You Should Know Podcast - REAL WWE STORIES with MARK HENRY

Episode Date: July 20, 2020

Mark Henry TELL'S ALL about what happens backstage of the WWE and speaks on previous beef with Joe Rogan! FOLLOW ME! Instagram: @psh8 Twitter: @thePSH8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It feels so good to be back in this seat putting out another podcast for you guys. If you're new here or if you haven't already, please be sure to hit that subscribe button. It helps me get great guests like we have today. Our guest today is, you know, wait one second. I gotta give him the respect he deserves. I gotta give him the respect he deserves. You know, I got to give him the respect he deserves. He's a two-time Olympian, the co-host of Not A Sports Show, and Sirius XM's Busted Open. It's WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry.

What's going on, baby? Mark, it's an honor to have you here. If you would have told me at 11 years old whenever I was buying WWE tickets, buying these belts, shirts, if you would have told that kid that I'd be interviewing you in 10 years, I wouldn't have believed it. So it's an honor, and I appreciate you coming on. Man, I appreciate being on, man. I love to see young journalists and young hosts cut their teeth and build their way up to the top and

you're on the way. I really appreciate that and I'm gonna get straight into it as a fan if these questions are too fangirlish just let me know but you know coming from a small town in east texas being a pure athlete the the world's strongest teenager i mean that by itself is crazy and transitioning into the wwe going into wwe you can't just be a athlete you have to be a performer an actor an entertainer how did you make that transition you know what i? I was always a clown. When I walked in the room, I never was shy. I was always trying to entertain. So it was pretty natural for me. I just, I needed an acclimation period to understand what it is I was doing and how to do it. And then after that, you know, the rest is history. And did you go through a developmental league with the WWE

or was it kind of just like they threw you in the deep end? Well, they just threw me in. There was no developmental system when I came in. I was the first hired on developmental wrestling and uh everybody before me had to go live live in a certain territory wrestle every friday saturday and sunday and then they would you know travel back and forth and do shows in other states and other places but um yeah man i, I was the first one. Is it true that whenever you were coming up in the WWE, you were housed with Dwayne The Rock Johnson or y'all were roommates? Yeah, well, I had an apartment in Connecticut

where the office headquarters was. And he came from Canada playing football and didn't have a place to stay. He was going to stay in a hotel. And he was like, hey, man, you mind if I sleep on your couch until I get my check? Because he didn't have any money. And I told him, yeah, like, man, you're welcome, man.

I got an extra bedroom. Maybe stay there as long as you want to. And we were fast friends, you know, like brothers and even still. Yeah, I totally understand that. Like, living with somebody, going towards a common goal, grinding every day to get something, y'all create a different kind of brotherhood and friendship. Do you remember any golden moment from your time living with him? We had one argument.

I like the temperature below 70. So I had the temperature on like 65 or 66 or something like that. And then I wake up in the middle of the night sweating bullets. And I go to the air conditioner and it's like I'm 75. And I was like, put it back on there

and I go and knock on his door. And, you know, he comes to the door all groggy and everything. And I said, man, listen, I know you're paying the cable bill, but you're not paying the utilities. Leave the air conditioner alone. That was the only, like, time we were like, man, you got it freezing in here. Like, that was the only time we ever had, man, you got it freezing in here. That was the only time we ever had any kind of argument or anything.

But outside of that, Dwayne is the most studied person that I ever met. Like, he's overprepared for whatever situation he goes into. He's constantly writing notes and very meticulous that way and um I actually learned from that I felt like wow that's pretty damn cool I'm gonna do the same thing that's awesome to hear like I feel like like a 11 year old kid right now like it's amazing to hear all this stuff and going back to that like super fan like i want to know like what happens in the ring and everything whenever you're in the ring and someone doesn't like sell your move is it true that you might give them a little extra to make sure they sell it it's called a potato okay

explain that to me if uh if you throw a punch at me and you hit me really hard, then you have a receipt coming. And a receipt is you're going to receive equally or more than what you gave. And what you do to them is called a potato. Because I guess if you're, like, you know, just standing there not paying attention them is called a potato because I guess if you like, you know, just standing there not paying attention and somebody throws a potato at you, it's going to, you know, hurt like hell and it's going to be kind of surprising. Right.

And that's kind of what it is. You know, I've thrown a couple and I've received a few. So, you know, it balances itself out. I would hate to receive a potato from you. That seems like that would be a bad experience. Doing some research on you and going through the catalog, I saw something that kind of, I don't know, I didn't like to see it. But, I mean, I understood it because I'm a fan of you obviously respect you a lot I've been a fan

of you since I was a child and then being in this podcast industry I respect highly of Joe Rogan like what he's done for the space and I saw y'all had a little I don't know what to call it maybe a tiff there wasn't anything too serious just some exchange of words it was about two years ago I think did y'all ever have a conversation behind the scenes to piece that up, or was it just kind of like it is what it is? So I've never met Joe Rogan. I respect his work rate and what he's done for podcasting. But during that time,

it was a very, very sensitive issue with me. He made comments about Jimmy Superfly Snooker. And Jimmy Superfly Snooker had just died the week before. So I was pissed. And

he belittled pro wrestling. And now, two years, three years later, I've actually heard him say, you know what, I got a newfound respect for pro wrestling. And he talks positively about pro wrestling, even though it's not his thing. And he looks at it like, you know what? It's not my thing. I'm not into it, but I see and understand what those guys do and girls do, but he wasn't there back then. And, you know, I was angry at the fact that he made a comment

about Jimmy Superfly Snooker after he had died recently died and I'm a friend of the family and I love Jimmy. Jimmy was good to me when I first came into pro wrestling and is rightfully so. I really don't have any beef with Joe Rogan. I don't know him. I just know

he made an asinine comment that hurt my feelings and being in radio I had to hear that and I was like man it's too soon it was it was too fresh on my heart and that's kind of what was the the sum of it but, you know, I appreciate the fact that, you know, I've heard him say that, you know, he don't feel the same way about our industry as he once did. And I mean, I've made mistakes in my life, too. So, you know, I've said some stuff that can come across as dumb and ignorant and um my maturity and the fact that i was

more educated to what that is you know those things i've been able to work through yeah and you speak of one of the greats like jimmy superfly and i don't know if you've seen any episodes but i have a lot of basketball players on this podcast. Just being from my background, that's who I'm connected with. And it's regular in our world to have a top five. Now, I've heard your top five before, but just in case it's changed or anything's new, I want to hear the top five best WWE wrestlers of all time. The best WWE wrestlers, I mean, the top four is pretty easy.

You know, The Undertaker, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, and Andre the Giant. Pretty easy. But then you have The Rock and Stone Cold, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and probably about another 15 guys that can be in that fifth spot. So, you know, I would have to say that, you know, I would, you know, I would have to say that, you know, the top four, the Mount Rushmore is easy because those guys earn that spot, those spots, those four spots. But that fifth spot is up for debate. Right. You always got to leave it open. Once you retired from the WWE, and I'll get you out of here.

We only got like one or two more. Once you retired from the WWE, you really took the role of mentorship. And I read that you helped Daniel Bryant and Randy Orton out. What is it that you saw in them when they were in the early stages of their career? Well, I saw talent and the fact that they wanted to be great, that they didn't just want to get on television and make some money. They wanted to be great. They wanted to be remembered.

And you can tell when somebody's passionate about something. When they're passionate, you have to support. And I didn't start mentoring when I retired. When I came into the business, the first seven years, or the first five years, I felt like my traveling, learning how to be a pro wrestler was pretty damn difficult. And I didn't get any help because people were worried about me taking that spot. And about seven years in, I was pretty proficient in everything that was related to pro wrestling. I got it.

And I felt like, you know what, when these new guys come in, I'm going to let them know what it is and not keep stuff from them or give them false information or, you know, treat them like, you know, errand boys because they're new. And that resonated with a lot of guys I mean you know I got to see Randy Orton's first day Batista's first day uh Daniel Bryan you know like there's there's guys that are going to be hall of famers that I was there to help you know direct them and push them along uh on their first day so um you know I take a lot of joy in that. Yeah, I bet that's a different kind of fulfillment. You get mentoring somebody rather than when you were in the, actually in the ring. And to close this out, you're now the co-host of Not A Sports Show and Sirius XM's Busted Open. When did you decide to make the transition into broadcasting?

You know what? I always wanted to, and I was a communications major when I was in Colorado Springs living at the Olympic training facility. I wanted to be a disc jockey. I was going to be the guy that did the quiet storm, you know, with Mark Henry and all of that kind of stuff. So I always had an interest in radio and I said when I was done I was still going to do it and I fostered relationships with a lot of guys that were in sports radio and the executive director at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs was Charles Davis.

Oh. And Charles Davis was another guy that, you know, he told me, you have a good voice, man. Like, you ever thought about radio? And I was like, yeah, I'm a communications major. And he was like, no, no, I'm talking about, like, how serious you want to be. And he was cutting his teeth uh at that time

like that was his his other thing his side thing and um man he was just a good influence man that great stories truly a legend you've accomplished so much and it's an honor to have you on the show i really do appreciate you coming on everything it's not the last time i i sure appreciate it i hope not thank you for everything you've done you know past this podcast um tell them where they can find your shows mark you know what you can go on youtube and look up not a sports show. And that's at NADA N-O-T-A Sports in the number 1.

And you can look me up on social media, all things The Mark Henry, at The Mark Henry on everything. And you can hear me on Busted Open. We're on six days a week. On Sirius XMM on Channel 156. Fight Nation, you know, we talk about sports and we talk about wrestling and all boxing and the fighting art.

So tune in. Truly a legend. WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry. Thank you so much. This has been a You Should Know podcast. I'll see you guys later.