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]

After a short hiatus, Henry returned to WWE programming on the October 23 episode of ECW, attacking Kane, along with The Great Khali and Big Daddy V.^[58] Henry then began teaming with Big Daddy V against Kane and CM Punk, and was briefly managed by Big Daddy V's manager, Matt Striker.^[2] At Armageddon, Henry and Big Daddy V defeated Kane and Punk.^[59] Before WrestleMania XXIV aired, Henry participated in a 24-man battle royal to determine the number one contender for the ECW Championship, but failed to win.^[60]

ECW Champion (2008–2009)[link]

Henry as ECW Champion with Tony Atlas.

As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Henry was drafted to the ECW brand.^[61] At Night of Champions, Henry defeated Kane and Big Show in a Triple Threat match to capture the ECW Championship in his debut match as an ECW superstar.^[62] Upon winning the title, it was made exclusive to the ECW brand once again. Henry's title win came nearly a full decade after he was awarded the European Championship, which was back in 1999 and the only title he held in WWE.^[8] A few weeks later, Hall of Famer Tony Atlas returned to WWE to act as Henry's manager. A month after Henry's title win, ECW General Manager, Theodore Long, unveiled a new, entirely platinum ECW Championship belt design.^[63] Henry would lose the title at Unforgiven in the Championship Scramble match to Matt Hardy.^[64]

Henry attempted to regain the championship throughout the end of 2008, including a match against Hardy at No Mercy, but was unsuccessful.^[65] Henry and Atlas then engaged in a scripted rivalry against Finlay and Hornswoggle, which included Henry losing a Belfast Brawl at Armageddon.^[66][67] At the start of 2009, Henry qualified for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXV, and was involved in a series of matches with the other competitors on Raw, SmackDown, and ECW.^[68][69][70] He was unsuccessful at WrestleMania, however, as CM Punk won the match.^[71] In May, Henry began a rivalry with Evan Bourne, which began after Bourne defeated Henry by countout on the May 26 episode of ECW.^[72]

Raw and various tag teams (2009–2011)[link]

Henry before a tag team match with MVP.

On June 29, Henry was traded to the Raw brand and redebuted for the brand that night as the third opponent in a three-on-one gauntlet match against Randy Orton, which he won, turning Henry into a fan favorite in the process.^[73] In August 2009, Henry formed a tag team with Montel Vontavious Porter,the two formed a tag team called The World's Strongest Tag Team and the two challenged the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions Jeri-Show (Chris Jericho and The Big Show) for the title at Breaking Point, but were unsuccessful.^[74][75] They stopped teaming afterwards, becoming involved in separate storylines, until the February 15, 2010 episode of Raw in which they defeated the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions The Big Show and The Miz in a non-title match.^[76] The next week they challenged The Big Show and The Miz in a title match but were unsuccessful.^[77] At Extreme Rules, Henry and MVP fought for a chance to become number one contenders to the Unified WWE Tag Team Championships, but were the second team eliminated in a gauntlet match by The Big Show and The Miz. The match would be won by The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith).^[78]

It was later announced that Henry would mentor Lucky Cannon in the second season of WWE NXT.^[79][80] Cannon was eliminated on the August 10 episode of NXT.^[81] In September, Henry began teaming with Evan Bourne, starting at the Night of Champions pay-per-view, where they entered a Tag Team Turmoil for the WWE Tag Team Championship. They made it to the final two before being defeated by Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre.^[82] The team came to an end in October when Bourne suffered an injury and was taken out of action. Henry then formed a team with Yoshi Tatsu on the November 29 episode of Raw, defeating WWE Tag Team Champions Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater, after a distraction by John Cena.^[83] They received a shot at the championship the next week, in a fatal four-way elimination tag team match, which also included The Usos and Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov. Henry and Tatsu were the first team eliminated in the match.^[84]

World Heavyweight Champion and Hall of Pain (2011–present)[link]

Henry at Tribute to the Troops.

On the April 25, 2011, episode of Raw, Henry was drafted back to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2011 WWE Draft. In the main event of the night, Henry attacked his teammates, John Cena and Christian, turning heel as a result.^[85] On the May 27 episode of SmackDown, Henry participated in a Triple Threat match against Sheamus and Christian to decide the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship, which was won by Sheamus. Henry then began a feud with Big Show, attacking him during matches and backstage. On the July 1 episode of SmackDown, Show would cost Henry a match against Randy Orton, by playing his titantron during the match, resulting in Henry getting counted out. If Henry would have won, he would become the new number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. Afterward, Henry would destroy the production set.^[86] At Money in the Bank, Henry would defeat Big Show in a singles match. After the match, Henry would crush Show's foot with a chair, (kayfabe) injuring him.^[87] On the following SmackDown, Henry would do the same to Kane.^[88]

Henry defeated a local wrestler on the July 29 episode of SmackDown, where, after the match, Theodore Long informed Henry that he could no longer compete as no one wants to fight him. Sheamus interrupted, saying he isn't afraid of Henry before slapping him. On the August 5 episode of SmackDown, Henry defeated Vladimir Kozlov and after the match would crush his leg. At SummerSlam, Henry defeated Sheamus by count-out.^[89]

Mark Henry as World Heavyweight Champion.

On the August 19 episode of SmackDown, Henry won a 20-man Battle Royal to become the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship to face Orton at Night of Champions^[90] and throughout weeks on SmackDown and on the September 11 episode of Raw, Henry would attack Orton getting the advantage over him.^{[91][92][93][94]} At Night of Champions, Henry defeated Randy Orton to become World Heavyweight Champion for the first time.^[9] On the September 26 episode of Raw, Henry was set to face The Great Khali, but before the match, Henry would use the World Heavyweight title to attack Khali, before hitting him with the World's Strongest Slam. Henry and Khali would fight again on that week's episode of SmackDown, where Henry was successful. After the match, Henry crushed Khali's foot with a chair, (kayfabe) injuring him.^[95] Henry successfully defended the title against Orton at Hell in a Cell in a Hell in a Cell match.^[96]