Mark Henry

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

Career

Henry was billed as the "World's Strongest Man" after he qualified for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics Weightlifting Competition, where he finished tenth in the super heavyweight class. After the WWF sponsored Henry in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, he was signed to a ten-year contract, an anomaly in pro wrestling. Trained by Stu and Bret "The Hitman" Hart, he debuted at In Your House X on September 22, 1996, defeating Jerry "The King" Lawler.

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

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

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

Henry returned to the WWF the next month and was sent to the SmackDown! brand, where his "feats of strength" gimmick met with little success. He was used sporadically on WWE television during 2002, and was sent back to OVW for more training. He also had a brand new look, with his hair grown out and braided.

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

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

During an episode of SmackDown! taped on December 27, Henry interfered in a WWE Tag Team Championship match, helping MNM defeat Rey Mysterio & then-World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, for the titles. As a heel, Henry had seemingly joined with MNM and would be managed by Melina. A week later on SmackDown! Henry got in the face of the World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, and would go on to interfere in a steel cage match between MNM and the team of Rey Mysterio & Batista, helping MNM to retain their titles. Mark Henry then had another match with Batista at a live event where Batista received a severely torn tricep that required surgery, forcing him to vacate his title. On the January 10, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, Henry was involved in a battle royal for the vacated World Heavyweight Championship. He was finally tossed out by Kurt Angle, who won the title.

On the next episode of SmackDown! taped on January 17, Henry became the number one contender and earned the spot to face World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle at the 2006 Royal Rumble by defeating Rey Mysterio. Later on this edition of SmackDown!, Daivari, former manager of Kurt Angle, faced his former client in a match. During the match, Henry attacked Angle, after Daivari announced that he was now managing Henry. At the 2006 Royal Rumble, Henry was defeated by Angle after Angle repeatedly hit Henry's head with a steel chair before dropping him onto an exposed turnbuckle and rolling him into a pinning position with aid from pulling the tights and holding the rope illegally.

Henry lost to The Undertaker on Friday Night SmackDown! due to MNM interfering with the match, thus losing his shot at the World Heavyweight Championship at No Way Out. On March 3rd, 2006, Henry interfered in a World Heavyweight Championship match between The Undertaker and Kurt Angle by attacking Undertaker. He concluded the attack by putting Undertaker through the announce table. On the March 10th episode of SmackDown!, after putting Kurt Angle through a table with a splash from the second rope, Mark Henry was challenged to a casket match by The Undertaker at WrestleMania 22.

Though Daivari was managing Henry during his feud with The Undertaker, in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania 22, Daivari was removed from Henry's side when, at WWE's Saturday Night Main Event, Daivari suffered a chokeslam and Tombstone Piledriver at the hands of The Undertaker onto the lid of a casket. Henry vowed to take Undertaker's unbeaten streak at WrestleMania 22, but was unsuccessful in this quest as The Undertaker would defeat Henry at the event.

Henry would be entered into 2006 King of the Ring tournament, where he faced Bobby Lashley in a first round matchup. Mark Henry would fail to win the match after being counted out and so lost his chance to go through to the next round of the tournament.

On the same evening that Mark Henry would lose his first round match, Henry would interfere in the main event World Title match; costing Kurt Angle his chance to win back the title and putting Angle through a table. This would lead to another pay-per-view match between the two men at WWE Judgment Day which Henry would win by count-out.

From the end of May 2006 through June, Henry would go onto, what was referred to as, a "path of destruction"; causing (kayfabe) injuries to fellow superstars, an angle that was used by WWE as a means to get wrestlers off WWE television due to prior legitimate injuries. Henry would take out both Chris Benoit (in revenge for injuring Henry two years previously) and Paul Burchill on this path of destruction, and would attack (but not injure) Rey Mysterio, and Chavo Guerrero, Jr.. This path of destruction would lead up to a feud with the returning Batista, who Henry put out on a legit injury months before hand. However, a short time before Henry and Batista were scheduled to face one another at The Great American Bash, Henry would suffer a patella fracture and tendon rupture during a match at Saturday Night Main Event and has been ruled out of his match with Batista at The Great American Bash. At the press conference for the event, Batista acknowledged the injury, and in turn made an open challenge.

Henry's ten-year contract which he signed in 1996 after he participated in the Olympics will expire in August 2006. It has been confirmed that Henry will have an extension in his contract, rumored to be for another year. However, Henry would earn less than he did on the original contract.

Wrestling facts

Finishing and signature moves

World's Strongest Slam (Falling slam)
Vertical splash
Death from Above (Banzai drop)
Bearhug
Full body block

Managers

Nicknames

"The World's Strongest Man"
"Sexual Chocolate"

Championships and accomplishments

Professional wrestling

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI ranked him # 472 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.

World Wrestling Federation

WWF European Championship

Was given the title by Jeff Jarrett on August 23, 1999 in Ames, Iowa, USA.

Lost to D'Lo Brown on September 26, 1999 in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.

Weighlifting

Arnold Classic 2002 Strongest Man

Trivia

During Mark Henry's 2006 comeback, he scored two pinfall victories over reigning World Heavyweight Champions in non-title singles competition. Rey Mysterio and Kurt Angle were the two World Champions Henry defeated on televised SmackDown! matches.
As of May 12, 2006, Henry used the entrance theme "Some Bodies Gonna Get It" by Three 6 Mafia. Three 6 Mafia performed this theme live during the May 26, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, held in Bakersfield, California.

External links

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Mark Henry

Career

Wrestling facts

Championships and accomplishments

Trivia

External links