Mark Jerrold Henry (born June 12, 1971) is an American professional wrestler currently signed with WWE, where he performs on its SmackDown brand. Aside from wrestling, he is a 1992 Olympian, and winner of the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic. Since joining the WWF/E in 1996, he has become a one-time WWE European Champion and a one-time world champion, having held the ECW Championship in 2008.
He is the cousin of former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Kevin Henry. Henry's father, Ernest, died of complications from diabetes when Henry was twelve. He has an older brother, Pat. When Henry was fourteen, he was diagnosed with dyslexia. Henry played American football in high school, until his senior year, when he strained ligaments in his wrist. Henry currently lives in New York with his wife Jana and his son Jacob. He still drives the Hummer that he won in the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic.
Before becoming a professional wrestler, 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. Also in 1996, Henry was sponsored by WWF, formerly known as World Wrestling Federation, at the 1996 Summer Olympics and was signed to a ten-year contract in professional wrestling.
Henry was trained by former Canadian professional wrestlers Stu and Bret Hart and Leo Burke. He made his television wrestling debut match in September 1996. Two years later, Henry joined the stable Nation of Domination. After the disbandment 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 focusing on weightlifting. Henry won a strongman competition, during the Arnold Classic in 2002.
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 gained Tony Atlas as a manager. In June 2008, he won the ECW Championship and he held it for three months. He was traded to the Raw brand in June 2009, and drafted back to SmackDown two years later in April 2011.
After Henry competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) signed him to a ten-year contract. Trained by professional wrestler Leo Burke, his first feud in the WWF was with Jerry Lawler who had some harsh words for Henry on an episode of Monday Night Raw in March. 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.
On June 29, Henry was traded to the Raw brand, and made his redebut 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. In August 2009, Henry formed a tag team with Montel Vontavious Porter, and the two challenged the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions Chris Jericho and The Big Show for the titles at Breaking Point, but were unsuccessful.
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. The next week they challenged The Big Show and The Miz in a title match but were successful. 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)
On June 1, Henry was announced as the mentor of Lucky Cannon for the second season of WWE NXT. Cannon was eliminated on the August 10 episode of NXT. 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 Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. They made it to the final two before being defeated by Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre.
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. 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.
On April 25, 2011, Henry returned 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 into a villain for the first time since June 2009. On May 27, Henry participated in a triple threat match against Sheamus and Christian to determine the number one contender for Randy Orton's World Heavyweight Championship, which was ultimately won by Sheamus.
Henry then began feuding with The Big Show, attacking him before matches and backstage. On the July 1st edition of SmackDown, if Henry defeated Randy Orton, he would receive a World Heavyweight Championship match in the near future, however Orton defeated Henry via countout after being distracted by Show's entrance theme and music.
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
Mark Henry Wrestler Photos
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