WWE Legends Biography Mark Henry July 21st 2024
WWE Legends Biography Mark Henry Live
Transcript
00:00:00This is where the magic happened right here.
00:00:07My God, this place still look exactly the same.
00:00:12Barnes, who is Barnes?
00:00:14This is a Henry locker.
00:00:21I was able to come in here and do something that very few people have ever done.
00:00:26Do things that nobody ever done.
00:00:29From that point I felt, man, I'm different, I'm special.
00:00:34When you come from poverty and now you live in gated communities with million dollar houses,
00:00:41people see you and they judge you by that.
00:00:44They don't know that house that I grew up in.
00:00:47They don't know this.
00:00:49They had every advantage to be better than me.
00:00:53And they wasn't.
00:00:56The world's strongest man, Mark Henry!
00:01:01There was a lot of people in the locker room that doubted Mark, that wanted to test Mark.
00:01:06This isn't the Olympics, this isn't weightlifting.
00:01:10Mark Henry wanted to prove that he could be just as good of a wrestler as he was a weightlifter.
00:01:15I'd like to welcome all of you to the Hall of Fame!
00:01:21African-American kids seeing someone like Mark Henry, that was huge.
00:01:25I've always viewed myself as being the world's strongest man.
00:01:28Now I get a chance to prove it.
00:01:30Mark Henry, breaking history!
00:01:33He puts his mind to beat the dust at everything.
00:01:35Mark had a great idea of what his gifts were.
00:01:38I love his ability to evolve.
00:01:40I'm very proud of you.
00:01:42It just shows you as the world is away.
00:01:46It's good to know where you came from.
00:01:52And know what you did matter.
00:02:11I was born in a little small town called Silsbury, Texas.
00:02:15June 12th, 1971.
00:02:19I'm one of those kids that grew up in poverty, but didn't know that I was poor.
00:02:26My mother, she always tried to make it peaceful for us at home.
00:02:32Man, my mom was arguably the best cook in Southeast Texas.
00:02:37My mom cleaned houses and cooked meals in people's house.
00:02:43And that's what she did for a living.
00:02:45I mean, she didn't make a lot of money.
00:02:47But she felt fulfilled because she was always doing what she loved.
00:02:51And that's cooking for other people.
00:02:53And seeing the smiles on their face when they tasted her food.
00:02:57They would go, oh my god, Miss Barbara!
00:03:00And she would just start smiling and rubbing her hands together.
00:03:03Like, that was her passion.
00:03:05And I learned at an early age, like, you need to do what you love.
00:03:11But let's salute the strongest man in the world.
00:03:14Vasily Alexeyev.
00:03:17Vasily Alexeyev was the first lifter that I ever saw.
00:03:23And I just loved the fact that people threw roses at him.
00:03:27And they revered him and they loved on him.
00:03:30And I wanted that.
00:03:31I figured that that came by being the strongest guy.
00:03:35So, that's what I worked for my whole life.
00:03:40My mother bought the 225-pound concrete weight set.
00:03:45And that's what me and my brother started on.
00:03:49Man, I was strong.
00:03:51But my brother was absolutely awesome.
00:03:55Andre's a little bit upset now, I think.
00:03:57As a little kid watching wrestling, it just identified with me.
00:04:03Body slamming 300 pounds.
00:04:06Me and my brother, we would go outside and wrestle in Ms. Price's yard.
00:04:10The lady across the street from us.
00:04:12There was a guy named Ricky Dixon, who was a grown-up.
00:04:16Ricky was probably 20, 25 at the time.
00:04:19And I was probably like 12.
00:04:21It got to the point where Ricky was trying to break everybody up.
00:04:24And he pushed me down.
00:04:25And he was like, hey, back up.
00:04:28You know, there's a new sheriff in town.
00:04:30He's doing his whole stick.
00:04:31And I was like, don't push me like that again.
00:04:35And my brother said, do something.
00:04:37It takes him forever to get mad.
00:04:41But once he's upset...
00:04:44And I grabbed Ricky, and man, before you knew it, he was off his feet.
00:04:48And body slammed on the ground.
00:04:50And everybody was like...
00:04:53I see you, Mark, like that's...
00:04:55And it just felt good.
00:04:57Mark always had a smile on his face.
00:04:59He would laugh and he would giggle.
00:05:01He was tender-hearted.
00:05:03But when you pushed him in a corner, now leave him alone.
00:05:05Because that bear is going to come out fighting.
00:05:09Boys, a lot of trouble happened in these hallways.
00:05:13I tried to be good, though.
00:05:16I was trying.
00:05:18He would tell people to leave him alone.
00:05:20I mean, they were always agitating.
00:05:22And he told this one kid.
00:05:23And he kept on and on and on.
00:05:25And the next thing I know, Mark is throwing him on the lockers.
00:05:29So I'm sitting there trying to get him off the lockers.
00:05:31And he turns around and tells the kid, she won't be here next time.
00:05:33I went, oh, Lord.
00:05:35But that was just him getting pushed, you know, to his limit.
00:05:39I think that a lot of things was going on in his life.
00:05:43He was growing very fast.
00:05:46I was a troubled kid.
00:05:49I was very big.
00:05:50I mean, just at 10 years old, I was 225 pounds.
00:05:55If it was big...
00:05:57If it was black...
00:05:58If it was derogatory...
00:06:01That's what I got called.
00:06:03I was Fat Albert.
00:06:05I was McGillivarilla.
00:06:08But the worst of everything is...
00:06:11You know, I was later found out to have dyslexia.
00:06:15And the kids would call me retard.
00:06:18Bro, like, that's the trigger word for me.
00:06:21That's the word that'll get you smashed.
00:06:28Which led to me in middle school...
00:06:31Being put in juvenile detention...
00:06:35Because of violent outbreaks.
00:06:38They call it the box.
00:06:40You know, you get in trouble, you go to the box.
00:06:42Sixth grade, seventh grade.
00:06:44I kept fighting everybody.
00:06:47All kids are kind of finding themselves.
00:06:50You know, Martin was 350 pounds.
00:06:52Then he came into high school.
00:06:54The guy was strong.
00:06:55I don't think that he knew how strong he was.
00:07:00Freshman year, Martin got moved to Varsity.
00:07:03And I remember his brother Pat, you know...
00:07:06Come on, Mark, block him, get him.
00:07:08And he's like, I know what I'm supposed to be doing.
00:07:10They hiked the ball, and he took that whole defensive line out.
00:07:15So he started getting a little respect after that.
00:07:22This room still smells exactly the same.
00:07:26The smell of iron.
00:07:28The smell of blood.
00:07:30Craig McGallion, who was the strength coach at the time...
00:07:34He was like, Mark Henry, hey, you...
00:07:38You got a past of getting in trouble and all of that.
00:07:43He was like, it ends today.
00:07:47He said, you can be special.
00:07:49I'm not talking about seals be special.
00:07:52He said, people know you all over the world.
00:07:56We just want you to stay out of trouble.
00:07:59Boy, save me.
00:08:02I remember that first meet.
00:08:04You know, the first competition, and he just ran away with it.
00:08:09I just saw a different Mark.
00:08:11He had that attitude, you know, like...
00:08:13You know, I'm the s*** down.
00:08:15So he took it and ran with it.
00:08:18The first year that Silsby went to state, we won state.
00:08:22You know, we went to state and walked it.
00:08:25He started flourishing and he got more and more and more.
00:08:30I totaled over 2,000 pounds.
00:08:33Squatted 832 pounds.
00:08:36Three-time state champion.
00:08:38Three-time national champion.
00:08:40Man, it felt good to be in the newspaper every week.
00:08:43Like, man, Mark Hearn is the strongest kid in the world.
00:08:49Nice little flap-top fade right there.
00:08:53When you do the right thing, you get the right rewards.
00:08:59In the late 80s, we had heard that at the state powerlifting meet,
00:09:03there was going to be this kid from Silsby, Texas,
00:09:06and they thought he was really going to do something big.
00:09:10And sure enough, he came out and squatted over 800 pounds that day
00:09:14as a high school student.
00:09:15I mean, I'd never seen anything like it.
00:09:18I ended up in the Guinness Book for about 15 years
00:09:21and Sports Illustrated and other people called me, you know,
00:09:24strongest woman in the world and things like that.
00:09:27I was married to Terry Todd,
00:09:28who was a pioneer in the sport of powerlifting
00:09:31and also coached a number of athletes.
00:09:34Mark was so natural an athlete and also so explosive
00:09:37that he was ideally suited for weightlifting,
00:09:40although he was much too old to really be considered
00:09:43as an Olympic weightlifter.
00:09:44If he had been in Bulgaria,
00:09:46they would have had him lifting weights when he was 10.
00:09:49But Mark's potential was just unbelievable.
00:09:52On the way home, Terry just said,
00:09:54I just think we ought to try to help him.
00:09:57Jan and Terry came to my house and explained to my mom that,
00:10:01yeah, Mark, he can go to college and play football.
00:10:03He could be another football player.
00:10:05But Mark is the best in the world at something.
00:10:09She said, well, you know, I'll let him come up there with y'all,
00:10:13but he's a good kid. Don't mess him up.
00:10:17And she meant it when she said that too.
00:10:21And Terry was like, we want him to work to his potential.
00:10:24I think that Mark could be the strongest person to ever live.
00:10:28I had to make a transition first
00:10:30from powerlifting to Olympic lifting,
00:10:34which are completely different things altogether.
00:10:38Olympic weightlifting requires athleticism, flexibility.
00:10:42You're pulling weight at a high rate of speed.
00:10:49Oh, my God.
00:10:51You have to be able to control that.
00:10:53Oh, my God.
00:10:55You have to be able to control that.
00:10:57That was something that had to be taught,
00:10:59and it took about three years for most people to learn that art.
00:11:04And I was able to pick it up in nine months
00:11:09because of my strength and make the Olympic team in 92.
00:11:15I had to train so many hours,
00:11:17and I was going to school at the same time.
00:11:20I was working at the YMCA.
00:11:23In my city, they banded together and said,
00:11:27man, we don't want you to work.
00:11:29We just want you to focus on the Olympic Games.
00:11:32It takes a whole community to raise a child.
00:11:35A child needs to know that it's love.
00:11:37Mark knows he's the love out of people in Sealsville.
00:11:40It's undeniable how much that town means to him
00:11:44and how much he means to the town.
00:11:48You know, whenever he would come back home,
00:11:50when he showed up in town, the town shut down.
00:11:53And still to this day,
00:11:55people trying to see Mark Henry or talk to him.
00:12:04They raised a little over $25,000.
00:12:07They all raised that money for me to go to the Games.
00:12:11That place is special.
00:12:13I know it happens in other places,
00:12:16but it happened to me.
00:12:21In 92, I came in 10th place.
00:12:24I still had more to prove.
00:12:27He didn't do fabulously,
00:12:29but he was American champion by that time,
00:12:31and he held most of the American records in weightlifting.
00:12:35And the idea of going back to the Olympic Games in 96
00:12:38was a huge motivation for him.
00:12:40I like to stop and talk, but I got a point on history.
00:12:44I was focused, man.
00:12:46Oh, my God, man, you don't know the fire that was lit under me.
00:12:55This is Jenna giving me static about making a mistake.
00:12:59I met Mark in 93.
00:13:03One of my best friends from childhood,
00:13:05we were driving across the country and stopped in Colorado Springs.
00:13:08They stopped in at the Olympic Training Center
00:13:11to meet a friend of mine.
00:13:13I come to Jair Lynch's door, and I get ready to knock,
00:13:16and I hear two girls laughing.
00:13:18And I stop, and I'm like,
00:13:20oh, this is a great moment.
00:13:22I'm finna get him.
00:13:25We hear the knock at the door.
00:13:27Open up, security!
00:13:28And I'm like, oh, my God, we're gonna get Jair kicked out.
00:13:31I mean, it was scrambling, you hear me?
00:13:35She hid in the closet and not get in trouble.
00:13:38I come out the closet, and I look at him,
00:13:41and I'm like, you're the biggest human being
00:13:43I've ever seen in my life.
00:13:45He was kind, and he's fun,
00:13:48and we were fast friends.
00:13:50Like, he would write me poems and sing,
00:13:53and I was like, yeah, this is the dude.
00:13:56When you find somebody that you would like to spend
00:13:59the rest of your life with,
00:14:01you know, it's pretty damn cool.
00:14:03Go inside yourself.
00:14:05It's amazing.
00:14:07To see him as an athlete was so much fun,
00:14:10and I remember him calling me.
00:14:13And he's like, Jana, I think I'm gonna win the Olympics.
00:14:17Mark Henry just got the world record at 800 pounds,
00:14:21exceeding the previous record by 7 pounds.
00:14:29She hasn't seen this in a long time.
00:14:31She hasn't seen this in a long time.
00:14:33So this is your Barcelona jacket.
00:14:35That was your warm-up top from 92.
00:14:37And I actually have a shirt from that contest.
00:14:40I can't believe I was ever that wide.
00:14:42You were wide. Can you see that?
00:14:44Like, look at that on you now.
00:14:46When I think about you and, like,
00:14:48proving how important you were in the 1996 Olympic Games
00:14:52and how famous you are as these, you know,
00:14:54because, like, this is one of their main posters
00:14:57for the games, people they're really focusing on
00:14:59as their celebs, and you're not the diver over here.
00:15:02No.
00:15:03But you are over here.
00:15:04Oh, wow.
00:15:05Yeah, you are.
00:15:09After Barcelona, we're just trying to figure out
00:15:12a way to, like, make him have a nice life
00:15:14so that he can train and focus on the next Olympic Games,
00:15:16which he wanted to do.
00:15:18Terry had the idea that they would go talk to Vince.
00:15:24Terry met Vince back when he was working
00:15:27on a long article that he did about Andre the Giant
00:15:30that ran in Sports Illustrated.
00:15:32Terry called Vince and explained to him
00:15:34that there was this really unusual young man
00:15:36and that he'd been to the Olympic Games
00:15:38and he loved the WWE.
00:15:40Anytime you want some, you can get some.
00:15:43Ain't going nowhere.
00:15:45Mark had a lot of charisma.
00:15:47Mark has a dynamic personality.
00:15:49Mark's smile lights up a room.
00:15:52Mark had dunked a basketball at 400 pounds.
00:15:58Immediately, it was like,
00:16:00this guy's made for the WWE.
00:16:04From there, we sponsored Mark Henry's trip to the Olympics.
00:16:10Go ahead and get your gear on.
00:16:12You know, I wore WWE merchandise.
00:16:15I wore the logo when I competed.
00:16:17It was pretty cool, man, to have the WWE be a sponsor.
00:16:24Vince agreed to support Mark for the next several years
00:16:28with really no obligations on Mark's part
00:16:31other than if at the end of the Olympic Games in 96,
00:16:35you want to wrestle,
00:16:37I want to ask you to come and talk to me.
00:16:45Seeing him lift, I don't know, 500 pounds,
00:16:48it was some heavyweight,
00:16:51and then lifting up his foot to showboat,
00:16:54and I was like, oh, you've got that thing in you.
00:16:58I was covering the 96 Games in Atlanta,
00:17:01and I don't think there had been an American weightlifter
00:17:04who had generated this much excitement and anticipation
00:17:08in a generation.
00:17:10Mark was a very likable presence.
00:17:14He was the embodiment of the jolly big man.
00:17:18He just seemed very good-natured.
00:17:22Mark became the de facto spokesman for the Olympic team.
00:17:27He was all over the place.
00:17:29He got photographed by Annie Leibovitz.
00:17:32He was on every late-night talk show.
00:17:35How do you do 5,000 calories a day?
00:17:37What does that mean?
00:17:38I love bacon and sausage, man.
00:17:40He did a lot of daytime shows, like Oprah.
00:17:43Oh, my gosh!
00:17:47Sheesh, you're big.
00:17:50That's beautiful.
00:17:51You got to take some gumbo.
00:17:53I was able to go and get a level of notoriety
00:17:56that very few people will get to have.
00:17:59But I tell people all the time
00:18:01that I competed in a sport that was corrupt,
00:18:04not making any excuses,
00:18:06but I was not going to trade my health for a gold medal.
00:18:12The whole question of anabolic steroids
00:18:14was a big problem for Mark
00:18:16because Mark didn't use drugs.
00:18:18Do you take performance-enhancing drugs?
00:18:20No.
00:18:21Have you ever?
00:18:22No.
00:18:23And so in 96 in particular,
00:18:26there had been some weightlifter
00:18:28who had been banned by the IOC for drug use.
00:18:31And so the next thing we knew, he was allowed in the contest.
00:18:35The positive drug tests that show up,
00:18:38the penalties for those are really not enough
00:18:40to deter somebody.
00:18:42And so for Mark, that was really disheartening.
00:18:45I'm hoping that the federations of lifting
00:18:49will get rid of some of these guys that are dirty.
00:18:52It's like a slap in the face to me,
00:18:54so I don't respect them at all.
00:18:59The city of Atlanta, home of the Olympic Games.
00:19:07I was focused, man.
00:19:09I was there to compete.
00:19:12The U.S. team had not made a top ten finish in the Olympics
00:19:16since, like, 1972.
00:19:28I tore the muscle in between my ribs.
00:19:31I was like, you know what, man?
00:19:33I'm going to lift anyway.
00:19:36Mark Henry had a great work ethic.
00:19:38He didn't have to perform, but he went out there
00:19:40and lifted just enough to make the team place.
00:19:43It shows that Mark Henry isn't just a great athlete,
00:19:45he's also a team player.
00:19:51I cleaned it.
00:19:53It felt like lightning struck me when I jerked that weight.
00:20:02I finished the competition, and my team got the points.
00:20:07And we came in 10th place.
00:20:10I'm the most proud of that of anything in my athletic career.
00:20:15He stood up, and I was proud of him.
00:20:17He didn't do drugs, so he didn't try to cheat.
00:20:20He'd rather finish 10th and lose than to cheat and win.
00:20:24He wasn't scared to speak up against things that are wrong.
00:20:31Thomas A.I., he told me in Atlanta,
00:20:34hey, you got to stop talking about drugs and weightlifting.
00:20:38You're going to get the sport kicked out of the Olympics.
00:20:41And I told him, I said, no, you're getting the sport
00:20:43kicked out of the Olympics.
00:20:45And I knew from after that conversation
00:20:47that I was never going to do weightlifting again.
00:20:53You can't make a living in many Olympic sports.
00:20:59People may admire the competitors,
00:21:01and they may pay close attention to almost anything
00:21:03that's under the banner of the Olympics.
00:21:05But you can't make a living at it.
00:21:07So if a guy like Mark Henry is going to make a living,
00:21:11especially with the Olympics being a springboard
00:21:14in terms of their notoriety and popularity...
00:21:16The world's strongest man, Mark Henry!
00:21:21...then the place to go is into professional wrestling.
00:21:25The closing ceremonies, baby!
00:21:30As soon as I left the Olympic Games,
00:21:33Terry Todd acted as my manager.
00:21:37He said, we're going to go to meet Vince.
00:21:39They want to talk to you about being a full-time wrestler.
00:21:42I didn't even know that that was possible.
00:21:45But Vince had bigger plans than I did.
00:21:49He is the newest member to our family,
00:21:52the world's strongest man, Mark Henry!
00:21:59I signed a 10-year, multimillion-dollar deal.
00:22:02But the one thing that was different
00:22:04is I had the first guaranteed contract.
00:22:07Whether I succeeded or not,
00:22:09I was going to get paid the money we negotiated.
00:22:12And no wrestler ever told me
00:22:14that I was going to get paid.
00:22:17I think Mark was in the neighborhood
00:22:19of $250,000 a year for the 10-year deal.
00:22:22Mark Henry was the first major developmental contract
00:22:26that we ever did in this company.
00:22:28The feeling was, if Mark could come into our world
00:22:31and adapt,
00:22:33that it was limitless, what Mark Henry could do.
00:22:38That match was so much fun,
00:22:40on television, in a pay-per-view,
00:22:43when I had no wrestling experience whatsoever.
00:22:47I thought, man, I had died and gone to heaven, man.
00:22:51So Mark's head, Mark was already there.
00:22:54I'm a star.
00:22:56These other guys weren't.
00:22:58I'm a star.
00:23:00I'm a star.
00:23:02I'm a star.
00:23:04I'm a star.
00:23:06These other guys are working all this time,
00:23:08and they can't even get on the card.
00:23:10I'm featured. I'm Mark Henry, world's strongest man.
00:23:15I am here with the world's strongest man, Mark Henry.
00:23:20Most of the stars at the time
00:23:22had spent years and years in the territories,
00:23:25and they had to scratch and claw
00:23:28for every spot, for every payday.
00:23:31Can you believe the strength of this human being?
00:23:34And then for this guy who's not from the wrestling world
00:23:38to sign a mega-contract,
00:23:41then be expected to perform at a high level,
00:23:44there was a lot of people in the locker room that doubted Mark,
00:23:47that wanted to test Mark.
00:23:50Some guys are like, I could care less,
00:23:52and then there's other guys that were like,
00:23:54man, why is this guy taking a bump?
00:23:56He's getting a ten-year deal.
00:23:58This isn't the Olympics.
00:24:01This isn't weightlifting.
00:24:03We didn't care where you were. We didn't care what you had done.
00:24:06We respected what you had done,
00:24:08but you had to prove yourself with us.
00:24:10Mark, I don't think, understood the business well enough
00:24:14to know what was given to him at that time.
00:24:18I needed to learn, learn to take bumps,
00:24:21learn to run the ropes, all the fundamental things
00:24:24that young wrestlers have to learn.
00:24:27So I moved to Stanford, started training with Dr. Tom.
00:24:32The idea was in 1996 to have a training system in place
00:24:38where we could start training guys with potential.
00:24:42I was fortunate enough to be picked and chosen
00:24:45to come in and do that with Mark Henry
00:24:48and a young Dwayne Johnson.
00:24:51We came up together. We starved together.
00:24:53We were working out in the ring at that time in Stanford, Connecticut.
00:24:56Mark Henry was coming out of the Olympics.
00:24:58He's legitimately one of the strongest men in the world.
00:25:01And then Dory Funk Jr. came in with the Funking Dojo,
00:25:05and we started that crew.
00:25:13Tom realized that being in an aerobic sport that wrestling is,
00:25:18and me being a weightlifter and powerlifter,
00:25:21which is an anaerobic sport,
00:25:23that I was going to have to start training different.
00:25:26You know, the strong man of the team is very different than wrestling.
00:25:29And he was humble, and then he had to grow and learn.
00:25:34So we started training different and then putting in the reps.
00:25:44I kept getting hurt because I didn't know what I was doing.
00:25:48There was a setback of me tearing the ligaments and breaking my ankle.
00:25:53I didn't want to fail on top of the fact that
00:25:56I didn't want to let everybody down.
00:25:59You know, when you have such huge expectations put on you,
00:26:03it magnifies the pressure.
00:26:06In the beginning, Mark was resting on his laurels.
00:26:10When in reality, it was the company that put him in that position.
00:26:14We needed to see whether or not this investment was going to work out for us.
00:26:21A lot of the wrestlers thought that there was a level of arrogance.
00:26:25They hadn't paid any dues.
00:26:28I got a lot of heat from wrestlers about that contract.
00:26:32I got hazed.
00:26:34You know, you call it ribbing and having a good time,
00:26:37but it wasn't fun for me.
00:26:40Somebody had messed with him, and as crazy as that sounds,
00:26:42the world's strongest man.
00:26:44But just about everybody gets picked on at some point.
00:26:47I went through it with one of the wrestlers over joking and ribbing.
00:26:52And I got mad, and I told him I was going to hurt him when I healed up.
00:26:57Bret Hart just happened to know about that situation,
00:27:00and he said, you know what, man, come to Calgary.
00:27:03There's a lot you need to learn, not just about wrestling,
00:27:06but the culture of wrestling,
00:27:08and you need to learn how to coexist in a locker room.
00:27:14I don't think anyone disputed the value of guys like Mark Henry.
00:27:18It's a really complicated business sometimes,
00:27:21mentally, emotionally, physically.
00:27:24You could tell that he really wanted to learn.
00:27:26Like he was trying to soak everything up.
00:27:33He was really conscious of getting better.
00:27:35He wanted to learn right.
00:27:39A lot of the reason that I'm still in wrestling
00:27:41is because of Bret Hart.
00:27:43And I befriended his brother, Owen,
00:27:46to be able to hang out with him,
00:27:48and him tell me what I did right and what I did wrong
00:27:51and what I need to do better.
00:27:53The pure power of the man!
00:27:55I'm a legend of my own kind, baby!
00:27:58I came back, and they could see the growth.
00:28:02Mark Henry broke his ankle in training.
00:28:04As rehab, the ankle has come back on itself in great shape.
00:28:09It's been a very long road for Mark Henry.
00:28:13Well, after all of the training that I did with Dwayne Johnson,
00:28:17you know, we started talking about working together.
00:28:21The Rock is in the ring!
00:28:23Mark Henry, the newest member of The Nation, in the ring!
00:28:26The Nation of Domination was made up of superstars
00:28:29like D'Lo Brown, The Godfather, The Rock,
00:28:33and Ron Simmons, a.k.a. Farouk.
00:28:37The Nation, we were rock stars.
00:28:40We were militant black guys
00:28:42that wanted to take over professional wrestling.
00:28:45It was good television.
00:28:49Through The Rock's tutelage and all he did for me,
00:28:52I thought it was even more special
00:28:54to get master's class from Ron Simmons.
00:28:57Go ahead and tell her, Mark.
00:28:58Now that I'm a member of The Nation...
00:28:59Oh, you just hold it right there.
00:29:00You're not a member until I say you're a member.
00:29:02Then you can talk.
00:29:03Now he has some math skills,
00:29:05which has given him the versatility that he needs.
00:29:08And I think that's one of the reasons
00:29:09why they did want to put him with us,
00:29:11so it would take some of the pressure off him.
00:29:13And at the same time, learning the process of everything.
00:29:17Tag team wrestling, singles wrestling, character.
00:29:20And it was a good fit.
00:29:23That's a five-member strong!
00:29:25I wouldn't have been the wrestler that I am today
00:29:27without Ron Simmons.
00:29:28I thank my lovey stars for being in The Nation.
00:29:33This was known as the Attitude Era.
00:29:35WWE superstars were pushing the boundaries
00:29:38further than they had ever been pushed before.
00:29:43The Rock, he's gonna lay the smackdown
00:29:45on your candy ass!
00:29:47After The Nation of Domination,
00:29:48Mark Henry, being the strongman,
00:29:51was not going to be enough
00:29:53to make Mark Henry a star.
00:29:56I told Vince that I want to call myself
00:29:59Sex with Chocolate.
00:30:00And he busted out laughing.
00:30:02He said, no.
00:30:04And I'm like, Vince, you said you wanted us to entertain.
00:30:07Like, I want to entertain.
00:30:09So, get ready.
00:30:15I'm nervous.
00:30:18So nervous.
00:30:22All right, we're speeding.
00:30:24I told Vince that I had this idea for a character.
00:30:29And the character didn't have to win.
00:30:33The character had to woo the women.
00:30:38And Vince was like,
00:30:41listen, we spent a lot of money on you.
00:30:44Here we go, let's try one more.
00:30:46We want this to be a success.
00:30:48And I said it will be a success.
00:30:51You're going to be thanking me by the end of the night.
00:30:58Mark was a charmer.
00:31:01Mark loved the ladies.
00:31:02And the ladies loved Mark.
00:31:04Sex with Chocolate was born.
00:31:07Sex with Chocolate!
00:31:09We love the ladies!
00:31:11It was really a joke at first.
00:31:13We would drive around and laugh at Mark.
00:31:15Hey, Sex with Chocolate!
00:31:16Word of that got back to the office.
00:31:18And next thing you know,
00:31:19Mark took it to a whole different level.
00:31:21Sex with Chocolate!
00:31:23We're ready for you!
00:31:26As much as my children were under direct orders
00:31:30to turn off the TV,
00:31:32as soon as Sex with Chocolate came on the airwaves,
00:31:37Sex with Chocolate was dynamic.
00:31:39I'm the kind of chocolate that melts in your mouth,
00:31:41not in your hand.
00:31:43Oh my God, that character.
00:31:44We love Sex with Chocolate.
00:31:47Mark came in during the Attitude Era.
00:31:49Come on girls, let's go.
00:31:51It was a crazy time.
00:31:54What in the world?
00:31:55Well, you can just do anything you want.
00:31:57Oh my God!
00:31:58To watch him have fun
00:31:59and use his big personality,
00:32:01it was easy for him to do.
00:32:03Because he's naturally that.
00:32:04He's really kind of naturally
00:32:05Sex with Chocolate, I think.
00:32:08Baby, you ready yet?
00:32:09Oh, sweetheart, here I am.
00:32:11You're vibing time.
00:32:14Oh, boy.
00:32:15The storyline that Mae Young should have told anybody,
00:32:17Mark is willing to stretch the envelope.
00:32:20He embraced it.
00:32:22How could you not laugh?
00:32:24There's this big 400-pound black guy
00:32:26soaked in sweat, you know.
00:32:28And there's Mae Young smoking on a cigar
00:32:30like she done wore his ass out.
00:32:32What's all your sex talk?
00:32:33You can't believe me now?
00:32:35Oh, I'm so spent.
00:32:36It may be juvenile humor,
00:32:37but I thought it was fantastic.
00:32:39I'm a sex addict.
00:32:41The creative team during that time,
00:32:43they were on their game.
00:32:44I get on base more times than
00:32:46Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa together.
00:32:49I never came up with one of those sagas.
00:32:52They kept trying to outdo each other
00:32:54and out-top each other.
00:32:56I was willing to 100% wholeheartedly
00:32:59pour my soul into that character.
00:33:04Sex with Chocolate got over,
00:33:06and it's still, right now,
00:33:07one of the greatest gimmicks I think ever.
00:33:10I don't think his mother liked it too well.
00:33:14Matter of fact, I know she did,
00:33:15but, you know.
00:33:17A little discipline on the way
00:33:18for Baby Mark from Mama Henry.
00:33:21She got him by the ear.
00:33:22How embarrassing.
00:33:29Around that time,
00:33:31my mother was really, really sick.
00:33:34She was in a coma.
00:33:36She was in a coma.
00:33:37My mother was really, really sick.
00:33:41I did my best to try to be there for her
00:33:44as much as I could
00:33:47with the cancer that she had.
00:33:53There was about a month's stretch
00:33:54where I was at the hospital.
00:33:57She would be like,
00:33:58you need to get out of here.
00:33:59Go do something.
00:34:01I'm not going nowhere.
00:34:03I'm like, alright, Mom.
00:34:07I get a call from my cousin, Regina,
00:34:09and she was like,
00:34:10hey, you might want to come back
00:34:13to the hospital.
00:34:14Your mom passed.
00:34:17My mom on the end,
00:34:18she had her glasses off.
00:34:20She's taking them off,
00:34:21trying to be cute now.
00:34:27My mom passing away,
00:34:29I mean, it was the worst thing
00:34:31that had ever happened to me
00:34:33in my life at that point
00:34:35because she was my cheerleader.
00:34:38She was my reason for
00:34:42being the guy that I became.
00:34:54I was depressed.
00:34:55I was in an emotional state
00:34:57that I had never been in before.
00:35:01I'm in a time of mourning,
00:35:03and it didn't help none
00:35:06that people were calling me out.
00:35:09There's only one strongest man
00:35:11in the world.
00:35:12He's Mark Henry.
00:35:14One of the strong men said,
00:35:16why is Mark Henry calling himself
00:35:18the world's strongest man?
00:35:19He don't compete in
00:35:20world's strongest man.
00:35:23Them bastards knew that
00:35:25I was the Michael Jordan of lifting.
00:35:29It was their only chance
00:35:31to poke the bear
00:35:32because they knew that the bear
00:35:34was in a different territory.
00:35:38I called Vince and I told him,
00:35:40I was like, listen,
00:35:41I'm a little bit pissed.
00:35:43I want to compete again.
00:35:45And Vince said, well,
00:35:47do you think you can win it?
00:35:49And I got angry and I told him,
00:35:51yeah, I can win it,
00:35:52I'm going to win it.
00:35:54And he said, well,
00:35:55you're putting your career on
00:35:57the line because we don't have
00:35:59a place for the second strongest
00:36:01man.
00:36:04Now I got the pressure of if I
00:36:06lose, I'm going to lose my job.
00:36:09This is it, man.
00:36:30The basketball goal is to
00:36:33be the strongest man in the world.
00:36:36The basketball goal is still up, but this is it.
00:36:46You look and you see like all of the experiences that happened. This magnolia
00:36:54tree, me and my brother and my mom planted that when I was probably six or
00:37:02seven years old. You know it's just a lot of memories you know. I don't want to
00:37:11tear it down because every dollar she ever made she put into building this
00:37:17house. You know I have cousins that you know do real estate they like hey Mark
00:37:23wants to fix it up and rent it out. No. I don't want to rent it because then I
00:37:33would have to like basically rebuild it which would require me tearing it down.
00:37:39Every idea requires me making a decision to you know move this house and I just
00:37:48can't fix myself to do that.
00:37:57When I'm able to deal with it is when something will be done.
00:38:04Barbara Jean was amazing. Mark adored her and understood the enormous sacrifices
00:38:10that she went through to support him and Patrick and gone way too soon and it
00:38:16left a big hole for him. It left a really big hole.
00:38:21The only thing that I could do to take my mind off how much pain I was in was
00:38:28put my headphones on and go to the gym. I wanted to show them that I was who I
00:38:36was known to be and I told Terry that I wanted to compete in strongman and he
00:38:43said well I mean we have a contest that we're putting on in Columbus Ohio at the
00:38:49Arnold Classic. This is a fitness expo where we have every sport possible that
00:38:54has anything to do with strength or with fitness or with endurance and all of
00:38:57those things.
00:39:03It's not your functional normal strength training or Olympic lifting your squat
00:39:08bench deadlift. You have to move around all these crazy different objects and the
00:39:13whole aspect of it is to finding out who the strongest human being is.
00:39:17You can do it Mark come on. It was awesome to get back to working with Terry.
00:39:24It was the best medicine that I could have gotten. That was when I realized that you
00:39:32know I needed some counselor. Getting all of the negativity and ill will that was
00:39:39in my heart out. I had to forgive myself for the things that I had done and said
00:39:45in my life and I had to forgive God for taking my mother from me.
00:39:57It was a lot of messed up stuff going through my head at that time and I
00:40:02appreciate the help. You gotta work man. They don't just give out them strongman
00:40:11titles. You gotta earn them. I'm gonna just go ahead and go to the heaviest
00:40:17dumbbell they got. So in Mark's case he had never competed in a strongman
00:40:26contest. He actually was not in lifting shape. You know being on the road doesn't
00:40:32make you stay in competitive shape. And so we didn't really know if he would
00:40:37win it or not. They're saying that Mark Henry shouldn't call himself the world's
00:40:41strongest man unless he was. You can't mess with a guy that's that strong and
00:40:46doesn't know how strong he is.
00:40:50I'm training like a wild man because I just want to prove to these guys that
00:40:58not only was I better than them but there was a reason for me not being
00:41:04there in the first place and that reason was wrestling. I had took on another life
00:41:09to make means for myself and to get kicked like they kicked me. Now I wanted
00:41:15blood. I wanted them to know who I was.
00:41:20We have literally eight of the strongest men on the face of the planet as we
00:41:27stage the first annual Arnold strongman competition. I'm not gonna let nothing
00:41:33stop me. I want to be able to go down in history as being somebody that's done
00:41:37something that nobody's ever done. That's gonna happen this weekend. That big
00:41:43hunk of metal right there it's 365 pounds. The Apollo wheels fixed train
00:41:50axle. Three inches in diameter. You can't grip it. You can't put straps on it. It
00:41:58will break both your wrists and I love that because I didn't want help.
00:42:08Which of these strongmen today are gonna take these wheels and put them overhead?
00:42:21Haven't been done in 50 years. Mark Henry literally bent over to the ground. Grabbed
00:42:29365 pounds with both hands. Went like this and went like this and I was just
00:42:35like what the?
00:42:41Two times by Mark Henry breaking history. There's so much that goes into it and it
00:42:49just made it look like a paperweight.
00:42:54Three times such an incredible feat of strength as we've never seen before.
00:42:59It was an unbelievably historic moment and it also demonstrated how amazing he
00:43:06was. It's one of those moments that people still talk about. It was by far
00:43:12the highlight of that contest. I was so angry that my mom was gone but I had a
00:43:23wristband that had my mom's name on it.
00:43:28This is our final competitor. He has dedicated this performance to his mother
00:43:49who recently passed. He feels that she's watching him. She's with him.
00:43:53Here we go! This is one of the most difficult events ever. Grab that 800 plus pounds and head up the ramp with him.
00:44:05You're looking at the strongest man.
00:44:12Nobody on the planet could have beat me that day. I was invincible that day.
00:44:23It was about proving who I was and who I became. Legitimately the strongest man on
00:44:31earth. That's what I'm talking about!
00:44:37Still the man!
00:44:42I told you when I was 18 years old am I strong enough to be in one of your
00:44:47movies and you said how much did you lift and I said 740. You said not yet.
00:44:51Well I'm the strongest man in the world now. I know, I know. You know something? It's really unbelievable what you can do.
00:44:57It just shows you as the world is away. I'm very proud of you. I think now the
00:45:05guys understand that he's somebody who could have competed at their level if
00:45:09he'd wanted to stay in it but he already had a better gig. My mom was helping me
00:45:16again. You know she gave me life more than once. She gave me life at birth and
00:45:22she gave me life again
00:45:30in my career.
00:45:34Making his return, the newly crowned World's Strongest Man, Mark Henry!
00:45:47After about six months away, Mark Henry returned to the WWE with a new level of
00:45:53confidence and credibility. I was back as the World's Strongest Man in wrestling
00:46:00again and legitimately the strongest man on earth. Well I can't wait to see what
00:46:05this is all about. This is that feat of strength of Mark Henry. Mark's embracing the feats of
00:46:13strength kind of gave him a different attitude and gave him a newfound
00:46:18confidence. He's gonna back up against that wall. He's gonna hold this big black ass limbo in place for 30 seconds.
00:46:26There were challenges literally every week that in the locker room. Oh yeah, can
00:46:31you do this?
00:46:37Oh yeah, can you do that?
00:46:44There were some things that we had Mark do. One of them was was rolling a frying
00:46:50pan. Now when we did it, I asked Mark, okay what kind of pan do we get? Of course in the
00:46:58process, the ribbing started again. Vince just knew that you know he's gonna get a
00:47:04big kick out of seeing me get angry and one of the feats of strength not working.
00:47:11So he had them go out and get this frying pan. They brought out an iron
00:47:17skillet. I said, what's the deal here? They said, well Noah, we're gonna use this with
00:47:23Mark. What the hell are you talking about? See this pan? The bet is that you can't bend it. Hey man, what's wrong with you? You can't bend it. I saw the red light and I was
00:47:37standing in front of it with this pan and when I first started to try, it
00:47:45just wouldn't bend. And I remember looking up and seeing everybody's faces start to
00:47:52turn to each other like, oh man, this is embarrassing. And man, I cranked back down
00:47:59on that thing and the metal screamed. It was just like an iron bending sound that I
00:48:08had never heard in anything that I've bent in my hands before.
00:48:17Fear of failure just was too much for me.
00:48:26It is absolutely impressive when I watch that and believe me, I had a newfound respect for his
00:48:34acting, okay.
00:48:44I can't believe it.
00:48:48So around that time, we started thinking about having kids. And I said, well, I'm waiting on
00:48:56the right woman to propose to me. And she was like, oh, stop it. Nobody's proposing to you.
00:49:02I said, well, if you want to marry me, you have to propose to me. And of course,
00:49:07that didn't go off very well. I ended up doing a proposal and we got married.
00:49:14We got married at Jane and Terry Todd's beautiful estate. And it was time. And then he's like,
00:49:21are we gonna have some babies? Let's go. Jacob was born October 12, 2005.
00:49:28And Joanna was born December 30, 2010. I don't know if I've ever loved anybody like I love those
00:49:37kids. Mark is an amazing dad. And he's just proud. And so he wants to be the daddy. Like,
00:49:52I want to be the dad. I want to be in the stands. I will help you out. And you just got to feel it
00:49:57like come off those three fingers. And we just got to practice. There you go.
00:50:03It's been great watching the kids succeed in sports.
00:50:10But they also realize that they come from.
00:50:19He wants me to be the best and I want to be the best. So for it to come from him,
00:50:23it means a lot to me. And at the end of practice, when you're tired and you don't want to do it,
00:50:29that's when you practice stuff like that. He's one of the best coaches I've ever had.
00:50:35And he's a great dad. I was always in awe of him being that strong.
00:50:45One time I was arm wrestling my hand against his pointer finger, you know, and I still lost.
00:50:51If he can beat me in arm wrestling with his pointer finger, like that's a whole other level.
00:50:57I see my dad as an inspiration. And it definitely brings the whole family joy to
00:51:04see him in his element. On a scale of one to 10, how hard was this compared to everything else?
00:51:11How hard was this compared to everything else? This is about like a 900 pound squat.
00:51:16Okay, what do you think about the hair, y'all? I don't hate it.
00:51:20I loved it. I've had at least 50 to 100 people in my life come up and go,
00:51:26hey, how did you do that? Like I went home and I tried to lift my mom's four tarts.
00:51:33I love that. I love that. I love Ryan hugging you. Oh my gosh, it's so sweet.
00:51:43Somebody's doing something inhuman like this. There's going to be fans
00:51:46that are going to be like, nah, what is he going to do next week? I want to go to see that.
00:51:54He's had these different seasons of his career.
00:51:57At that time, like we did the strongman gimmick. We did the
00:52:03sexual chocolate. You know, I think they were trying to figure out like,
00:52:07what do we do with Mark next? Here's this charismatic 400 pound world's strongest man
00:52:15that you know, has the ability to be a megastar. He's got it. We just got to get it out of him.
00:52:27That brings back some memories. Talk about old school.
00:52:34At a certain point, I think fans started to feel like they had seen everything Mark Henry had to
00:52:41offer. And I think WWE was under the impression that they'd gotten almost everything they could
00:52:47out of Mark Henry. And that's why his career starts to kind of slow down.
00:52:54The hey, Kool-Aid era is what I called it,
00:52:59where I was wearing red and it wasn't, you know, I wasn't being really serious and mean.
00:53:09Vince wanted to, you know, make me angry and push the envelope.
00:53:14And Vince McMahon played a practical joke on me that went bad.
00:53:20After SmackDown had gone off the air, Mark Henry was headed to the ring
00:53:25for a non-televised match, which is customary in the WWE.
00:53:34Here's how that started. Vince sent him out to the ring by himself. And so when Mark got
00:53:39down to the ring, he was just down there by himself and nobody never comes out.
00:53:44Just because they wanted to poke the bear, they leave Mark Henry standing in the ring
00:53:49with nothing to do.
00:53:52If you want somebody to come out here, bring somebody out here.
00:53:55I paid my dues. I don't need this fool. Where's the microphone?
00:54:02And he was given the microphone.
00:54:06I suggest you hand it.
00:54:09And the microphone went off.
00:54:11And the microphone wasn't on.
00:54:15You want me to get fired? That's what y'all doing?
00:54:19He's so angry. And then they're like, Mark, it's over.
00:54:23We would like to thank you all for being a part of this evening's event. We certainly
00:54:26hope that you enjoyed yourselves. And we look forward to coming back here sometime in the near
00:54:30future. Thank you.
00:54:32Now I'm pissed.
00:54:42I just felt that it was a disrespect, not just to me as a man, but to the business.
00:54:49Like, we don't play in the ring. I don't play, man. That's my office.
00:54:55He got so mad out there, man, until everybody that was in the gorilla position up there
00:55:01with Vince and everybody left. They didn't even want to be up there when Mark came back.
00:55:05OK, I come to the back. It's a ghost town. Nobody's there.
00:55:10And I just started destroying and tearing down and pulling the lights and
00:55:15punching the walls and just Darth Vader's. I just wanted everything to melt.
00:55:22It made him so mad. Once he gets to that thing, and I try,
00:55:26don't get him there, because as a child, he got there.
00:55:29Thus, he was at duty. What would destroy this man?
00:55:34But that's the night that this actually saw the real Mark Henry come out.
00:55:42This is Colin. That's what I want, that you see how you are now. That's what I want.
00:55:48And after that, I portrayed that anger and hatred that I had when I came from the ring
00:55:55as a character. Mark Henry, just fury and anger like we've never seen before.
00:56:03That's when he really felt like he was in control of, you know, who he really was.
00:56:09What is this? I was angry and it was real.
00:56:18And it was real. And everybody's out here trying to get in the Hall of Fame.
00:56:28Every last one of those people, I will put in the Hall of Fame.
00:56:33The Hall of Fame is by far my favorite era of Mark Henry. And I think that's when Mark Henry
00:56:40came into his own as a WWE superstar.
00:56:46He had to remind us the fact that you're still in one piece is my choice.
00:56:53He's got a switch. You know, when that switch goes off, you're going to get mowed over.
00:57:01You fire him up and that's what everybody wants to see. They want to see that.
00:57:04The nice guy is gray and everything, but you want to see that darker side where he's just
00:57:10he's unpredictable. I don't get no respect. Ain't nobody gonna get no peace around here
00:57:16as long as I'm doing this. I think he finally understood how to channel anger, how to become
00:57:22a mean dude. Mark wanted to be the man. And in doing so, finally, that light bulb clicked
00:57:32to where Mark was willing to find that aggression inside of him and be able to bring it out in the
00:57:38ring. And Mark Henry became that guy that we were looking for in 1996.
00:57:47When you're loving something, it's not work. I didn't feel like I was working.
00:57:54I was just living.
00:57:58The next thing I knew, I was in a world championship match.
00:58:03You only get one chance to be great in this business. Mark Henry is gonna have to take it
00:58:08tonight. Mark Henry. Mark Henry. Mark Henry. Mark Henry is the world champion.
00:58:24Me winning a title was special. It meant a lot to me. We're all working for each other. We're
00:58:31working for that validation from our peers. And I love the fact that my peers thought that I was
00:58:37worthy, that they felt that I was good enough. Mark takes a huge amount of pride in what he does.
00:58:47I think that kind of solidified for him that he really had arrived. I was really proud of him.
00:58:55The 15 year odyssey is over. Mark Henry is world champion and all doubters and cynics be damned.
00:59:08The emotion that came out of Mark that night that he won was absolutely incredible.
00:59:13Because that's the real Mark. And he knew how hard he had worked to get to this point.
00:59:17And he finally proved it to everybody. I'm gonna be the most dominant champion of all time.
00:59:25Oh, I lost it. I lost it. Jacob lost it. It was fun. And I was proud of him.
00:59:31And that awesome.
00:59:39I love the people's faces.
00:59:45They did not expect that. They didn't expect it.
00:59:50Oh, I can feel that. You can feel it.
00:59:52And I'm just sitting there thinking to myself like, man, I'm a world champion.
01:00:05I cannot believe this. Everything felt like,
01:00:09like it all came together. Like, man, what an unbelievable ride.
01:00:39Mark has a really strong desire to do well to exceed people's expectations.
01:00:55My spirit in my career helped validate the title. I feel like I helped the title and the title
01:01:02helped me. Mark Henry is more confident than he's ever been in his career. This is world
01:01:08heavyweight champion. It meant the world to me to be champion because of the way that my kids
01:01:14looked at it. And not just my kids, but all kids. And I wanted people that look like me to be proud.
01:01:25We got a responsibility to people that look like you to go out and set a standard
01:01:37and not mess it up. And I took that to heart.
01:01:44Mark went out and he did the work. Young African-American kids seeing someone like
01:01:49Mark Henry could grow up and aspire to be like a Mark Henry. That was huge.
01:01:55Mark is such a good ambassador because you can't help but love the guy.
01:01:58You get in a room with him, you can't help but love him.
01:02:04The thing is really not about us, it's more about them. And
01:02:08just to see them smile, they get the same reaction out of me.
01:02:12Confidence is very important. And I see him when he was talking to young people,
01:02:16he talks to them about being secure in themselves.
01:02:19I hope that every last one of you respect each other.
01:02:24And then he'll laugh with them and he'll joke with them.
01:02:26You look at me and you say, man, I do 400 pounds. Ain't nobody bullied him.
01:02:31Well, you would be surprised.
01:02:34Mark became a really big part of the WWE community.
01:02:38Mark became a really big part of the WWE's anti-bullying campaign.
01:02:44He doesn't like injustice, so he's the one who stand up for the bullied.
01:02:48And so what's been hard for Mark is watching Jacob and Joanna be bullied.
01:02:56Being the child of the world's strongest man puts extra pressure on the kids to do well.
01:03:03People expect so much from you. People wouldn't see me for who I was as a person.
01:03:10And he really helps me with that.
01:03:13You got a target because you Mark Henry kid.
01:03:16You got to be ready for that and know that it's coming. It's inevitable.
01:03:21You've gone through bullying. Jacob's gone through bullying.
01:03:23And I've definitely gone through bullying too.
01:03:27They've gone through some things that the schools need to do a lot better about.
01:03:34In my class, this boy called me a gorilla.
01:03:38And it was terrible.
01:03:42I went to a teacher and I told her.
01:03:45It almost seems like they didn't believe me.
01:03:48The people at the school, they don't realize what I went through.
01:03:53And what other people that I know have gone through.
01:03:57I got picked on a lot and, you know, I retaliated.
01:04:00I'm teaching my kids to handle it differently than I did.
01:04:04We asked, how can we keep you safe?
01:04:07Because my concern for you now, what did dad do?
01:04:09He had to fight.
01:04:10I probably would have wild out.
01:04:12And I'm not going to fight.
01:04:14And I'm starting to feel better now that I'm not in such a bad environment.
01:04:19We are here to share that with us, to give you some direction.
01:04:25Just not feeling like you're alone in the matter.
01:04:28I've enjoyed every minute of the relationship we have with our kids.
01:04:35I don't know if we could have done a better job.
01:04:41They are tough as nails.
01:04:45Good.
01:04:47And that's after the workout.
01:04:50All right, Joe.
01:04:52At the end of the day, they've taken those negatives and made positives.
01:04:58Like we raised them to.
01:05:03There you go.
01:05:11Wait for your grandmama to see that.
01:05:13I love being an ambassador for the sport that I love so much.
01:05:19But I was missing being at home.
01:05:24I didn't get to see my kids compete.
01:05:26And I wanted to be closer to them.
01:05:30And I couldn't do that wrestling.
01:05:32I went in Vince's office and I said, my body's beat up.
01:05:35My kids cry when I leave.
01:05:37Mark kept playing with the idea of returning.
01:05:41Kept playing with the idea of retiring.
01:05:43But he loves professional wrestling.
01:05:45Like, you don't want to retire.
01:05:46I remember when my dad was talking about.
01:05:49He's like, you know, I think I'm going to come home.
01:05:51Well, look at this.
01:05:53There's been rumors running rampant over the past 24 hours after cryptic messages
01:05:57that perhaps Mark Henry is going to retire tonight.
01:06:03The things that last in sports entertainment are the things that make people believe.
01:06:11Mark Henry, the world's strongest man.
01:06:16I mean, rumors have been running rampant over the past 24 hours that
01:06:20Mark Henry is here tonight to retire.
01:06:22I don't think that was a rumor.
01:06:23Those are his boots he's put down.
01:06:26That's the old cliche, hanging up the boots.
01:06:30I'll tell you, the rumors are true.
01:06:32This man right here, Mark Henry, has accomplished a lot of things here in the WWE.
01:06:37John, I want you to stay.
01:06:39There's something I want to tell you.
01:06:42I want to tell the boys and the girls in the back.
01:06:46And all of y'all.
01:06:50I'm at home watching TV crying like a damn baby because he didn't tell me he's retiring.
01:06:58To my beautiful wife, Janna, I think you're seeing more of me than you want to.
01:07:04I think you're seeing more of me than you want to.
01:07:07He didn't tell me about the retirement speech.
01:07:10I cried.
01:07:10Jacob cried.
01:07:12I'm texting him.
01:07:13I can't believe it, man.
01:07:14Good luck.
01:07:14Go out there tonight.
01:07:15Enjoy this.
01:07:16Take it in.
01:07:17But I stand before you a proud, proud man.
01:07:24I was just shattered because this is a good guy.
01:07:27And it's way too soon for him to walk away.
01:07:30I respect all the people that work for this company because I know how difficult it is.
01:07:37Mark was authentic.
01:07:38He was real and vulnerable and genuine.
01:07:44You know, he's dressed up.
01:07:45He's not usually dressed up like that.
01:07:46Like, it all kind of made sense.
01:07:49To my son, Jacob.
01:07:50To my little girl, Joanna, who cries when I leave home.
01:07:55Baby, I'm coming home.
01:08:00I was trying to figure out how am I going to wrap this up?
01:08:03What am I going to say about about this man and his career?
01:08:06How can I do Mark Henry justice?
01:08:08And obviously, I didn't have to.
01:08:13Oh, my God.
01:08:19I think I called him a mother.
01:08:21I was like, dude, you could have warned me.
01:08:24Biggest double cross I've ever seen.
01:08:26I went from tears, confusion to anger.
01:08:28And I was like, all right, you got me.
01:08:32That's messed up.
01:08:33I got a lot left in the tank.
01:08:36That's what this is all about, man.
01:08:38Being able to, like, take people on a ride and make them believe, right?
01:08:42I can't imagine how swerved everybody else felt.
01:08:46Oh, that son of a bitch.
01:08:48He got me.
01:08:50I called him and told him, what a good angle, brother.
01:08:53That was poetry.
01:08:54That was beauty.
01:08:56Mark put on a performance that was so good.
01:09:00We're talking about it now, a decade later.
01:09:07When I think of the retirement speech, I think about how real that speech was.
01:09:15Because I originally wanted to retire.
01:09:19But once again, I went in there in the office and talked to Vince.
01:09:23He said, we need you in this business.
01:09:25And I came out with a three-year deal.
01:09:30It was so special to get the love and respect from the fans.
01:09:35But it took another year and a half of me still wrestling at a high level
01:09:42and being able to say, without a doubt, I've done enough.
01:09:48Mark would never retire, ever, if he didn't have to.
01:09:51But the body starts to, you know, not be faithful to you.
01:09:55So it was hard for him.
01:09:57Moving on was hard.
01:10:04You ready?
01:10:04Y'all gonna start with the first.
01:10:05We're gonna hang down, stretch hamstrings.
01:10:09Oh, man.
01:10:12The whole point of doing this is to get your body ready to do something explosive.
01:10:17Get your body ready to do something explosive.
01:10:20Because athletes move suddenly.
01:10:23If your body is not stretched out and pliable, it will tear.
01:10:27Oh, man.
01:10:31On Sunday, you got a call on Jesus.
01:10:35I don't lift nothing heavy.
01:10:36I do my workout.
01:10:37And some days I can, some days I can't.
01:10:41My body just don't feel right.
01:10:43Go.
01:10:43But I feel more at home, more comfortable with myself when I'm working with young people.
01:10:48You're trying to help build a human and to be in something better.
01:10:52That's the best.
01:10:53There's no greater feeling.
01:10:55I've been blessed to be a world champion in three sports.
01:10:59But a lot of people consider me crazy because I did everything the hard way.
01:11:05I didn't cheat.
01:11:07We don't need to take no drugs.
01:11:09We got God, our family, and our teammates.
01:11:12When I say that I hope to live to see somebody break my records, I mean it.
01:11:20Because I know how much work that person put in to being able to beat what I did.
01:11:27Congratulations to Mark Henry, the latest inductee to the WWE Hall of Fame.
01:11:34Man, I wrestled in this building probably 50 times.
01:11:38The Hall of Fame meant a lot to me because I feel a sense of accomplishment
01:11:45and validation from my peers.
01:11:48I'm gonna be crying like a little baby.
01:11:49I know, you will.
01:12:01That night was one of the biggest nights of his life.
01:12:04That meant a lot to him.
01:12:08The highest honor he could achieve is to be recognized worthy enough to be in the Hall of Fame.
01:12:14He got a smile, you know, he got a smile.
01:12:30Thank you.
01:12:31Seeing him appreciated for all the work that he had done, I was starstruck.
01:12:37I'd like to thank my beautiful wife, Jana, my little girl, Joanna,
01:12:41my son, Jacob, who's over there dressed up like me with my tie on.
01:12:45Oh my God, I'm so proud of you, oh my God.
01:12:49I know I wasn't at home as often as I would have liked to,
01:12:53but I was doing that so you could have more than I had.
01:12:58But before I go, there's just one more thing I need to do.
01:13:03Oh God, the lion ass jacket.
01:13:08That's what the boys referred to it as.
01:13:11Some of y'all might think that I have a lot left in the tank.
01:13:15And you're right.
01:13:16No, I'm just playing y'all, I'm just playing.
01:13:20It was hard for me to transition out.
01:13:22It's hard not to be on the road.
01:13:24I think it's hard not to walk through the curtain.
01:13:26So we had to think about like, what do you want to do next?
01:13:30Welcome to Boston.
01:13:34I'm your host, I'm your host, I'm your host, I'm your host, I'm your host, I'm your host.
01:13:42Welcome to Boston Open.
01:13:47Dave LaGreca and my tag team partner, Mark Henry.
01:13:51Mark, how the hell are you?
01:13:52New York City, top of the world.
01:13:58I asked him, did you ever want to do radio?
01:14:00Because I think you would be perfect for it.
01:14:02And he actually said it was always a dream of his to be on air.
01:14:06I'm still tied in my heart to the WWE and contractually.
01:14:10I work recruiting talent and I just have an eye for talent.
01:14:14You do.
01:14:14I see it and I'm like, listen, this person could do it.
01:14:17They have it.
01:14:18Come on now, push yourself.
01:14:20Keep it moving, keep it moving.
01:14:22It's a hard life, but it's worth it.
01:14:24I think you look at the WWE roster right now and you see a lot of the influence of Mark Henry.
01:14:32I started doing CrossFit and Mark Henry commented on one of my photos.
01:14:37It was a big deal that Mark Henry was reaching out to me,
01:14:41saying that he saw something in me.
01:14:43He opened the doors for me.
01:14:45The EST has arrived.
01:14:49You know, when you have someone like Mark Henry back in your name.
01:14:53Look at the power.
01:14:55I have to follow through with this.
01:14:57I have to prove that he was right.
01:14:59We have a new champion.
01:15:02The monster of a man, Braun Strowman.
01:15:05There is no Braun Strowman without Mark Henry.
01:15:07I mean, it's that simple.
01:15:09Mark took a shot on this kid that no one else ever did and put his name on the line.
01:15:16Man, I'm not going to get emotional about this right now.
01:15:21He put his name on the line for me because he saw something in me
01:15:25and he paid for my plane ticket.
01:15:27He went to Vince and said, you need to look at this kid.
01:15:30He's got something.
01:15:31A 335 pound frog splash.
01:15:35You have got to be kidding me.
01:15:37I feel like a proud papa, actually.
01:15:41I feel like they're my kids.
01:15:43What I look for is when the people walk in the room and you go, oh my god, who is that?
01:15:48They have an energy.
01:15:50That's who I want to make wrestlers.
01:15:52That's what Vince did with me.
01:16:01At a certain point, Mark Henry had gone through every challenge that WWE had to offer.
01:16:08And I think that Mark got to a point where he had to show what else he could do.
01:16:15For the first time in years, a new national wrestling promotion was created.
01:16:22And all of a sudden, Mark Henry was at a crossroads in his career.
01:16:26AEW wanted somebody to help teach the young people because it's such a young company.
01:16:33As much as I respected Vince McMahon,
01:16:41it was a hard decision.
01:16:43But, you know, it was one I had to make for my family.
01:16:48It was sad.
01:16:49It was sad for him.
01:16:51Because I'm going to tell you what, he loves him some things.
01:16:54Because I'm going to tell you what, he loves him some Vince McMahon.
01:16:57That's who took a chance on him and who believed in him.
01:17:02But sometimes you've got to leave home to prove yourself.
01:17:18You work your ass off your whole life and,
01:17:21you know, you can afford to take a day off every now and then.
01:17:25And just enjoy yourself and family.
01:17:30You know, I've owned this place for over 20 years.
01:17:34And it seemed like we're the only ones that come to the park.
01:17:38So it's kind of like the Henry Park, man.
01:17:40It's pretty cool.
01:17:42We fish.
01:17:44Like, we just play with the dog, walk the trails.
01:17:49I want to go paddle boating.
01:17:50Me too.
01:17:52Y'all go ahead.
01:17:53Tell me how it was.
01:17:56You know what I do find myself?
01:17:59Having a lot less time in the day right now.
01:18:03In a lot of ways, I'm busy than when I was wrestling.
01:18:07I'm raising two kids with my wife.
01:18:10I work in coaching and producing and announcing
01:18:16and pro wrestling still.
01:18:18And I wouldn't have it no other way.
01:18:23Because I get to teach.
01:18:27Not only do I get to teach, I'm fundraising for my own events.
01:18:32I'm doing something I never did before.
01:18:35If I could go back in time and me be the representative
01:18:39of weightlifting from the executive side to them and say,
01:18:43guys, this is what I see.
01:18:46Everything came out.
01:18:48You're happy?
01:18:49I'm taller than I was.
01:18:51This is what could happen if we do this.
01:18:53And that's what I'm trying to do.
01:18:54I got the opportunity to not do it for myself and for my teammates.
01:18:59But I'm going to do it for myself.
01:19:01Not do it for myself and for my teammates,
01:19:05but do it for the other teams that are coming along.
01:19:09Please welcome the big man himself, Mark Henry.
01:19:19I got away from weightlifting because of the corruption.
01:19:22And now that the US is fighting and trying to make it better,
01:19:27then they got me.
01:19:28I'm on the team.
01:19:30It's what I do.
01:19:32Mark has a lot of influence elsewhere and does a lot of real good things and uses
01:19:37his identity and his reach for a lot of great stuff.
01:19:42I respect all he's done in the weightlifting community,
01:19:44all he continues to do for USA Weightlifting.
01:19:47Now I need to ask my friend Mark Henry to come back to the stage
01:19:50and help me with something we're doing tonight.
01:19:52Each year, the United States Weightlifting Foundation
01:19:57presents the Strengthening Humanity Award.
01:20:01There was a unanimous vote for our friend Mark Henry as this year's recipient.
01:20:09How about that?
01:20:12When I joined the board of the US Weightlifting Foundation,
01:20:18I was there to raise money.
01:20:19I didn't think that they were going to give me an award.
01:20:24Y'all suck.
01:20:26I'm very proud that good work is being done.
01:20:30And I love them and thank God for that.
01:20:32And I'm very proud of the work that they're doing.
01:20:34And I'm very proud of the work that I'm doing.
01:20:36I'm very proud that good work is being done.
01:20:40And I love them and thank them for that.
01:20:45I come from a little small place.
01:20:48There's no reason that I should have been able to do
01:20:52all the things that I've been able to do.
01:20:56When it's not about me, I'm stronger.
01:21:01But I appreciate the coaching, the uplifting.
01:21:11I've had a lot of people in my life not believe in me.
01:21:18And I have to thank all of those people.
01:21:22Because it drives me.
01:21:24Mark Henry is the world champion.
01:21:30You don't always get to see the good guy win.
01:21:35You saw it tonight.
01:21:37Thank you.
01:21:43Mark wants to leave a positive legacy.
01:21:46Legacy is huge.
01:21:48I think he's done a pretty darn good job,
01:21:49especially from such meager beginnings.
01:21:52Seeing his growth, it makes my faith stronger.
01:21:56They say pressure makes a diamond if it doesn't burst the pipe.
01:22:03As a big brother and as a man, I am so proud of him.
01:22:07The world's strongest man, Mark Henry!
01:22:12Mark went from the guy who was being teased backstage,
01:22:15whose life was made more difficult than it needed to be,
01:22:18to being one of the most respected guys, to being a leader.
01:22:22I love his ability to evolve, his ability to take chances.
01:22:26You're looking at the strongest man!
01:22:30I think Mark had a great idea of what his gifts were.
01:22:33I don't think he realizes how they might have affected other people.
01:22:37Good luck to the athletes, and let the games begin!
01:22:45One of the things that Mark should inspire the younger talent to see
01:22:49One of the things that Mark should inspire the younger talent to see
01:22:52that it's okay to be a big star,
01:22:56but don't forget where you came from.
01:22:59Our big boy from Silsby, Texas!
01:23:02A kid from Silsby who nobody ever expected to do the things that I've done.
01:23:10Mark Henry, a human demolition machine!
01:23:14My mother always used to say it takes a village of people to raise one kid.
01:23:27I'm very proud of my career.
01:23:31I feel accomplished.
01:23:34I am the living embodiment of Yes You Can.
01:23:44Yes You Can.