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Mark Henry is a WWE Hall of Famer, two-time Olympian, and legit “World’s Strongest Man.” However, the road to the top wasn’t easy for the Silsbee, Texan, from growing up in poverty to finding himself in trouble where he spent time in juvenile detention.
Henry could have easily been a cautionary tale. However, through ambition, drive, and a support system that believed in him, he powered through. The result was conquering three sports where the powerhouse athlete achieved worldwide fame. His inspiring story is the subject of the next installment of Biography: WWE Legends.
Before the premiere, Henry opens up about the journey and what he hopes others take from it.
The documentary digs into your story, which transcends the weightlifting floor or pro wrestling ring. What does having this featured doc mean to you?
Mark Henry: It feels great because it’s a message to people that are busting their ass who think that it’s never going to happen or work out. I’m a living example that if you keep your head down and keep pushing and are willing to push the envelope and sacrifice a little bit, it will happen for you. I’ve been a world champion in three things that have nothing to do with each other.
As a former Olympian, you speak in the doc about how important it was for you to stay clean while you were competing and how it bothered you when others weren’t. You were also outspoken about the sport of weightlifting and the need for change. Where do you think the sport is now?
I spoke up about the drug issue in sports long before the movie came out and people knew the scandals. Tamás Aján, president of the International Weightlifting Federation at the Olympics, told me, “Mark, you have to stop talking about drugs. You’re going to get our sport kicked out of the Olympics.” I said, “No, you not doing your damn job is going to get us kicked out of the Olympics. Don’t put it on me.” Now here we are in 2024, we have a group of Americans that are going to go to Paris, and we can possibly medal now because they have made the drug testing rules better. I wish they had done it when I was lifting, but I’m just happy they did it and are working toward change. They didn’t do it because of me, but I’m glad it got done.
Your wife Jana speaks on the doc. It’s amazing to see marriages within pro wrestling stand the test of time, despite you being on the road so often. What’s your secret?
We were friends first. There have been times when you are married you fall out of love with each other, but if you maintain your friendship and respect for each other, you can always regain that love. We’ve been in and out of it and it’s never going to change. She has been my best friend forever, my business partner, my support system. The mother of my children. You have to be able to respect that. You are a horrible human if you can’t respect the person who rear your children.
You open up about being bullied on the doc, as do your children. How is it for you to draw attention to this ever-apparent issue and how it’s even impacting the “World’s Strongest Man”?
I think a lot of it is education. There is such a thing as David’s Law. Parents that watch the documentary, I want them to fight for change. If you don’t give people consequences, they are going to keep doing whatever. I work with WWE and they have the Be a STAR campaign. That was the first time I had been in an anti-bullying campaign. Little did I know it would affect my kids one day. We as parents have gotten soft. The administrations are afraid of the parents, so they tend to not do the most because they don’t want to lose their jobs. Sometimes if you have to lose your job to keep your honor and kids safe; I think if you fight long enough, you’ll get the job back. Then they will reevaluate who is running the system and they’ll get fired.
There is no reason these gay and lesbian kids should be getting bullied, little black and brown kids all over the world getting bullied. My son Jacob had to sit with the Special Olympics kids at school to keep people from bullying him. The teacher should be walking the cafeteria, playground, gym and anywhere kids hang around. People need to be more responsible and take the initiative to do that and then you’ll have more success. There should be some non-negotiables. If you’re throwing racial expletives, you got to go. If you’re putting your hands on someone, you got to go. There is a lot of work that needs to be done.
WWE
It’s fun seeing the videos of you and The Rock coming up around the same time. How do you reflect on working alongside him in the Nation of Domination? A group of guys that doesn’t always get the credit for the impact you all made.
The Nation of Domination was a great era because it shows we were all great entertainers. As humans and men, our lives look different outside the arena. The success of Ron Simmons, The Godfather, and D’Lo Brown, who should be in the WWE Hall of Fame. Myself and The Rock were two guys who got the most eyes on us, but we all had success. Then outside the Nation when we broke up, everyone succeeded.
The same for DX where everyone had success after…I’m still doing it at a high level. WWE employs five people that I brought into wrestling who were not even thinking about wrestling before—Bianca Belair, Braun Strowman, Jade Cargill, Baron Corbin, Samantha Johnson [Irvin]. WWE, you’re welcome. It’s beyond scouting, it’s mentoring. Teaching psychology. More than that and wrestling, I teach them the chain of command, how to deal with the office, how to be respectful of your job, and be competitive. Nobody outworks my people. My people know if I felt like they were slacking, I’d call them myself.
Of course, the doc covers one of the greatest segments in pro wrestling, your “retirement” speech on Raw. Your family thought you were really retiring at that point before you pulled the swerve and attacked John Cena. You didn’t smarten them up beforehand? That’s next level.
I thought it would have been even better and a gift to them to surprise them. They get whatever they want. You can buy stuff, but it will never equate to what that was to them. Same thing with wrestling. Nobody saw through me because it was real to me. That was my real retirement speech. I did go into the Hall of Fame and had another speech, but I said at my Hall of Fame induction that it was my real retirement speech. I said everything that needed to be said. I thanked everyone who needed to be thanked and paid homage to the history of pro wrestling. I did my job. I left the business better than it was then when I came into it.
WWE
How do you feel about John Cena’s retirement announcement?
I think it’s awesome. I’m so happy for him. I think that now he’ll be able to be appreciated the way that he should be appreciated. People wanted John Cena to turn heel. John Cena and Ricky Steamboat, lifetime babyfaces. That’s who they are. That is what they were designed to be. They stuck to their guns. The New Day, too. Embrace it, love it, don’t call it goody two shoes. The people that boo John Cena and wished violence upon him back then, you all need a whooping. He should be revered.
You and your wife speak about Vince McMahon and how he always believed in you in the doc. With him among your biggest supporters, how hard has it been for you to read all these horrific headlines about him?
The Vince I know and that taught me, I never saw anything. I never heard anything negative like that. Whatever that is, that’s something he and God have got to deal with. It’s beyond me. The man educated me on this business and told me about this business and what you should be doing in this business and what you are supposed to put into it. It’s not the representation of what we’re seeing now. I hope he is vindicated, but also if there is someone that was affected, if it was a real thing and not a money grab that dried up, then I hope that he is punished because he does deserve that.
I’ve been punished for things. I wasn’t the best as a youth. At the beginning of the documentary, it will talk about the juvenile jail stint and how I was punished. I served my penance. We all have our hills to climb. I’m a Christian. My faith in God tells me repentance is for everyone. Grace and mercy should be afforded to everybody. Wherever or not if you have it in your heart, and the people seeing this have it in their heart, that’s up to them and God. Anybody that is casting rocks and throwing stones acting like they don’t have things they’ve done, said, and thought that was out of character, remember that when you look in the mirror before you start talking about other people.
Where do you see yourself in place in pro wrestling today? You recently finished up with AEW, but you can still hear your passion for the business on Busted Open each week.
I’m happy with my life. I’m running All Caribbean Wrestling. We’re doing something special in the Caribbean. WWE said they were open for business. They are not in the Caribbean. So, if they want to do business with me, they know I’m easy to find. Not to mention my brand ReMarkable is something I’m pushing and want to be a success, a vehicle to help other wrestlers make a living for themselves outside the ring. You can go to www.TheMarkHenry.com.
Who knows? We may see the next generation of Henry coming through WWE next.
Jacob wants to be a pro wrestler more than anything on earth. I think it’s going to happen. Once he graduates and gets his degree, then he can start wrestling, but not before then. As soon as he graduated high school, he enrolled in classes. He wants to graduate as fast as possible.
Biography: WWE Legends, Sundays, 8/7c, A&E