, and on February 23, 2002, he won a strongman competition, the inaugeral Arnold Strongman Classic in Columbus, Ohio.^[7][22]

Brand switches (2002–2004)[link]

Henry returned to the WWF the next month and was sent to the SmackDown! brand, where he developed an in-ring persona of performing "tests of strength" while other wrestlers took bets on the tests, but the gimmick met with little success.^[2] During this time he competed against such superstars as Chris Jericho and Christian.^[7] After being used sporadically on WWE (formerly WWF) television during 2002, as he was training for a weightlifting contest, and suffering a knee injury, Henry was sent back to OVW for more training.^[2][7]

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".^[7] 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.^[2] This was followed by a brief rivalry with Shawn Michaels, before he engaged in a rivalry with Booker T.^[23][24][25] After defeating Booker T twice, once in a street fight and once in a six-man tag team match, he lost to Booker T at the Armageddon pay-per-view in December 2003.^[26][27][28] At a practice session in OVW in February 2004, Henry tore his quadriceps muscle, and was out for over a year after undergoing surgery.^[2][7] Henry was then utilized by WWE as a public relations figure during his recovery, before returning to OVW to finish out 2005.^[7]

SmackDown! (2005–2006)[link]

Henry in 2006.

During the December 30 episode of SmackDown!, Henry made his return to television, as he interfered in a WWE Tag Team Championship match, joining with MNM (Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro, and Melina), to help them defeat Rey Mysterio and Batista for the championship.^[29] A week later on SmackDown!, Henry got in a confrontation with the World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, and went on to interfere in a steel cage match between MNM and the team of Mysterio and Batista, helping MNM to retain their titles.^[30] 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 episode of SmackDown!, Henry was involved in a battle royal for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. He was finally tossed out by Kurt Angle, who won the title.^[31][32]

Henry vs The Undertaker.

A week later, Henry received assistance from Daivari, who turned on Angle and announced that he was the manager of Henry.^[33] With Daivari at his side, Henry would face Kurt Angle for the World Heavyweight title at the 2006 Royal Rumble in January, which he lost when Angle hit him with a chair (without the referee seeing) and pinned Henry with a roll-up.^[34]

On the March 10 episode of SmackDown!, after putting Kurt Angle through a table with a diving splash, Henry was then challenged to a casket match by The Undertaker at WrestleMania 22.^[35] Henry vowed to defeat The Undertaker and end his streak at WrestleMania, but was unsuccessful in this quest as The Undertaker would defeat Henry at the event.^[36] 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, The Great Khali, who was also making his debut. Khali then went to the ring and started to attack the Undertaker, thus ending the feud between them.^[37]

During the rest of April and May, Henry gained a pinfall victory over the World Heavyweight Champion, Rey Mysterio in a non-title match.^[38] Henry would also enter the King of the Ring tournament, in which he was defeated by Bobby Lashley in the first round.^[39] He later cost Kurt Angle his World Heavyweight Championship 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 Judgment Day, Henry then sent a "message" to Angle by defeating Paul Burchill.^[40] At Judgment Day, Henry defeated Angle by countout.^[41] Although winning, Angle got his revenge after the match by hitting Henry with a chair and putting him through a table.^[41]

Henry later went on what was referred to as a "path of destruction", causing injuries to numerous superstars. Henry "took out" Chris Benoit and Paul Burchill on this path of destruction, and attacked Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero.^[42][43][44] These events led up to a feud with the returning Batista, whom Henry had put out of action with a legitimate injury several months beforehand. When Batista returned he and Henry were scheduled to face one another at The Great American Bash in July.^[45] Weeks before that event, however, on the July 15, 2006 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event, Henry was involved in a six-man tag team match with King Booker and Finlay against Batista, Rey Mysterio, and Bobby Lashley.^[46] During the match, Henry was injured, canceling the scheduled match at The Great American Bash, as Henry needed surgery. Doctors later found that Henry completely tore his patella tendon off the bone and split his patella completely in two.^[47]

Return from injury and various feuds (2007–2008)[link]

Henry returned on the May 11, 2007 episode of SmackDown!, after weeks of vignettes hyping his return.^[48] 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.^[49] Henry then began a short feud with Kane, defeating him in a Lumberjack Match at One Night Stand.^[50] Shortly after, Henry made an open challenge to the SmackDown! locker room, which nobody ever accepted. In the coming weeks he faced various jobbers—wrestlers who consistently lose to make their opponents look stronger—and quickly defeated them all.^[51][52] On August 3, he claimed that nobody accepted the open challenge to step into the ring with him because of what he had done to The Undertaker, presenting footage of his assault on the Undertaker.^[53] The Undertaker responded over the following weeks, playing various mind games with Henry.^[54][55] Henry finally faced The Undertaker again at Unforgiven in September, losing to him after being given a Last Ride.^[56] Two weeks later, Henry lost a rematch to The Undertaker after The Undertaker performed a chokeslam on Henry.^[57]