Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Mark Henry Discovered Jade Cargill, Samantha Irvin, Bianca Belair, Braun Strowman

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

Mark Henry (@themarkhenry) is a WWE Hall of Famer, powerlifter and Olympic weightlifter. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Indianapolis to talk about his 25-year WWE career, his incredible weightlifting numbers, his son Jacob Henry breaking records, Nick Dinsmore helping him get prepared for his WWE career, his new foray into stand-up comedy, traveling with Mae Young, breaking the ring with Big Show, his eye for talent and discovering Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair, Samantha Irvin, Braun Strowman and more. Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT for a first deposit match up to $100! BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code INSIGHT to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv BETTERHELP: Get 10% off your first month with the code INSIGHT at http://betterhelp.com/insight PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello again, friends, and welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for being with us. And thank you, as always, for helping to make Insight one of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. And today, we've got the world's strongest podcast. Mark Henry is back on the show. This one feels like the first time, though, because, yeah, we've had them on the show before, but we've never done an interview in person.

And if you haven't noticed, all of the interviews over the last many months have all been in person. It's just such a different conversation when you're able to sit down with someone, shake their hand, give them a hug, feel their energy, not have that weird Zoom delay where, no, no, no, you go, no, I, sorry, you know what I mean. You go, no, okay, yeah. So I should point out this was recorded before he announced that he was leaving AW. and yes, also before AJ Stiles fake retirement. I think the big thing we learned from that, though, is we can never trust a man wearing an Easter colored suit. He talked about all of that on Busted Open.

So go check out the episodes of Busted Open where he's talking about why he's leaving AEW. His take on A.J. Stiles fake retirement, he does such a great job as a co-hosted Open. And just shout out to Busted Open in general. I love those guys and girls there. Mark Henry has such an incredible, eye for talent. And we talk about some of the stars that he's discovered like Jade Cargill,

Bianca Bel Air, Bronz Strowman, Samantha Irvin, Baron Corbin, Apollo Cruz, and the list goes on and on and on. And I didn't expect this conversation about Mark's career to get as emotional as it does. You'll see what I mean. Snap a screenshot. Let us know that you're listening and tag us on social media. he's at the Mark Henry. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And let's do it, ladies and gentlemen, the WWE Hall of Famer, Mark Henry. Plate, Mark Henry, take one.

And action. We've never done this in person, so I'm excited about this. You know, you're strikingly handsome guy in person. You are as well. I've been told. It's the smile. Look at this smile. Yeah.

That reels them in, and then I say something and run them off. But thank you. That's very kind. I'm just trying to be half as handsome as you are. Listen, man, I'm going to tell you what. We got to just skip all the bullshit. How's the baby? Oh, my gosh.

That shit is weakening, ain't it? But it's the only time that I feel like a man can be weak. Yeah. It's for their kids. And it's not weak. It's just... No, it is. Yeah.

It's... You taught as a man. Yeah. Not to be whiny, not to be sensitive, not to be feeling. Like, you can't be overly emotional. Yeah. You got to be strong for everybody. Yeah.

Bro, kids throw all that shit out the window. It's wild. the high-pitched voices I'm speaking to her. Like, hey, hi, honey. Like, who is this person? But I love it. You know, my kids, my oldest is 18, and my daughter is 14. And still, like, whenever we go to New York, they have all of the kids' books because they were babies.

Yeah. When we lived in New York and in Harlem. And my daughter would be like, you remember this book? And she'd be showing me all the books. And she was like, can you still do the voices? Because each character, I would do different voices. And they, man, we, we jumped right into it like it was yesterday. Man, I love that.

Was it tough being on the road that much, being away from them? It was for me. Yeah. Because I wanted to be a dad. And it was fun. I had a ball. Can't nobody say they had a better time than I did because I was a big-ass kid at heart myself. And you still are?

Yeah, still, man, I'm living the life of a fool, having fun, and being able to make a living doing it. When we did that last interview over Zoom, my daughter was 11 days old. Wow. And today she's 10 months old. And it's just crazy. You know this, you know, as a dad, the changes you see,

especially at this age, month to month, week to week, sometimes day to day. It's wild. 11 days, you didn't know the difference between a smile and gas. And now... So true. Think about all this shit you know about her personality. Yeah. No, it's crazy.

Like when I go in in the morning and she's awake, like there's a genuine smile like, it's Daddy. Again, you came back. Yeah. It's an awesome thing, man. It's the best. I mean, speaking of kids, your son,

we, no, nine months ago when we talked, he was super strong then. Now he's even stronger now. Yeah, man. He's doing really well tomorrow. he's competing in the Texas relays. It's the biggest track meeting in Texas, bigger than state. And, you know, he qualified and he's going to compete.

And I think he'll do well. Is it shot foot? And the shot put. Went to state in wrestling, went to state in choir. Like, his life is consumed with being the best. And when you work with the work ethic of trying to be the best, even if you don't ever become number one, which he was number two at stadium wrestling,

and he's going to do well tomorrow and throwing a shot. They won first place in Choir. Like, even if you're not number one, the work that you're putting in to be number one, wherever you fall, 20th place, puts you above all the people that didn't try. the people that didn't work. And that's who I'm hired.

I'm not going to hire somebody that's doing nothing. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like Fortune 500 companies, the margin between them making a billion dollars a year and them making a few hundred million is who you hire. Yeah. So I tell my kids,

I'm preparing you all for the world. I'm not preparing you for the individual sports. doing. That's just a byproduct of what you're doing on the journey. Who installed that work ethic in you? My mother, the hardest working person I've met in my life. And, I mean, she had like five jobs. Like, she cleaned houses and cooked entire meals that she didn't eat and would leave and was like famous in East Texas.

I mean, it wasn't uncommon to come to my house during the evening time, and there'd be like eight people going, oh, I didn't know y'all was having dinner? Yeah, you did. Yeah, yeah, you did. You wanted to go play? Oh, yeah, I mean, you know, if y'all have some left. Like, she was, she was, I used to do all her prep work, you know, cutting vegetables and making stocks and getting stuff ready for,

her to make those meals and stuff. And I just appreciate all the teaching, you know, just learning how to prep when you're not. You know, before the work start, you got to do work. Yeah. So when you learn that kind of mentality early enough, yeah. Your daughter will get it because she's got you.

Yeah. But there's a lot of people out there in the world that don't have people like that. Yeah. Were you always stupidly strong? Yeah. All my childhood pictures, me flexing, posing like I was a bodybuilder or something, because I just felt strong. And I knew when other kids my age, like we touched, it wasn't the same.

It was never fair. And at 10 years old, I boxed. And because I weighed over 220 pounds, I had to fight in the upper age category. At 10 years old? Yeah, the 12-year-olds. And they beat the shit out of me. It was horrible.

I don't know if you ever boxed before. Boxing is like playing chess. And you make the wrong move. Your game is over like, checkmate. Like, boxing is serious. And, man, I was not, you know, two years old of kids is not fair. What are your best lifts? If we go through all of them here, what are your best lifts?

My actually best lifts are not on barbells. I mean, I squatted a thousand six. I bent 601. I did lift it in competition 903 raw. No equipment and no straps, just straight up. and I deadlifted at 924 in training before I did that 903. Weightlifting, Olympic lifting, I snatched 182.5, which is over 400 pounds, which is an international top 10 standard.

And I clean a jerk 225, which is over 500 pounds. it's only been about three Americans that have ever done that. And Strongman, the inaugural World Strongest Man, I won. It was the heaviest competition that had ever been created. And, you know, I went away with it. It wasn't like I had a chance of losing. The only way I had a chance of losing is if I, got injured or couldn't complete something because I'm not being arrogant.

I'm trying to be as humble about it as possible. I could be an asshole. These are just facts. I'm just stating the fact. Yeah. But there's not another human that lifted the appalling wheels over here. Of course, I did it three times consecutively, which I danced. Played with the crowd.

I could have done it four or five if I wanted to. I was trying to put the show on. That's what made me different as I was entertainer. I lifted the Thomas Inch, formerly known as the unliftable dumbbell, overhead. Still haven't been done yet by anybody else. I lifted the Denny Stones in England. I lifted the Africa Stone.

I wanted to lift McCaskill's anchor in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but I was not allowed to do it. And the Venture Stone, out of respect for Mr. Venture, who was an African that escaped slavery in Underground Railroad, and went to Canada, came a rock mason, and lifted this stone called the Venture Stone, which bears his name. I'll send you a picture of the stone,

me standing next to the stone. I wouldn't lift it because of his lore. He came back, became a free man, like came back to America, bought all his family and took him back to Canada. Found his wife, found his kids. We out. It's amazing with everything you do.

And nobody's ever did a movie about that. Well, it sounds like you should be doing that. Imagine how great a movie. And in the process, this rock guy was immensely strong. The stone, there's probably about maybe five of the top strong. men in the world right now that could probably lift the stone now. But nobody would have been able to lift it 10 years ago. Nobody.

It's amazing with everything you did in strong man, power lifting, the Olympics. It's wrestling that like really made you a household name. Like you were already doing all these things and people that were in that world. Well, I quit. I signed a 10-year deal in 95. And I gave up my life. to become a wrestler. So I could not squander

my life away knowing that I gave up being who I was. Now, you're Superman. You know what? I'm not going to be Superman no more. You're still there. It's still in you. Yeah.

But I'm not, I'm no more hero stuff. You're going to be. You're going to be sexual child. Tall buildings and outrage, not running trains, none of that. I'm become a professional wrestler. And that's what I did. Like, I quit and went on. And I probably would have stayed in it if the Olympic Committee wouldn't fight for me.

During that time, they just were not equipped to fight the international weightlifting Federation. And I don't think they cared that much, really. Track and field, gymnastics, swimming, you know, a couple other sports, the dream team. And then they was like, the hell with everything else. Yeah. You know, we're just going to stick to what makes us money. Did you know going into wrestling that you were going to be successful? No. I had no clue that I could even do that. I'm dead serious. Like, I was a fan. And they got

wind of the fact that I was a fan. Yeah. And my coach knew a couple of people and said, hey, man, this boy wants tickets to a show. He's a big fan. And they were like, shit, you know, he should wrestle. And he can make a killing. And Vincent McMahon called me one day. And I hung up on him.

And why'd you hang up on them? I thought it was one of my friends, like, just fucking around. I was like, yeah, yeah, all right, Wes. I thought it was Wes Barnett, who was also a super fan like I was. We lived at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Neither one of us ever missed Raw. There was no such thing as Smackdown there. Right.

So my coach and manager call me. me back. It was like, hey, did you hang up on Vince McMahon? He said you hung up. I said, that was him for real? And, like, he was like, yeah, answer the phone. Like, he was pissed at me. And he called Vince.

I was like, hey, man, I apologize. He's like, hey, that ain't the first time I've been hung up on him. So me and Vince always had a good relationship. Was it a 10-year deal because he didn't want to. you going to WCW or was it just like? Part of it was we don't want to do all the work training you and getting you ready and then you go sign with the opposition. Yeah.

Which I'm loyal. I wouldn't have done that anyway. But nonetheless, he did say that it's going to take about three or four years for you to really understand it and get it. Then we will still have you on contract for another five, six years to you know, reap the benefit of your being able to draw money. Yeah. And shit, I'm more than paid for my career.

I'd say. At what point did you feel like I've got it? Like I'm starting to figure this out. When I left Calgary with Leo Burke and Stu Hart and Brett and Owen, when I left there, I knew I was ready, wrestling-wise. It took another year in Ohio Valley, 2001, where I was like, man, I wrestle anybody anytime. How long? Because I went through everybody to graduate down in Ohio Valley back at that time with Rip Rogers,

you had to do a Broadway match. You know the Broadway match. No. An hour. Wow. I could not do it. I went 41 minutes and almost passed out. But the fact that I knew that I could keep moving in the ring for 41 minutes.

Thank you, Nick Densmore, my man. Eugene. Eugene. Yeah. Underrated. Very. Underrated. One of the top.

One of the top guys I ever been in ring with. Incredible workers and good personality. We all have demons and we all have, you know, shortcomings and little things that hold us back. And, you know, Nick had his and he regrets mistakes that he made. And you got to leave it at that. Prize Picks is America's number one fantasy sports app with more than five million members. It's the most fun and exciting way to get in on the action while you watch

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that easy. Whether you're a world-class athlete or a podcaster like me, we all understand the importance of mental and physical well-being and proper recovery for top-notch performance. That's why I'm excited that Unified Healing is sponsoring this episode of Insight. Unified Healing is a new and super innovative global network of wellness centers powered by energy enhancement system or EES system. If you haven't heard of the EES system yet, this technology promotes wellness, deep relaxation, purification, and rejuvenation. They have hundreds of locations across the globe,

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Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, including EES system. You have such a great eye for talent. I can't tell you the amount of people I've interviewed that tell a story that begins with Mark Henry sent me a DM. And I didn't actually think it was Mark Henry, but Mark Henry sent me a message and said, I think you've got something.

And the list is long, right? I'll list off a few here, but you can continue. But it's, it's Bianca Ballard, Samantha Irvin. Who else? Jade Cargill, Baron Corbyn, Brian Danison, Apollo Cruz, Rich Swan. Shit. Man, it's probably another dozen.

So what is it is that you're just constantly looking online? One, I want to give black people opportunities in wrestling that would not have gotten those opportunities, hadn't somebody saw that they have all the skill set for wrestling. They just don't know that it exists for them. And overall, I mean, Brian Danielson is as Lily White as you could be, but his talent was undeniable. and the WWE wanted big people

and I was like, listen, I saw a guy wrestle last night that was good. I don't give a shit what his size is. He's one of the most entertaining guys I work with Steve Austin and I would have, I said, this dude is like

really good. And then I lied and say, yeah, he's 6-1, about $200. But I got him in the door, and he did the rest. Some people just need a look, and he just needed a look. I didn't help him at all, really. I just opened the door. What was the door you opened for Samantha Irvin?

What did you see in Samantha Irving? Man, when I saw her, what, America's Got Talent, she played the flu. Linda Flew, yeah. She sang. And when they asked her questions, she was glib. She didn't just answer the question. You can ask me a question.

I'm going to take you a question, and nine times out of ten, I'm going to stop you and say, you know what, that was a good start. But this is where the tie meets the road. She has that. Everybody don't. And the people that have that, they can succeed in wrestling. I mean, it's amazing. Like, without the message.

that you sent to Bianca Bel Air, we might not have Bianca Bel Air. She might have gone down completely to provide. She was CrossFit. Yeah. And a great CrossFit athlete. Yeah. And I just, like she got my attention

because she wore a tutu and like a big Mickey Mounce's bow in her hair. And you're supposed to work. You know, you're doing the apparatus. And you put that down and then you go to. something else. She did a damn backflip on her way to doing another back. I'm like, what are you doing?

You exerting the energy that you don't need to. She couldn't help it. She'll entertain her. That's a wrestler. She just wants to, yeah. That's what wrestlers do. You don't have to do something, but you're going to put the window dressing on it.

You see little kids do it all the time. I watch little kids and little kids get told not to be that. I mean. So if you were the one that discovered Jade, and she's doing her thing in AEW with you, you're in-

Yes, before, I'm, before Jay went to AEW. Oh, she had a, that's right, she had a try out with WWE. Before she had to try out with WWE, I'm the one that got to try out. I knew Jay when it was an idea. And she was a basketball player. She said that she wanted to wrestle,

And I said, you're a pretty girl and everything, but wrestling is hard. I was like, you know, no disrespect to you. Your pictures are great. And, you know, but there's a lot of pretty girls. She said, I'm different. And that's my gimmick. I say I'm different. So when she hit me with that, I was like, you're different.

I said, I'll tell you what. won't you go and see Rip Rogers? Because Rip Rogers is the litmus test. The mentality of wrestling is you have to eat shit and like it. You got to take verbal abuse, brow beating, and persevere. When it gets tough, you got to be like, the hell with that, give me some more. That's wrestling mentality. I didn't think she had that in her.

That's why I sent her to him. Rip called me and said, Mark, I don't know where in the hell you got this one, but I bent her over and hit her across her back as hard as you could hit a human. And she told me, that's all you got, old man. And I went, she didn't say that. He said, yes, she did.

And I was like, I was like, let's go. I knew I knew she had it Yeah You've been dabbling in comedy lately And I'm curious to know Where the similarities Between comedy and wrestling are

Because I feel like the two worlds are similar They are similar Because there's no There's no smoky mirrors There's no There's no crutch In comedy wrestling, no crutches.

Yeah, and if you suck, the crowd's not afraid to tell you. They're going to tell you, come on, man. Come on, Cleeters, get off the stage. Or maybe worse. Nothing. That would be worse. That would be worse. But I would probably take my pants off.

Something, I'm going a reaction. If I'm going out there, if I'm going down in a ball of flames, bro, it's going to be historical. It's going to be like. like a meteorite. Like, I'm, I'm gonna act up. And I play with people all the time, like in my everyday life. Yeah.

You know, I get out and I start holding court. And wrestling came to an end for me. So it was kind of traumatic. You know, you're losing out. And it didn't end on your terms. Like, you didn't have that one last match, like, have that match and say goodbye. Yeah, my body said, man, fuck your plan.

My back said, listen, we're going to your house, right? Yeah, I guess we're going to the house. Like, my back gave out. It just never allowed me. And I can probably have a surgery. I keep putting it off because I just want to keep moving around. But eventually, I'm going to get fixed. Is there another solution?

Because DDP always tells these stories of like, this person was supposed to have surgery, but instead we were able to work through it. No, those people are people that either got obese and couldn't move. You know, they're not flexible or they can't, like, I stretch. I'm flexible. I have, you know, I could probably drop 50 pounds and, you know, be in better condition. But I'm, I mean, I'm all right. Was, were you more nervous for your first?

I got bulging discs. And, yeah, you'll need surgery, yeah. Two of my discs have shrink about a half inch and they're sharp on the end. They have spurs. So they have to go and call micro abrasion. They have to go and shave those off. And then try to ease the nerve from being inflamed. Then once that happens, I should be fine.

Were you more nervous for your first wrestling match or your first time getting on stage to do comedy? Oh, my first wrestling match. By far. Because I knew I was a damn fool, so I was going to be all right on stage. And I was so prepared for somebody to say something. Like, you know, people walking by. And, man, this guy, listen, I'm not in the guys. But I'm comfortable with being a man.

enough to say, like I said in the beginning, you're a damn handsome man. Bullie Ray. Damn handsome man. Even though bully is full of shit. But you, this guy got up in the middle of my sit. I'm like,

where are you going? And I looked in this, he had hair down to the middle of his back. And I said, Pantin, where are you going? I'm going to get a drink. Want me to get your drink?

No, I want you sit your ass down so I can do my shit. And everybody's laughing because it's a moment in time that would have never happened if I wouldn't have called him Pantene. It's like, that's comedy. You've got to be able to do it on the fly. And that's wrestling. And I mean, your years of wrestling and all the promos that you've cut, it's probably actually second nature for you to have a mic and be on stage.

Yeah, to have a mic is medicine. I get to talk shit and tell stories and, you know, I told last night, me and Dilo just sitting in a lot and people were howling that was around us because you remember Takami Shunoku? Of course. So the Japanese wrestlers would come over and they wouldn't intentionally not speak English well, even though I knew some of them guys could speak English because I heard. them. They understood too easily what you were saying. Taka's in the car with me and Dilo.

We're driving. It's probably two in the morning. Driving to the next town. And Taka is dead sleep in the back seat. It's like, Taka. There's no more food. McDonald's or Wendy's?

He kind of woke up all groggy. Oh. Either one. one is fine. And I was like, whoa, uh-uh, pull over. Like, we had to pull over have a moment. I was like, hey, motherfucker, you're outed. Yeah, either one is fine.

That's what you said. That's what he said, no, I like a McDonald's, brother, you can't go back. You can't go back. And me and Delo knew. So we used to tell him, hey, we down with the K-Faid. We ain't going to tell nobody. And we didn't. Like, we knew, when he was in a car with us, he used to talk to us.

Man, it was hilarious. And he would go back and he would tell who was good and who wasn't. Because there's a lot of racist-ass people in his world. And when they think that you can't understand them, then they really let loose. And I thought it was genius. So, yeah, I know guys. You know what, meme? I always see of you lately.

It's the bench press competition with Ryeback. And there's all these memes of like you holding the bar over his head. It's like when my gym bro says let's do squats on leg day or something silly like that, walk me through this bench press competition with Ryeback. These are not real weights, right? The weights, I think, were like five pound different. Oh. It wouldn't like they were like.

10 pounds. You had two plates, which would have been 225. Yeah. So, I mean, it was 190 or something. Oh. I mean, it's, I don't care. I've actually done 50 reps with 225. So, I mean, it wasn't no reason.

It wasn't like I was going to get a cookie or something for doing more than 50 reps. I stopped that 50 because I wanted to stop at 50 and I was breathing heavy. and that's not like my favorite thing anymore. Breathing heavy? No, I don't want to be. I was like, turn the air down. I think we're good now. I want to hang meat in my house.

I don't want to be somewhere where I'm going to break out into a sweat. So they were gimmick weights. Yeah. And when you're holding it over him, that actually feels like, you know, I don't know. It feels like it makes it way harder for him. You're holding over his throat. That's the whole part of the thing.

But now he's having to push up against you. No, I was not going to kill him. Just maiming. You know, just a little pain, a little suffering. It was a good piece of business. That's all it was. You could have legitimately, I mean, if that was a legitimate contest, you would have walked away with it.

Oh, yeah. It wasn't nobody. Like, the difference between me and the strength, world to wrestlers is like track and field in the Olympics and track and field in high school. It's not the same shit, man. Like, you can't compare. I remember Big Show had his list of the strongest wrestlers ever. And he put John Cena in front of me.

And I said, man, what the hell wrong with you? That was on my show. Yeah. Sorry. What's wrong with you? I was like, you know that dude ain't nowhere near. strongest me. I've been still with my hands. I was like, you seem, me and Big Show, I ruined, I broke a steering, I bent the steering wheel

one time in a car. We were driving from Sonny Ono's house to Chicago Airport. And my son said something crass to my wife. And I got mad and I said, he said, what? and bent the steering wheel. Show said, Mark, get off the phone, and let me drive. And straighten the damn steering wheel out. I'm guessing this was a rental car. Yeah.

What happens when you return the rental car? They didn't know. I bent it back. The Feats of strength you did on WWB were incredible, like bending a frying pan, lifting a car. But how frustrated were you when that steel door wouldn't open for the cage, the steel cage? No, it was a padlock on it. It wasn't a door.

I mean, I could have jumped up and grabbed the door and just ripped the door off the hinges. They wanted me to pull the chain, break the chain. And I had committed to pulling on that chain to break that lock. Jim Ellis. Ellis, I should kick you in the balls. but Ellis was busy. He had so much shit going on. He forgot to take a hacksaw and kind of saw the master lock.

So Masterlock, Mark Henry broke Yoshi. He didn't score it. So he didn't weaken it enough so I could just, you know, pop it. So when I started pulling on it, it wouldn't go. That's why it took so long. It was like, shit, I had to go back and look, but it was supposed to be like instantaneous, ping, do it and go like three or four minutes, maybe longer. It took for me to, like I really broke it.

And you're kicking the door, like, you look pissed off. I was. And, but it was a success. We did the business. But that was a case where. you saw something real happen in wrestling that probably will never happen again. And I would like to do a reenactment

and challenge people to go try it. And it will humble strong, strong people because what did that was Mark Henry, the strongest man in the world, lost his shit and had to do it because I was on TV. Failure was not an option. So, I mean, that people got this.

That's probably the greatest feet of strength you're ever seeing wrestling. Wow. Like, I could never do that again. My hands, my hands hurt for like two weeks. The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. soccer podcast. My name is David Goss,

and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clevenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claimant, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are.

The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Hencoe, follow and listen on your favorite platform. For as strong as you physically were, I think you were so successful in wrestling because how mentally strong you were, too. How were you able to develop that? over the course of your career. I didn't want to fail. More than when, I love winning. Winning is fun. Winning make you happy.

Winning make you money. Failure ends your career. Failure makes you it never was. And I just, I couldn't do it. I can't fail. Anything I'm going to try to do, I'm going to work hard, hard, hard, I'm a study, study, study. I'm a practice, practice, practice.

I go over my comedy set at least two or three times a day, just so I can just spit it out verbatim. And I was just telling the friend of mine, like I'm going to start a OnlyFans because people making money. You're seeing the money, people making an OnlyFan? Well, most of them are women, you know, removing their clothes. Yeah, but, you know, there's a, There's a niche market for the world's strongest man, for a big dude.

And I think that, you know, like something that I could probably sell pretty well is the fact that there are people that like these SMR videos. ASMR. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to do that one. I'm going to do it with ash because, you know, black people, if you don't put a lot of oil on, you get ash. So mine is going to be geared to people that like ashy. I can't tell if you're being serious or not.

I'm going to go swimming and I'm going to dry off. That's all I'm going to do. This is a bit you're working, isn't it? I'm just going to drive and I'm not going to put any oil on a little lotion and nothing. I'm just, and I'm going to rub my skin together like this, like a cricket. Yeah, I'm going to entertain a hell out of people. They're going to buy it. I guarantee you.

Man, do you see how ashymark him again? Like, I mean, it looked like he was kicking flour. Like, I'm going to get assy, ash. And you know who my sponsor is going to be? Jurgens. Oil of Ole, some shit like that. That's kind of where I'm going. Yeah, I'm going to make that only fan money.

It's going to be rich. People are going to love it. But the great thing about comedy is you can do this until you're 90. To your 90 years old. Until you're 100. Until you can't do it anymore. You know, comedy saved me, actually. Because I was struggling.

I'm dead serious. I'm not joking now. I was clowning before. I'm just making other shit to entertain people. But, like, when I stopped wrestling, man, I was, like, lost. What I'm going to do? You can only teach so much.

And, you know, I was doing community service stuff and all of that stuff is fulfilling, but that's for the benefit of other people. Hell, I wanted something in comedy. I would laugh, and I was like, that's it. I'm going to make people laugh. I'm so curious when you were doing stuff with May Young, were you also traveling with her at that time?

Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes, like whenever Mula and other ladies were not on the road, she rode with me. And bro, she used to tell me stories. Like, she was like, you know what, Mark? I understand who you are in the business. And I was like, what do you mean, man? And she's like, I see how you help these other kids out. And I heard people talk about you when you first started.

you know what fuck them people she was tough she said I went through the same thing and she told me stories about the boys

like flashing her you know like saying belittling and really horrible horrible things to her not letting her dress in like she dressed in

groom closets janitor's rooms, stuff like that, so they wouldn't rib her. Like, somebody stole all her clothes one time, put them in a water bucket. Like, they haze the shit out of her. And she just started kicking people in the balls and punching people in the throat. I'm dead serious. She was like, hey, if you're going to talk trash to me, at least zip your pants. Got them that looked down, kicked them in the balls.

stomp the shit out of them. Man. She told me that. She said, you know, when I was a young woman, none of these girls in here could touch me. That's what she was confident. I love that, especially with athletes. Yeah.

And people that's doing something like, you confident that you're a good interview. Yeah. You know, man, I can hold my own against some of the best. That's the way she would. If you don't have that level of confidence, you're not going to make it. Yeah. And she had it, man.

She was just an amazing, and tough, tough. I watched Bully Ray power bomb her through a table from the ring to the floor. And she was like, do not treat me like an old woman. You better lay it in. You got to ask, next time you see Bully, ask him how the conversation he had with her, how she talked to him. Oh, he's told me the story. It's wild. talk to him like a red-haired stepchild.

Go out there and make me look bad. That's what she said. See what happens to you. Like, oh, shit, I just got threatened by me. Like, she was special, man. What was, why was it so special when you were in the ring with Ray Mysterio? I don't know. I think it's the contrast and size, uh, ethnicities, skill set. I was, he was a high flyer. I was the ground and pound, big monster dude. And I think it was because we both realized who we were

and was willing to work for the other guy. That's basically what made the matches that we had success. Because you can put anybody after me and him, they was going to have to elevate their game. the first time that I'd ever seen that spot where someone picks someone up, falls over, stands back. The Mark Henry spot. The Mark Henry spot. Yeah, they need to call that shit the Mark Henry spot.

Everybody did it. Brock did it after that. Man, any guy that was big with muscles did it. And it made me cry. Fucking Oprah question. I was the Oprah. Do you love your mom? I want to punch her.

Um, no, I love Oprah. Bianca did it at WrestleMania. Well, the first time you did it was an accident, right? It was an accident. I didn't think asking you about the Mark Henry spot would be such a, such a moment. Why does it make you cry? A lot of people don't create nothing in wrestling. I bet it's a lot of guys that probably went their whole career.

It was doing everything. The first thing they tell you is everything that's been done in wrestling has been done. Ain't nothing that's been done before. It's not true. To create something in wrestling makes you different. And I've been saying that shit since I was 12 years old. Different. It is what it is.

So how did this come together the first time? You picked up Ray Mysterio. I can't. The first time we did it, we did it on the floor. Completely by accident at a house show. He did a springboard, he did a springboard where he do what they call a West Coast Pop, where he put both his legs on your shoulders and ride you to the ground.

Well, when he did it, he overshot me. He sprung. I mean, maybe the ropes were too tight or something. And I was like, oh shit, I became a baseball player. And I'm fielding him. I'm backstepping. I'm backstep. And I caught him.

And I pulled him to me and to protect him. I rode backwards up to my knees, stood up. And he went, oh, shit. Oh, shit. He just kept saying it. And then I pressed him and threw him back in the ring. And then I remember when the match was over, I came in the back.

All the boys was like, damn, man. Way to look out for him. And you created something there. Like you said, that is so, so rare in wrestling. But we got to look out for each other, too. That's the thing that probably makes it most special, is it didn't happen by talent, but by protecting.

So get a little emotional about it. I love that. If you laugh, I'm going to kick you in the... That brings it full circle to where we started here. It's okay for men to show emotions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's okay. I'm not ashamed of it.

I love it. No, I love it. But it's just proves that wrestling is more than big guys. and tight clothes, it's more than high spots and finishing. It's even more than the psychology of it. What is it? It's the brotherhood of it,

the respect for the other person's life and making sure that works out best and first before everything else. I appreciate who you are as a person. I always love the conversations that we have, but I love how open and honest you are about everything. I'm a lot of things, but a liar is not one of them.

I'm going to tell it like it is the way that I understood it. And there's people that are going to say, well, no, I think it was like this. If it's opinion-based, it's opinion-based. But I'm telling you, from perspective of somebody that experienced it, I'm not going to embellish or add to. What do I need to do to embellish?

I was the strongest human to walk the planet, legitimately. Yeah, it's not just the name. Why do you have to lock? Yeah. And these are objective facts. Yeah, I told you, I'm going to just state the facts and let everybody else debate on who was best or whatever. There were people that were better in individual events than I was.

I came in dead last at the World Championships and the bench. The first at the World Championships, the first bench press was me. The second bench press was me. The third bench press was me. I was done before everybody else even started. Ain't that crazy? He's crazy. All right.

I got one more for you before we wrap this up because I know you're on a time crunch here. You and Big Show Breaking the Ring. How much advance notice did they give you about this? And when you think about it, you're, he's 500-ish pounds, you're 400-plus pounds, so that's 900 plus.

There's over 900 pounds with humanity in the ring. Humanity. I think they told me that day and when I got to the arena. And I was like, what?

And I'm thinking we got to do it for real. So the easiest way to make a ring fold up, because I've seen rings fold up before, underneath the rings, they're all on wires that wire them together to a central point in the middle. And, I mean, it's got so much support. So all you got to do is just not put the wires on. But what if in the middle of the match,

something happens. So all of that stuff is set up. It's a magic trip to letting all of that stuff happen at the moment that it's supposed to happen. Not before. Yeah. Because then you put people in danger. And I've been in the ring where I broke the ropes legitimately. I've run and hit the ropes.

snap, broke the steel ring in the corner, fly out toward my quad. So the danger of the ring breaking is a reality. But that, he and I doing it, it had been done before. Right. I mean, I think we showed it with Brock before. I think that you guys were the second or third?

I would think that in history, that somebody had to do it before. I would have done it with Andre, I'd have done it with King Kong Bundy, you know, some big guys. Yeah. But the reason that I think it was memorable because you have two Hall of Fame guys.

Yeah. And in an angle that lasted for like two years. He broke his leg. Well, he punched me in my teeth. He hit me in and he bit. harassed me in front of my family. You have offended me in a shouting in temple.

You must die. No, he showed, like, I don't know where to fuck that came from. We just had chemistry. We wrestled in Louisville. I'm going to send you, when I get home, I'm seeing you some pictures. In OVW?

We wrestled in OVW at the Louisville Garden. Wow. And it was a big show. It was like 6,000 people. there. And, um, like, it was a, it was a, it was a, it was a big match because at that time, um, he and I were only two WWE guys that, uh, were in Ohio Valley. And, you know, they wanted us to go down there and get in shape and lose weight and all of that stuff. And, uh, and we did. I got a video. I got a video of Paul doing a kipp-up. Wow.

Holding the rope, kipping up at 460. There's a video of big show doing a moonsault. Yeah. He was, bro, he was a monster. Crazy. Like one of the best, if not the best big man athlete of all time. I would put him over me.

I would put him over Andre. He was a better athlete doing the stuff as 60, and change almost exactly seven feet tall. Yeah. Like shoot height. Yeah. You know, you got billed at 7-1 or whatever. Like, that dude is seven feet tall, basically, and 500 pounds.

Yeah. Doing moonsaults and kipp-ups, drop-kicks. He used to do drop-kick. Yeah, he would do the drop-kick off the top rope. Yeah. Or the middle rope, yeah. Stupid stuff. I mean, just crazy athletic.

Yeah. And. Missile drop kick. I can't. Man, I'm trying to think. Bam Bam Bigelow was pretty athletic, pretty good. Oh, hell yeah. Bobo Brazil and Ernie Lab was pretty damn good in eight times.

But when it comes to big guys, I mean, you can't, I don't put Taker in the same space. because Taker's like 6, 9, you know, he's not seven feet, and he wasn't 500 pounds. Right. You know, I think Taker got up in 300 at one point. I think they billed him at it. Was it 302? 299 in his recent days?

Yeah, he was... 298? Just under 300 pounds. Great basketball player, too. Was a basketball player. Yokozuna. had limitations because of the size, but was a good athlete. If you would have saw him play basketball, you would have been like, holy shit.

Like, he could hoop. Yoko could hoop. Next time you interview somebody like Taker or Godfather, one of them guys, ask him. I can't picture Yoko's here. Rakishi. Like, one of the guys that was around during that time. Yeah. Man, we would go, whenever we had a show, we used to go to the Penn State.

We would go to the Bryce Jordan Center, I think it was. And they had, down the hallway, they had extra gyms. And we would always find our way down there. I could be playing basketball. And Yoko would just be killing us. I can't believe that. I'm not playing. He could dribble with both hands.

He switched. You get on one side. or the other, you was done. Could he jump? Enough. Wow. Enough. Dusty Rose could hoop.

I've seen those videos. I'm talking about who. I've seen those videos. Like, it's been some guy, Billy Gunn, Randy Orton couldn't hoop, but Randy was so athletic. We just,

I wanted them on my team, just throw it near the rim. He'd go get it. Yank! Billy Gunn's, a freak athlete. Still. Still.

Yeah. 60. Look like. That's crazy. Adonis. When you shake that man's hand, you feel like he's going to break your hand off. It's wild.

He did that on purpose. I think he does. He does that on purpose, man. Bill and stop it. Stop. I'm going to end this with the same question. I ask everybody the end of every interview.

I did this last time, too. Oh, shit. Yeah, here we go. Back with the Oprah questions. Oprah. Barbara Walters questions. Gratitude is such an important part of my every day. I wake up every day and I say out loud, three things I'm grateful for.

It sets the tone for the day and I do it before I go to bed too. What are three things that you are grateful for in your life, Mark? I'm grateful for people like you that love wrestling enough to make wrestling your life even though you're not a wrestler. the people that are around pro wrestling that drive it and push it and promote it and love it I'm just grateful for those people because it it helps us and thank you I wanted to be a pro wrestler I trained I trained when I was 20 it's hard as shit and it's not just that it was hard I mean, it was definitely hard, but I was going to school at the same time. And I was going to wrestling school that summer.

And when it came time to go back to school that fall, I never want to half-ass anything. Right. So I was like, do I put my focus on wrestling school or school school? And I wanted to get my degree and a new wrestling would always be there. And now I'm fortunate that I can put my degree to work, you know, communication studies degree, and dip my toe into wrestling. Right. Yeah.

So it's, man, I have the utmost respect. for everything that you guys do. I'm grateful for life too and help being able to get out and see all these guys. You see Russell is dying around us every day. And one day is going to get my turn. But people need to know that I was grateful for my life. I'm grateful for the opportunity to entertain them and have fun in the process. And even though I was an asshole, heal most of my career, I still love the fans.

I mean, that's why I did it because I was one. And if I didn't do the right thing by my character, by who I was portraying in the ring at that moment, I would be doing them a disservice. So I'm grateful for that. And I'm grateful for my family. both of my kids loving wrestling. I'm grateful for my wife allowing me to go off 250 nights a year when I was in my prime wrestling and hold it down at home.

Like just that family dynamic is special and just always will be. I'm grateful for you. Thank you for always making the time. Well, yeah. You know, just make sure that check clear, brother. Oh, yeah, big check. Yeah, big check. Yeah, big check.

You didn't think this was free, didn't? You didn't read the small print? When I say, yeah, it's like, card subject to change if pay is not right. I must have missed that to asterix there. I'm going to take some of these cameras and shit with me on my way out. How much I can get for it. That's a pretty expensive microphone.

I'd be able to get at least $100 from it. Thank you, Sarah. You're welcome, brother. It's a good. There we go. That is a funny dude. That is a funny guy. And now that we know that Mark Henry isn't with AEW anymore,

what do you think is his next move? After all of that talk there about his eye for talent and the stars that he's found, it just seems like being some sort of a talent scout or a talent liaison for WWE, it feels like a logical move. Because again, without Mark Henry, we don't have Jade Cargo, we don't have Braun-Strauman, we don't have Bianca Bel Air, we don't have Samantha Irvin, we don't have Baron Corby, we don't have Apollo Cruz. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's many other talent that he's discovered as well. So it'll be very interesting to see how these next few months for him shake out and where he lands, what he does. Also, where does

Jacob Henry end up when his college career is done? Is it, I mean, he loves wrestling. He also loves football. What ends up happening there? It'll be very interesting to see. Snap a screenshot and share it online and tag us. He's at the Mark Henry. I'm at Chris Van Fleet.

And I'll leave you with this quote from Ben Nempton, who was a guest on the podcast several hundred episodes ago, but you can go back and check it out. If you remember the show, what was it, the bucket? list, no, the buried life. His show is fascinating on MTV. It was a show about like driving around the country and helping people to cross things off their bucket list. So go check out the buried life. And yeah, if you really want, go check out that episode with Ben Nempton from about two-ish years ago. What you do is important, but why you do it is more important. What you do is important. Why you do it is more important. Be great and be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. Ask.

TVV number 34 tomorrow. If you've got a question, send it in. We will see tomorrow. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock. But there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley?

How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this.

Hammer Allie. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.