Awesome Fat Guy of the Week.

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, at least to anyone who has read my Awesome Fat Guy of the Week posts, but I am a bit of a Professional Wrestling fan. When I was a kid in the late 80’s and early 90’s it was the time of bigger than life personalities like Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior, but as I grew up the world of Professional Wrestling changed along with me. As I reached my early teens the WWE, then the WWF, began what would later be called the Attitude Era. During these years nothing was off limits. It was years of profanity, scantily clad women, and over the top violence. As great as it was nothing is forever. Most of the personalities from that time came out of it rather well. There were a few whose careers would never be the same. One of those men, at least until recently, was Mark Henry. He is the Awesome Fat Guy of the Week. Let’s take a look at his career and find out just what makes him deserving of this, highly sought after, praise.

Mark Jerrold Henry was born in Silsbee, Texas on June 12, 1971. When in high school, Henry was a three-time state champion weightlifter. He held three state records at the time. During the Texas High School power lifting championships in April 1990 Mark was spotted by Terry Todd. Terry Todd, a professor of Kinesiology at the University of Texas at Austin and former weightlifter, encouraged Mark to go to Austin after he graduated and train in Olympic style weightlifting.  After less than a year of  training Mark broke four national junior records. He would go on to place fourth at the United Stated Nationals, and finished sixth at the World Junior Weightlifting Championships in Germany. During his first year of competing, he broke the three junior American records a dozen times, and became the US’s top super heavyweight weightlifter.

Mark would qualify for 1992 Summer Olympics and finish tenth in the super heavyweight class. I 1995 Henry won gold, silver, and bronze at the Pan American Games. A year later he became NACACI (North American, Central America, and Caribbean Islands) champions. In 1996 Mark participated at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Mark, who was voted as team captain, finished at 14 due to a back injury.

After the 1996 Olympics, Mark would move to the world of Professional Wrestling. He did make an appearance before the Olympics but would not be officially hired until later. Mark was signed to a record 10 year contract in 1996. He began his career by feuding with Jerry Lawler after making his in ring debut at In Your House: Mind Games on September 22, 1996.  Henry was set to compete at Survivor Series, later that year, but had to pull out due to injury. This would end up being a recurring theme for Mark’s career.

After two years, of trying to make a name for himself, Henry got his first big break. He was included in the all black stable known as the Nation of Domination. The stable, led by future hall of fame entrant and spiritual father of "Damn!! Thursday" Ron Simmons under the name Farooq, also included Kama Mustafa (also known as Papa Shango and The Godfather), D’lo Brown, and The Rock.  It was the inclusion of the Rock that led to much of the stable’s success.  The Nation of Domination would go on to feud with Los Boricuas, and the Disciples of Apocalypse in a pseudo gang war story arc. Eventually the stable would face of against the uber popular D-Generation X.  Like most stables in Pro Wrestling the Nation of Domination would eventually break up.

After the end of the Nation of Domination, Mark spent some time in a tag team with D’lo Brown before going solo. Henry’s first solo endeavor saw his most notorious gimmick. Mark dubbed himself “Sexual Chocolate” and engaged in multiple relationship with an odd array of women. First was Joan “Chyna” Laurer a female wrestler who was known for her muscular physique. During his relationship with her he cheated and was tricked into having an encounter with a transsexual.  The gimmick went further when Mark entered a relationship with the legendary female wrestler May Young.  At the time of their relationship May was well into her 70’s. If that wasn’t bad enough the angle culminated with May becoming pregnant and subsequently giving birth to a hand. You don’t believe me do you? Well watch the video above and see for yourself. The angle would continue with Henry being placed in more outlandish situations and the announcement that he was a sex addict.

In 2000, after four years wrestling for the company, Mark was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling, a developmental territory, to improve his craft and work on his conditioning.  Henry would spend a year in OVW before taking some time to concentrate on weightlifting. He would take part in and win a strongman competition during the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio on February, 23 2002. Mark still drives the Hummer he won at the competition.

Henry returned to the big stage in 2002. At this time the WWE separated it’s two high rated shows, Raw and SmackDown!, by making talent exclusive to a certain brand. On his return Mark went to Smackdown! and started a gimmick of partaking in Tests of Strength while other wrestlers made bets on the outcome. His time in Smackdown! was not a success. To make matters worse Henry was injured while training for weightlifting contest and was once again sent to OVW for more training.

Theodore Long. The stable was used in a race angle and saw the members of “Thuggin’ and Buggin' Enterprises” claim they were being held down by the man. Or to be more precise the white man. During his time in “Thuggin’ and Buggin’ Enterprises” Henry was pushed into the main event scene. He would go on to fight greats like Shawn Michaels and Booker T.  However Mark once again became injured. This time he tore his quadriceps muscle and was out for a year. After his injury Henry was uses as a WWE public relations figure before once again returning to OVW to finish 2005.

When Mark returned he was sent back to Smackdown! on December 30 2005.  On his return Mark entered a feud with then World Heavyweight Champion Batista. This feud saw Mark Henry display his immense strength. Henry was supposed to interfere in a steel cage match by ripping the door to the cage off it’s hinges. The plan was for the door to be rigged thus allowing Henry to perform the feet. For some reason this was not done and Henry had to improvise. By improvise I mean he broke a steal chain with his bare hands. Just look at the above video. That is impressive. Anyway, the angle came to an unplanned end due to injury. This time it wasn’t Mark who was injured. Batista, the champion, suffered severely torn triceps that needed surgical repair.

The Championship was then given to Kurt Angle, another former Olympian, and short lived feud followed. After failing to win the belt Henry moved on to a feud with the legendary Undertaker. Mark would end up facing and losing to the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Considering that the Undertaker has never loss at Wrestlemania that isn’t such a bad thing. After Wrestlemania Henry reignited his previous feud with Kurt Angle, but would once again come up short.

With no direct feud in the cards Henry would go on to attack people at random. This so called “path of destruction”  would lead to a renewed angle with, the now healed, Batista. The two men were set to face each other at “The Great American Bash”. This was not to be. A few weeks before the scheduled match Henry would once again be injured. This time he tore his patella tendon off the bone and split his patella completely in two. In case you are unaware the patella is more commonly known as the knee cap. The man split his knee cap in half. How do you even do that?

Henry would return on the May 11, 2007 episode of SmackDown!, after weeks of hype. Upon his return Henry was booked in a new feud with the Undertaker. The feud culminated with Henry losing at Unforgiven and again two weeks later.

When his program with the Undertaker ended Henry took a short break.  He would return to action of the third WWE brand/show ECW. ECW, a formerly defunct independent wrestling organization, had become a branded weekly show that was aired on the SyFy (formerly SciFi) channel.  While Mark did compete on the program he was not technically part of the roster.

That changed in 2008 when Mark was “drafted” to ECW. It was there that Henry would get his first taste of a main event championship. Before this Henry had only ever held the European Championship.  While champion Mark would gain a new manager in Hall of Fame Member Tony Atlas.  The title would only be with Henry for a few months before dropping it to Matt Hardy. Henry tried and failed to regain the title before falling back into the mid card. During this time he feuded with much smaller wrestlers like Evan Bourne.

On June 29, 2009 Henry was traded to Raw and re-debuted that night. After a short time as a singles competitor Henry was teamed up with Montel Vontavious Porter as the World’s Strongest Tag Team. The two would wrestle separately for a while before joining back up and defeating the Tag Team Champions. However the match was a non-title bout and the two could not repeat their victory. The two men would remain a team for short while longer before breaking up.

Mark Henry and his NXT rookie Lucky Cannon.

Henry would later be featured as a mentor on the second season of WWE NXT. NXT, which replaced ECW, was a kind of talent search that saw rookie/unknown wrestlers attempt to make it to the main roster. After his time on NXT Henry formed a new Tag Team with former enemy Evan Bourne. The team was short lived albeit some what successful. From there Henry immediately moved into a new team with Japanese wrestler Yoshi Tatsu. This team-up was also short lived.

At this point I have to say a few things. Anyone would assume that Mark’s career would continue the same pattern. Mild mid-card success followed by an attempt at the Main Even scene only to suffer an injury. Considering the mans age, 39 at the time, one could assume his career would end with him never holding a major title. By major I mean either the WWE Championship or the World Heavy Weight Championship. These two belts are the ultimate achievement not only in the WWE, but in Professional Wrestling in general. It would be perfectly normal to make those assumptions. But you would be wrong.

On April 25, 2011, on an episode of Raw, Henry was drafted back to SmackDown!. During the main event of the show Henry would attack his teammates and turn heel (villain) in doing so.  Once back on SmackDown! Mark would begin on a new path of destruction. He had a new gimmick. He would play the part of overpowering monster who would induct people into his personal “Hall of Pain”. This induction would require Mark beating the hell out of a person. He started by attacking the Big Show (Paul White an almost 7 foot tall giant) and a number of other wrestlers and back stage personalities.

During this time Henry had a new found intensity that could be heard and seen in his much improved promo work. As with before Henry would ride his popularity to a Worldheavy Weight Championship match. This time against fan favorite Randy Orton. It was generally accepted that Mark would lose the match and fall back down to the mid-card. That is if he even made it to the match.

Henry proved everyone wrong by winning the championship. Just to make it clear when I say ‘win’ I mean that the WWE had enough confidence in the man to give him the title. That is an even greater accomplishment when you consider that Mark Henry stands at 6’ 4”  tall and weighs over 400 pounds. Most of which is muscle. The man isn’t called the World’s Strongest Man for shits and giggles. What I am trying to say is that there are few people who can stand up to the man in a fight.

This is a picture of Mark lifting a replica of the weight created by Thomas Inch. Go here to see why that is impressive.

Winning a fight would be easy for him. Winning the respect and gaining the confidence of the WWE is something different. After all of the silly gimmicks and untimely injuries it would make perfect sense for the WWE to never want to put such an important title on the man. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes but Henry did, what I would consider, the impossible.

During his reign Henry was booked as a dominant champion who was just too strong. That is until the injury bug bit him again. It isn’t exactly clear what sort of injury was to blame but Henry dropped the title, during the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs PPV, on December 18, 2011.  Henry held the title for 91 days. That may not seem very long but in modern day wrestling most title runs are rather short.

I don't know if Mark's injuries are due to his pushing this tank but it's a cool picture none the less.

Since losing the title Henry has had to deal with a number of injuries. None of which were bad enough to keep him from performing but he has not been at 100%. You would think that this would mean he has once again dropped down to the mid card. Well you would be wrong. Mark Henry has made a place for himself in the Main Event scene. It’s true that he has not been as dominant recently but he is still a serious threat.

To recap. Mark Henry went from having sex with an elderly woman, who would go on to give birth to a hand, a white hand at that, to holding one of the most prestigious titles in Professional Wrestling. All because he bided his time, honed his craft, and stayed loyal. Patience, discipline, and loyalty. Three characteristics that make a man worth a damn. That is why Mark Henry is the Awesome Fat Guy of the Week.  I hope he holds the title a few more times before he hangs up his boots. Even if he doesn’t he is bound for the WWE Hall of Fame. He deserves it as much as any one else.

Oh and before I forget I should mention that Mark Henry was recently induced into the International Sports Hall of Fame. His name is now along side greats like Arnold Shwarzenegger, Jack Lalanne, and Randy Couture. Just one more reason why he is the Awesome Fat Guy of the Week.

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