Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Mark Henry On Feeling Disrespected By Vince McMahon, Leaving WWE For AEW, Mae Young Giving Birth To A Hand

Episode Date: June 22, 2023

Mark Henry (@themarkhenry) is a professional wrestler and commentator currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is also a WWE Hall of Famer. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about why he left WWE and signed with AEW, what his initial conversation with Tony Khan was like, his thoughts on having one last retirement match, the prank that Vince McMahon pulled that lead to his "Hall of Pain" gimmick, the original plan for his storyline with Mae Young giving birth to a hand, why he chose a salmon-colored jacket for his fake retirement speech, his son Jacob's incredible size and strength, the talent he has discovered like Bianca Belair, Braun Strowman and Jade Cargill, working on Busted Open and much more! Use the code CVV to get your first month of Bluechew for FREE at http://bluechew.com Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV at http://thecoldplunge.com Quote I'm thinking about: Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. - Robert Breault For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://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

All systems are gathered. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blin. All right. Here we go, my friends. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV Chris Van Fleet, and what a week. I mean, what a week in terms of numbers here. We just hit 350,000 subscribers on the main YouTube channel.

That exact same day, we also hit 275,000 subscribers on the CVV clips channel. So, I mean, that was crazy. Both of those together, 625,000 subscribers combined. And then we also hit half a billion views. Yeah, billion with a B, half a billion views, 500 million views with both channels combined. So I say it a lot, but it bears repeating. Thank you.

Thank you for always being on this ride with me. And I'm assuming if you're listening to this, that you're already subscribed on YouTube. But if not, for whatever reason, please take a second to click subscribe. And also click subscribe or follow wherever you're listening to this. Right now, we've got so many big guests coming up. We've got a guest next week that says, yeah, a lot. Yeah.

Uh-huh. That's going to be real good. Speaking of milestones, we're closing in on episode number 500. This one here with Mark Henry is episode 484. So good to have him back on the... show and it was three years ago when we had him on the show and things were things were pretty different in his world when we recorded that one things were pretty different i guess in the world in general three years ago but he's with a e w now you see him every friday on rampage it's time

for the main event and we talk about his transition from wwe and his hall of fame career there to what he's doing now in aew and i'm not sure how many people know this but he has scouted so many big name talent. We talk about that. Bianca Baller, Jade Cargill, Braun Strowman. It's just, he seriously has an eye for talent. So it's going to be very interesting with his role in AEW and what other talent that he scouts for them. Of course, we talk about some of his career highlights like sexual chocolate, May Young giving birth to the hand, the Hall of Pain gimmick, the salmon colored jacket, the fake retirement speech, all of it. So take a screenshot, share this with someone who you know is going to like this and tag us.

He's at the Mark Henry. I am at Chris Van Fleet. And ladies and gentlemen, it is the world's strongest interview with the world's strongest man, Mark Henry. Mark, so good to see you. Welcome back on the show. I appreciate it, man. It's been a while.

It has. It's been a while. Like it was three years ago. You're big time famous now. I've tried to be famous. I don't even know how I got on this show. Get out of it. I'm trying to be as famous as you. Come on.

I love that your Zoom name is Mr. Strongman. This is amazing. You know, I'm full of myself. Speaking of that, your name always comes up because I did this interview with the big show six, seven years ago. You probably know the one I'm talking about. I asked him, who's the strongest person you've been in the ring with? He cuts me off. He immediately says John Sina and not Mark Henry. And I gave him the business about it too. That's how you're going to say John Sina is stronger than me

because he's more over than me. But if it came to strength for strength, like there's nobody else on the planet that compares to the things that I've done. Do you think when it comes down to it, you're the strongest wrestler pound for pound that has ever existed? Oh, there's no doubt about wrestling.

Like, when I'm, when I'm talking about strongest, I mean on the history of recorded, documented proof of what people have done on Earth. They got cartoons, the Earth Might as Heroes, I'm Earth Mighty's Hero. And it's not bragging when it's true. I'm just recording the news. I know. And I feel like your son is like, I'm giving you facts. You're following.

your son is following these footsteps i mean if anybody's seen photos of your son who's he's 16 right it's 17 now okay so he just turned 17 jacob henry he's like a mini world's strongest man he's on the way man um he'll he'll squat 700 pounds this summer oh my god and he's he's he's about a 650 dead left right now oh get him uh 700 dead left by next year in a plus 400 bench. Like he'll be the strongest high school in the country. That's insane. So what's, is this real passion football or is it power lifting? Football. Okay. Like we're doing a lot of football camps. He's going to Kansas State today or is in Kansas State today in Manhattan, Kansas. So I'll be checking in with him later and

make sure he's smashing people. So who knows, you know, he may end up in the NFL, maybe after that we see him as a pro wrestler. Well, his dream is to be a pro wrestler. He wants to, you know, graduate and get a degree in broadcast journalism. And he wants to, if it's possible, I know it's like lightning strike and to play in the NFL. he said if I could just play one play and say I made it, I did it. And if I'm good enough and I'm able to be blessed to not have injuries and to be able to play in the NFL for a long time, it'd be great.

But he said that by 28, he said, I'm done regardless because I'm going to go into pro wrestling. How does dad feel about him being a pro wrestler? I'm fine with it. I mean, right now, he could come into wrestling right now and be good. because of his aptitude, his understanding, and I'm his dad. So, like, we talk wrestling, like I talk wrestling to the fan base on Busted Open. And, you know, we have a podcast version of our show on Sunday called the Masters class.

And we talk about all things wrestling. And it's specific to wrestlers. If fans tune in and they listen, they're going to get the same understanding that we would give John Cena if he asked me a question. Of course, John Cena is a brilliant guy and understands the gravity of what pro wrestling is, not just from a physical standpoint, but from a psychological and psychology-driven standpoint. So I don't have to teach him. He's a teacher. But there's a lot of people that they get the same training. What do you think is something that's maybe missing from people who are breaking into the business now versus when you broke into the 90s?

I think that the respect for the veterans teaching year is expected now because it's corporate and the people are employed to do those jobs. but at the end of the day, you should be appreciative that Jerry Lynn, Dustin Rhodes, Jamie Noble comes up to you and says, hey man,

if you fix this, you're going to be great. And don't be afraid to ask me a question. I know you don't know it all because I don't know it all. But I've had some experience, and I want to put that into you. And those are gifts. Those are jewels that it's hard to be able to put it to quantify it to monetize it because your success is dependent on you being able to make people care and feel.

And that has to be taught. So so much has changed since we last talked. It was three years ago. like the world was just starting to shut down. You were still like, I guess, finishing up with WWE at that time. Did you have any idea that things were going to come to an end with WWA at that time?

I mean, all things come to end, but I did not think that they would not hire me being that I knew the things that I knew. And sometimes I guess that could be a bad thing. People don't want to know where the body is buried. but from a from a business standpoint I wanted a position in the office because I didn't want to wrestle anymore and that they wouldn't hire me because I didn't have experience and you know like on the corporate side or the business side or the executive side or whatever you want to phrase it in a position

where you're telling people what to do. I was not given that opportunity. But when it comes to storytelling and getting wrestlers ready to go, like I could do that as good as anybody that's doing it. The difference between me and everybody else is I could also work the room. You know, whenever there was up-front event,

corporate outings, things of that magnitude, they always sent me because they knew one. I was going to put on a good phase for the company. I was well respected for my career. But what people didn't know is a guy gave me vision and a sense of discernment. and I can see where a wrestler can make it or not. And there's people that are not even in the wrestling business that I see them and I go, wow, they would be a great wrestler. And I've done it.

I've gone to people. Jay Cargill, who was the women's champion, Bianca Bel Air, headline WrestleMania, and was world champion. Bronz Strowman was a strong man. And I said, bro, you should be wrestling. And he came in seventh at the nationals. And I said, the guys in front of you, that's first, second and third,

all are going to be in the top five for the next 15 years. Like, unless you miraculously grow and get stronger, you're going to be middle of the road here. you could be a big fish in pro wrestling. And it took him two years to say, you know what, hey, can you still get me into wrestling? And I said, hell yeah, let's go. And, you know, he became a world champion and is making millions of dollars.

Like, that was not a possibility without me. And not that I'm saying, oh, look at me. I'm saying, look at my ability to recognize talent is what I'm saying. And the same thing with Baron Corbyn and, you know, short story, you know, once you get me talking, brother, it's hard to stop me. I love it. Apollo Cruz and Rich Swan were in Japan as a tag team. And I saw them in Japan. And I said, man, like, they bigger than this.

And I went to Vince and I said, hey, man, like, I saw these two guys in Japan. They're crazy, man. they're doing stuff that our cruise of weights are not doing. And he said, well, what do you mean? I was like, they're bigger, they're more muscle, they're extremely talented, and they're doing moves that I haven't seen our guys do. And he said, well, can you get them to come in? And I was like, yeah, I got them flights with my money, with mine.

Wow. And found out, reached out, and found out that they're kind of, contracts were up and that they were going to come back to the States and they didn't know what was next. I was what was next. And Apollo Cruz has been multiple-time champion over there. Rich Swan was champion, cruise away champion there. And I think the 24-7 champion before he left and went to TNA. And he became a champion over there.

Yeah, World Champion, Impact World Champion. Impact World Champion. champion. So like, when I see people, I just know what I know. And we could teach you how to wrestle. I don't teach how to wrestle. They got coaches that do that and agents that do that and guys all over there have wrestling schools. I don't teach you how. I teach you why. Teach you when to do it. Where to put it. And those are the things that. that make you great. You can be good, but I'm going to make you great.

So when you realized you weren't going to continue in WW, did you reach out to some of your friends in AEW and say, hey, what's it like working there? No, I didn't reach out to no talent. Like, you know, I talked to Tony Kahn. And, you know, Tony was a big fan of wrestling. And we talked, and he was the A-asked me, you know, why was I not wrestling?

I said, man, I don't, I don't want to wrestle no more. I'm old. And he laughed. And I was like, I want to be more on the executive side. I want to be able to help build the business. And he said, man, don't tease me. And I said, tease you how? He was like, you would come to EW?

And I was like, hell yeah, I'd come to EW. If you hire me on the executive side and I get the help with talent. he was like, man, I'm going to have my legal call you today. That's how it happened in one day. Wow. Man. And it was not like I knew that I was going to talk to Tony Kahn. Who knows you're going to run into a billionaire wrestling company owner?

I didn't know that. And the next day I called him. Or text him? You ran into him somewhere? Well, we just talked on the phone because he, came on Busted Open. And then we talked and exchanged information. And then we spoke probably a couple of weeks later from when I talked to him on

Sirius XM. And then after that conversation with me and him, I started the brain trial. I told Vince, I said, hey, I'm going to call you man to man and tell you what's going on. I'm going to take a job on the executive side. You know, I tried. You told me the channels to go through and your people wouldn't hire me.

Lack of experience. And now I have all the experience in the world. I understand things that I didn't understand when I first got the AEW. And I love it over there. There's some things that can be better. But that's everywhere. Like, people that

think that everything's supposed to be perfect. They're living in a dreamland. They've been delusional. So we see you on Rampage. You've got a new catchphrase, which is amazing. It's time. It's time for the made of head. It's so good.

I had no clue. Announcing was not even a thing that I thought about. Never thought of it. Never had the opportunity. That was something that I, for 24 years, I never did. And I love it. I think it's fun.

It's challenging at times, trying to make sure you get everybody's names correct with the correct pronunciation and that kind of thing. But for the most part, man, it's all new and I love it. It's challenging. I like a challenge. Take us behind the curtain. I'm just curious from like a broadcasting standpoint because you guys are in what they call triple boxes.

You're each in a different box on the, on the sky. with three different cameras. How close are you to the talent that you're talking to? I'm just curious. Sometimes you can be in the same room. Sometimes you're in different rooms. So that's what we see your job on TV. It's time.

It's so good. Great catchphrase. What's everything you're doing behind the scenes in AEW? You know what, man. I do a lot of the psychology. I teach. You know, I'm considered a coach. but I don't do the matches, you know, I don't produce the matches that you see on TV.

I go to each individual guy and I talk to them about their personas. I talk to them about their character and, hey, man, I think if you changed this, can you try to do this differently? You know, so we go back and forth and there's some people that listen better than others and you can see the development. of those people. I love working with Orange Cash. I love talking to him. He's a sponge. He's smart as hell.

And he wants to be great. And I like passion. I like people that's like, man, they got me on Fifth. It's going to suck for everybody that go on after me. I'm like, shit, let's go. I love it.

I love the people like that, man. Orange Cassidy like that, man. Will Hobbs, man. Godly. Yeah. There's lots more to get into. But first, I want to say a big welcome to our new sponsor, Blue Choo. Yeah, we are on board with Blue Choo, guys, and they are hooking you up in a big way.

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do it now with that code CVV to get your first month for free and just pay $5 for shipping. You see a little bit of yourself in Will Hobbs? Yeah, he my rose son. He calls me dad because I tell him like I would tell Jacob. Like, don't do that. That's not going to help you. And I talked to him a little bit more stern than others because of the relationship that we had. And we had that relationship before I came to AEW.

Like there was no before I met Tony Kahn, before I spoke to Tony Kahn, I knew Will. Hobbs because he reached out to me on social media and said, hey, I love the way that you presented yourself. Like, can you tell me how you did that? He did that. He reached out to me. I didn't have to reach out to him. You also didn't have to respond to him, though.

Well, I responded, and I started, like, kind of grooming him, like telling them what to do and, you know, what works in this situation. And he listens, bro, like you could tell him one time. And some people, yeah, I said, hey, man, I suggested this. Why you didn't try it tonight? I watched. And then, oh, man, you know, time got away from me. Everybody have an excuse.

Will don't have no excuses. You tell him to do something and he does it. And I'm very proud of his success. Like, I feel like a proud dad. Like you see your kid crawl and take their first steps or be able to the, you know, like you're dad. And you see the kids, they have the little box. And then you put the triangle in the square with the triangle. You put the square and the square and the circle in the circle.

I remember the first time I saw my son do that. I cried. I'm about to cry right now. My daughter is 11 days old as we sit here right now. Bro, there's stuff that's going to happen to you that's going to break you down. You're going to see your kid do stuff and you're going to go, oh, my God. That's so amazing. Like, in pro wrestling, there are people that come into the business and they're like children.

They're like babies. And then within a year, I mean, it's a big difference. In a year, they're like graduating college. Yeah. That's how fast wrestling is. Yeah. You can go from knowing nothing, absolutely nothing, one day to in a year or two. The biggest example I ever saw was Kurt Angle.

I saw Kurt Angle sign with WWF and do dark matches every night for a year. I remember you telling me you were at the Olympics with Kurt Engels. You knew him well before that. Yeah. And I told him, I was like, man, you need, I'm sponsored by them. Like, you should, you should come wrestle because Kurt was funny. Yeah. And I was thinking from him being comedic.

And I'll be damn if the toughest guy on the planet ended up being the funniest guy. I mean, arguably, Kurt was probably the best comedian in wrestling for about a five or six year stretch. and one of the top wrestlers at the same time. Never been done before. Yeah. You never had a, you never had a gimmick where a guy was aloof and sometimes a little vague

being the top five wrestler, wrestling the Undertaker and Triple H. Yeah. You know, like the elite of the elite. Never happened before. Never in wrestling. Yeah. It happened before.

We just lost Iron Sheep. The Iron Sheik was kind of that way. He was like, you laughed at stuff he said and did. But I don't think people know really, truly, especially the young people today. They don't know who to Iron Sheik. They just see the Instagram and Howard Stern and all of that. But before Sheik was a wrestler, a pro wrestler, he was a personal. bodyguard for the Shah of Iran.

You ever seen those John Wick movies? Yeah. That's who he was. Damn. Those guys are not allowed to carry weapons because they are a weapon. You go in certain places and you can't carry weapons. So what do you do to protect yourself if you're the king? You hire the best guy in the world. I'm talking about these guys doing a thousand push-ups a day.

A thousand squats, a thousand jumps. Their bodies are like when when the sheik first came to America, that guy looked like you can see every vein and muscle in his body. And if he wanted to snap your neck, he could snap your neck. He was not joking when he made, cut those problems. I break your back. I turn your neck. I make you

humble. I make you humble. Like he could do it if he wanted to. It just was no reason to do that. And so like, I love the history of wrestling. And the sheik was a descendant in training of a guy named the Mighty Gama. And, you know, you Google the Mighty Gama is a bunch of stuff.

But they, there were training days for him. that lasted six hours. That's the kind of shape this dude was in. I'm talking about 10-mile runs, five-mile swims, lifting weights with the clubs. You see the sheep do clubs. Like all of these different implements

and 1,500 squats? Come on, man. Man. Those people were different. They were designed to be a weapon. And we were blessed to see the Iron Sheet be a professional wrestler and a world champion, man, like an icon.

But he was also comedic and had great presence and a sense of humor. And him and Kurt Angle, you could put both of those guys right there together to me. As we sit here right now, we're a few months away from AEW's biggest show of all time, Wembley Stadium, 65,000, maybe 70,000 plus. What's the buzz like right now backstage about that show?

People are excited, man. I remember when we had the first show at Arthur Hads, $22,000. It was electric. You could feel electricity. And when the whole crowd yells, your clothes vibrate. imagine what it's going to be like with 70 plus thousand. You will not be able to hear somebody one foot away from you.

Like, it's so that, the thought of that is driving people to do better because they one want to be on that show. For the experience and for the money. because it's going to be a big payday for everybody involved. What do you think this show does for AEW moving forward? Because, I mean, this is a massive stadium. I also think that Vince is going to look at this and go, maybe we should run WrestleMania in London at some point. But what do you think this does for AEW?

It puts AEW on the worldwide map of, not just pro wrestling but international and Hollywood media this is the this is going to be the biggest thing media wise

everybody's going to be talking about it because you want to get the best English version of Hollywood actors and musicians and dignitaries to come you want representation from America in Hollywood. You want representation from the athletes. Tony Kahn is,

I guarantee you that there'll be NFL presence there because he owns the NFL team. Like the media is mass media. It's not going to be just pro wrestling entertainment. I mean, they should have a red carpet with. TMZ and entertainment tonight and all of those

every show that does world news like they should have representation they're covering that. And that's what it's going to do. It's going to show the world that there's somebody else out there other than WWE. Yeah, WWE's only done

WrestleMania outside of the U.S. twice, both in my hometown, Toronto. Do you think Vince McMahon looks at this and goes, oh, wow, they got seven, 70,000, we need to run WrestleMania there. I mean, yeah, that's

low-hanging fruit. Like, they just had an article where they where the company said that they were looking forward to doing more stuff like they did in Puerto Rico.

And the crowd in Puerto Rico and at the show that they had done there was unbelievable. Yeah. And I've been saying for years that, you know, know, pro wrestling needs to go abroad more. You know, you got Cape Town and Sydney and Melbourne that, you know, Germany would, I mean,

can you imagine a show from some of the big stadiums and arenas around the world, getting pro wrestling at the highest level on every company, AEW, WW, New Japan? Like, I don't think that a lot of the companies dream big enough. Yeah, yeah. As we sit here right now, do you know what your last in-ring match was? Oh, my God. I think that I had a match with Bronch Strowman, I think, and I had a match in Saudi Arabia with a sumo guy that I didn't know his name. And I'm like, why am I wrestling the sumo guy? And that's what they wanted. They wanted a sumo wrestler. and he just ended up getting me. I think they wanted Yoko Zuna, if you believe the stories.

I heard the story, but I didn't believe that. And I was hoping that that was not the truth because it was just so outlandish. But nonetheless, if the king liked sumo wrestlers and wanted to see a sumo wrestler wrestle, he got it. If the internet is what he wants. If the internet is correct, your last in-ring performance was in the greatest Royal Rumble, the one that Braun Strowman won.

Right. Do you wish you had like a final, like, retirement match? You know what? I've thought about it. And every time I think about it, I think who? Hmm. Who would be the person? And I guess you can put up a poll someday.

say who would you like to see Mark Henry have his last match against? Would you have one? Do it fast because every day I wake up, I'm thinking, I might have to just go and put that to bed. Would you have one more? Would you have one more in AEW?

You know what? I have to think about it and I have to start training and see how my body feels. I haven't took a bump in years. I think that like, if you think about it. I'd be open though. Yeah, I mean. The conversation.

Yeah. If you think about some of your biggest feuds, I mean, would it be Ray? Would that match make sense? Wow. I have some great ones with Ray. Yeah. Man, to go back in time and feel like that. Wow. That was, ooh. That's exciting. I like that. Is he your biggest rival? I think Undertaker and Ray would be right there. Kurt Angle would be right there. Randy Orton. Man, it's a who's who.

I wrestled everybody. I feel real honored to be able to say I was in the ring with at least seven of the... maybe six or seven of the top 10 of all time. I didn't get to touch Hogan. I didn't get to touch Andre the Giant. But like two of the people in Mount Rushmore, The Undertaker and Rick Flair, I was able to touch him.

And, you know, then you get to the Triple Hs and Sean Michaels and Brett hearts and, you know, Kurt Angles and people like, Man, I had a really, really blessed career. 100%. So if those are two of the names on your Mount Rushmore, I'm just curious. Who are the other two? Oh, Andre and Hogan are on Mount Rushmore. So it's-Taker and Flair.

Andre Hogan, Take her Flare. That's pretty great Mount Rushmore. Yeah, and it hurts, man, to not put Steve Austin in there, you know, because if you factor in money and longevity and just the overall jogginaut that Steve was, I saw at least five or six times in my life, just not touring with wrestling,

just touring randomly around the world, somebody walking with a Steve Austin shirt on. You know what I'm saying? Like you're walking in in Trinidad and you see a dude with a Steve Austin shirt on. You're on vacation in Hawaii and you see a Steve Austin. Like he was, man, he was so big. And to be number five on my top 10, like that's huge. Yeah, you can make real arguments that WWE might not have won the money.

Monday Night Wars if it wasn't for Stone Cold and specifically the program with Vince. I believe that. I believe that Steve was the henchpin. Yeah, it's a pretty amazing career. And then like what happened with Austin ended up, you know, kind of springboarding the rock success. And I mean, you know the rock very well. Yeah. And I'm very proud of Duane.

Like, I just did a golf tournament in Houston this past week. began and him owning the XFL. One of the sponsors for the XFL was his drink, his energy drink, no sugar, and like really good, too. Like, you know, I, during that weekend, I drank two of them and both flavors that I tried were, like, tremendous. And now I'm sitting here doing a commercial for the energy drink, But I'm just saying, like, I'm proud of the fact that he is a entrepreneur and that he did stuff that was outside of wrestling. Like him going to Hollywood, I'm proud of all of those guys.

Dave Batista and John Cena, like, you know, they're making, you know, Hogan and Roddy Piper proud for being able to go to Hollywood and be able to do the things that they've done. Yeah, between the energy drink, Zoha, between the Taramana, which is the tequila. I don't drink alcohol. I did drink the Taramana on air on Sirius XM. You got to find a clip because I haven't been drunk in probably 15 years. How much Taramana did you drink, Mark?

Oh, man. I had to drink at least a quart. I drank like five during the show. And look, you're a big dude. I would imagine it, you know, it's not easy to get you drunk. So embarrassing. So embarrassing. Apollo Cruz was a guest on the show and came on and we spoke.

And apparently I went into Mark Henry coach mode and started telling him what he needed to do, what I thought would be good for him, and I think I cussed. And I'm just like, oh, shit. But you know what? We chalk it up as don't. Mark Henry is not a drinker. Like, you know, the Rock should be proud.

He was a bad influence, and he might have sold some Taramana. I think if the Rock sees this, you're going to get a case of Taramana sent to your house. No, please don't. Thank you for no, thank you. No, thank you. Send me some Zoha.

We talked last time about the retirement speech and the swerve there and how good that was. And it got me thinking, like, when you have a retirement speech that's that good, that believable, that tricks everybody, does it kind of set the bar like too high now for like when you actually retire? Because people are going to go, nah, I don't believe in this time. My retirement was my retirement. I just put a little sazz on it. I said everything that I really wanted to say in my retirement. And then when I went in the Hall of Fame, I followed it up with a Hall of Fame speech that was historical. I said what I meant and I meant what I said.

And I thank the people that I needed to thank. And that was more important to me than them handed me a ring and saying, welcome to the Hall of Fame. You know, even though Vince didn't hire me, like, I really appreciate the lessons that he taught me. Because he talked to me not just as a talent. he talked to me as as he would say family but I would say a really good friend

and we all have our ups and downs and I have mine man I hate messing up but I do I'm not Jesus and Vince has had his issues but

you can't condemn somebody for a falling short of glory and grace. You should give glory and grace when you see the people get up. The United States Soccer Federation present 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. Times ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really say.

They're claiming 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 Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Mark, the salmon colored jacket is so iconic. Why did it have to be that jacket?

Because I was feeling salmon that day. That's it? Like, I saw that jacket and I was like, that is my retirement jacket. There was blues and greens and different colors, but that one, like, that's the one. It chose me. When I saw it, I was like,

Chef's Kiss. Where's that jacket now? It's being shipped to me. I put it on loan with WWE so they can do the exhibits at WrestleMania and there are different things, but now it's coming back to me. I'm going to set up my own exhibit. It's so interesting because if that had been a Navy blazer or a black blazer or a white blazer, no one would ever talk about it.

And the people that I know that are close to me, they call it the lion-ass jacket. Because all I did was, Lie like a rug. It's funny to me that the jacket has his own persona. That's awesome. WrestleMania 22. I want to take you back to that match with the Undertaker,

that casket match. Did they have to specially design a casket that could fit either you or the Undertaker? Yeah, because of how tall he was and how wide I was, the biggest damn casket you ever seen. Not very comfortable. Do you remember what the dimensions are on that casket? I don't. I don't, but it was probably a foot wider than my shoulders.

So back then I was 400-something pounds, and I was 62 in diameter around me. So like when I'm a-around-your-chest. A 62 jacket. And so, I mean, it had to be at least 84 maybe to be comfortable in there. And when I say comfortable, there's no such thing as comfortable in a coffin. I don't know if you're claustrophobic or not, but I am. And just to be in there for how long I was in there was really rough. And, you know, I tell people all the time that the greatest and the worst moment in my career

happened the same night. Having a co-main event at WrestleMania with The Undertaker and being put in the coffin and having to be in there for like 16 minutes. Man. To put things in perspective, 64 inches is like almost 5.5 feet. It's crazy. What do you do you know what your big people do you know what your circumference is now? Oh, I have no clue.

But I wear I wear a 54 jacket now. You've slimmed down a lot then. Yeah, I lost 100 pounds. Wow. What do you weigh these days? I'm 3.30. I was 4.30 back then. What was the very heaviest that you ever weighed?

Like close to close to 440. like 337 or something or 437 it was ridiculous it was too big I see the pictures and I could recognize the time and I'm like ah god how did I let myself get that big

but I know how I was when I was competing for strong man and trying to be strong still I was eating close to 10,000 calories a day. And when you stop, you have to stop eating like that, too. I didn't.

I kept eating like I was going to be in a world food eating contest. And I wasn't. And I wasn't burning off. And I wasn't even going to use that much protein. Like my body was just like storing it as fat. The spark of the Hall of Pain character, 2011, was when you went out to the ring. Sincara was supposed to come out and join you for a match. And he, you know, he wasn't there.

It was a rib. It was a prank. At what point during you standing in the ring, looking very angry, by the way, at what point did you realize he's not coming out? They ribbed me. When I looked at Scott Armstrong and he said, is not mean. And he had fear in his eyes.

And you can smell fear and you can see it. And he was deadly afraid. And I asked for the microphone. And I started talking and they turned the microphone off. And I said, okay, I get it. And like, that was one of the maddest times. That was the maddest that I'd ever been at that point. And I'm just glad that they had, you know, got in the limo and drove off because the conversation that we're having right now may not happen because I'd have whooped all their ass.

And I don't know if I could have controlled myself as mad as I was back then. Was it mad? Like you were angry because they got one over on you? I felt disrespected. I felt trivialized. out of all the work that I did, like all of the sacrificing. And people say, oh, you got paid a lot of money. You know what, man?

I didn't get paid enough money to dummy down my pride and my respect as a man. He ain't no price for that. And when that happened, I felt like, okay, I'm expendable. I'm useless to them. They don't respect me. That's the kind of feeling that it was. And, you know, I got a lot of counsel after that about how I felt as a man.

Because, like, it was troubling. But being that I am a man and that I was able to save my peace, to Vince and everybody involved. Like, just know who I am because that won't ever happen again. If it does, like, us talking will not be an option. And I quit. And you know what, man, I probably owe my wife more of an apology

and thank you because she was the one that got me to come back to wrestling and go and talk to them again

because I didn't have any interest on coming back and then none of the things after 11 would have happened if that was the case.

Did they like stick you with a bill? Like, hey, you broke all this stuff by the way. No, they ain't never

mentioned none of that to me. I'm glad they did. because part two of my killing spree would have started. What was the purpose behind this prank? Did Vince just think this was going to be funny? Vince just thought it was funny. He said that he thought it was funny,

and they wanted to get to the cars and get to the airport, and that was going to give them time to get out of there without no traffic, not thinking, how's Mark going to feel after this? I don't know what the hell they was thinking. I felt bad for Scott Armstrong. I felt bad for Tony Chimel. Like you could hear like he doesn't know what to say. Thank you, everyone, for coming.

And you just look like every second that ticks by, you just got angrier and angrier look like. Yeah, it was bad. But look what spawned out of it. That's what's so interesting about life is like you never know what is going to happen from something that occurs in your life. Yeah, I mean, you know, I never, I never want. wanted to be betrayed as belligerent and out of control angry.

And I'd be damned what made me mean at the end was that guy. Like, can we go back to sexual chocolate? Can we go back to the nation? Can we go back to me being an Olympian and the strongest person on earth? The hand? Come on. Yeah. But I had to be the Hall of. pain. And, you know, that all happened by accident, too. I said, all these suckers are trying to spend

their life trying to get into the Hall of Fame. I'm going to introduce every last one I'm to the Hall of Pain. That's just the shit that came to my brain. Have you talked to your son, hands lately? He's 25. Did they have any idea what the payoff of that angle was going to be? No, hell no. Vince is nuts. I asked him. I was like, why a hand? And he said, with a diabolical laugh, I was giving you a hand. And I said, man, you're crazy, man. Like, you're nuts. So for weeks, May Young is pregnant and there's just no plan for what's going to happen here? Hell no. Oh, wow. Vince is a mad scientist, man. He mixing stuff and stuff blowing up over here and stuff is doing good over here.

Like, he was a mad scientist. Your co-host, Bully Ray, had so many nice things to say about May Young. What's your best memory of working with that? Oh, man, I don't feel like crying today. Like, I miss her. She was the funniest woman I ever met in my life. not trying to be funny. He just was hilarious.

You know, Ron Simmons is like that on the men's side. But like if there's for the equal of Ron Simmons and a female is May Young, man, she was so funny. And tough, too. Like, I mean, bona fide tough. You ever see any of the pictures of her when she was Miss Texas? Yeah. Yeah.

She was beautiful. Yeah. Beautiful. And just her spirit was just so beautiful. She was funny, man. I can't even explain. I mean, like Carol Barnett type funny. He was funny.

I miss her. Yeah, speaking of busted open, I feel like people get to see a completely different side of you especially, but also bully, Tommy Dreamer. This has really opened you up, I think, to fans. I feel like they can, I feel like you're almost like their friend now. Yeah.

Yeah. I think people didn't know that I was analytical as much as I am. They didn't know that I was emotional as much as I am. I have people come up, man, every time you cry, I cry. I think they realize

why I had my success, too. They realize that I'm not a dummy. And you cannot be aloof and slow in pro wrestling. You cannot last for 27 years without knowing how to change and when the wins of change come. I'm able to recognize what I feel like is obsolete and erase that and start on something new. And if you're not aware, you're going to get left behind. I know you're a pretty humble guy, but just for a second, Mark, don't be humble.

Let's look back at your entire career here. What's the thing that you're most proud of, and what's the thing that made you Mark Henry? The fact that I worked like I didn't have talent, I was very talented. Like genetically and physically, I got, guy gave me gifts that other people didn't. and a half. I mean, it's not very often you find a guy 6,4, 375 pounds in their prime. I had a 32-inch vertical. I ran a 5-140.

I did plus 50 reps in the bench with 225. I had a 10-foot standing broad jump. Now, if you put my numbers into any NFL combine over the last 15 years, I would be the number one pick athletically in every draft pick, every draft that you've ever seen. That sounds grandiose and braggadocious, but it's not. It's the truth. I'm telling you.

fact. Yeah. And to be the strongest human that ever lived, there's, there's things that I've done multiple times that people had never done, never thought that, I mean, you put it out your mind. It's not going to happen. When I went to the world strongest man in 2002, the Arnold Classic, two people had lifted the Apollo's wheels.

John Davis and Norbert Shemansky and me in training. I told my coach, Dr. Terry Todd, that I was going to lift it three times for everybody that had ever lifted it before. Terry was laughing. He's like, look, man, just lift it one time, man. We, we will, nobody else is maybe not going to lift it. He's like, we've been having people trying to lift this thing for 15 years. and you're going to lift it three times? I said, watching me.

I lifted it three times, and it was easy. I could have did it four or five if I wasn't showing off. But that's the nature of me. I'm a show off. I put the hot dog on the mustard. That's what it is. That's what makes a great performer. Yeah.

And the type of person that if you say you're going to do something, I am certainly not going to question you. You're going to do it. If you do, you're going to put gasoline on the, fire. The people that doubt me, that's bring it. Okay. You're going to, you're going to look like trash at the end of the day because I'm going to do what I say I'm going to do. I lifted the Thomas Inch formerly known as the unliftable dumbbell. There have been a few people throughout history that could just lift it off the ground, just clear a French fry underneath it.

And when I said that the first time I touched it, I lifted it to my hip. And I said in a year that I was going to lift it over my head and everybody laughed. I lifted it over my head. And still today, 28 years later, nobody's done it. Like, I'm different. And I make a means of telling people, I'm never going to. lie on my abilities. But I did enough.

And I competed against people that took steroids, that cheated. And I still was able to win and be in the top in every facet of strength sports. You don't find somebody that's in the top two in power lifting, the top two in weight lifting, or the top five in weight lifting and the top two in Strongman.

I was the best in the world at powerlifting. I was the best in the world as Strongman. And I placed 10th in the Olympics and fourth in the junior world championships. So like when you calculate everything in every sport, all three sports, there ain't nobody close. They don't build them like Mark Henry anymore. So look, as we wrap this up, AEW's had a ton of success with dynamite, a ton of success with Rampage. What's in store here with collision?

You know what? I'm excited about seeing how it's going to go because there's too much talent to not have another show. There's been people sitting at home waiting. on the opportunity, jumping at the bit, and the time has arrived. And I just can't wait to see all the people that people haven't seen in a while, and they get that pop of when the first time people see him. I'm excited about collision. That CM punk reaction when he came back was huge.

What do you think the reaction is going to be like when he makes his return to AEW? Even more. even more because people can say whatever they want to say. Greatness is greatness. And I feel like punk is one of those guys that, regardless of whether he's on the right or wrong side of a topic or an issue, everybody going to tune in and watch because he is that guy. Mark, it's always such a pleasure spending some time with you.

and I end every conversation with gratitude. I don't think we did this before. So I wake up every day. I say out loud three things that I'm grateful for. I do it before I go to bed too. What are three things in your life, Mark, that you're grateful for right now? You know what, man?

I'm grateful for life and health. I'm grateful for my family. They make me human because once upon a time I felt like I wasn't. I felt like, you know, when I was single guy out there in the world, and I had nobody to be responsible for, nobody to, nobody to love and love me.

I live life reckless, and now I don't have to do that. I'm grateful for the fans knowing who I am, respecting and appreciating what I put my body through to entertain them. People to show up to get signed pictures of you and have a personal experience with you.

I'm thankful for that because there might be about 10 people on this planet that I'll go stand in the line to get autographed from, just a short list. And for me to be one of those people for people, thank y'all. Who's on your list?

Who would you stand in a line to get an autograph from? Well, I got one from Magic Johnson. I got one from Muhammad Ali. I got one from Mike Tyson. I was able to... I didn't get an autograph, but I took a picture with Prince before he died. I got to meet Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton

George Bush like there's there's iconic iconic people that I've met I mean you know people scoff at the fact that you would mention a wrestler

if you name a wrestler over the last 20 years 25 years more than likely I've had a match with them or at the minimum met him and shook their hand. Like, come on, man. Like, life ain't bad for Mark Henry.

Mark, such a pleasure to be able to catch up with you. Congrats on everything, by the way. And I look forward to doing this again next time in person. We'll do this in person next time. Let's go, man. I'm with it. And congratulations to you, man. 11-month-old baby.

I'll tell you what. 11 days. 11 days? Yeah, 11 days old. Oh, man. Wow. brother. I can hear her making some noise over him. Like, oh, I'll be right there, honey. Oh, my God, man. You just don't know what's about to happen to your life.

I don't. You're going to be so much better. Like, they bring out the best in you. They make you selfless. You think you've been selfless in your life. You think God you've never been in a position. And I've never been in a position where I had to sacrifice mine. for theirs. But brother, you would jump in front of a train for those kids. You watch, watch how it works out. Yeah, you're going to make me cry here. Bro, hey, ain't nothing wrong with crying. I'm better when I cry. Mark, thank you so much. It's been too long. I'm glad we were able to catch up here. It's been a good time, man. It always is.

There we go, the world's strongest interview with the world's strongest man. Mark Henry's always been so kind to me. And man, it was bringing me to tears there towards the end. Geez, what a guy and always so good to be able to spend some time with him. I would imagine you've either listened to Busted Open or you listened to them frequently, but Mark Henry on there is so good. And the great thing about that show is it allows us to see a community. completely different side of people like Mark Henry, Bully Ray, and of course, Tommy Dreamer.

It's just so good hearing their insights. Yes, pun intended on that show all the time. So, big thank you to Mark for joining me. Please take a screenshot, share this, and tag us so we can share it out as well. He's at the Mark Henry. I'm at Chris Van Fleet, and this quote is from Robert Brold. It's such a simple quote, but it means so much, and it goes such a far way to think like this. Enjoy the little things in life. For one day, you may look back and realize that they were the big things. So go out and enjoy the little things. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one. Yeah, with L.A. Night, my friends. 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 Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.