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"Mark Henry"

Report from WWF.com by Mike Fravoli

Mark Henry's been billed as the World's Strongest Man since making his World Wrestling Federation debut in 1996. But now when that impressive moniker is thrown his way, he can steal a catchphrase from another Federation Olympian and say, "Oh, it's true. It's damn true."
At last weekend's Arnold Strongman Challenge in Columbus, Ohio, Henry took on perhaps the greatest field of professional strongmen and powerlifters ever assembled and beat them all. He's justifiably proud of his accomplishment, but he's also feeling a little spent.

"I'm hulled out, like we say down here in Texas," Henry said. "I'm carved out. But I am the strongest man in the world."

By winning the Arnold Strongman Challenge -- part of Arnold Schwarzenegger's huge annual Arnold Classic Fitness Expo -- Henry may have kicked his long-running quest to return to Monday and Thursday night television glory from Ohio Valley Wrestling into overdrive. During his two years in Louisville, Henry's run the gamut from hopeful to impatient to discouraged. Now his comeback has new life, and he's ready to make the most of it.

"[Jim Ross] told me before the event, 'Win, lose or draw, Mark, you're our guy and we're with you,'" Henry said. "It's wonderful to hear that someone has your back, win or lose, but everyone knows the world loves a winner. To have finished second or third would have been an honor, but winning this competition is going to recreate me. It makes me more special to the people that admire [power]lifting, and to my fans -- my true fans -- it's special. The people who walk up to me on the street and say, 'When you left wrestling, I stopped watching,' the diehard fans. They're the ones this will be really special for."

What was most special for Henry was the fact that his victory -- for which he was awarded a Hummer off-road vehicle, $10,000 and a cruise -- was inspired by and dedicated to his late mother. Henry's longtime trainer and mentor, Terry Todd, approached Henry with the idea soon after his mother's passing last September, in part to help Henry cope with the overwhelming grief.

Henry had been retired from powerlifting for five years, and in an effort to regain his spot on the Federation roster had pared his weight down to 320 pounds -- well below his normal competitive powerlifting level. But in the several weeks during which Henry was at his mother's hospital bedside almost constantly, he had bulked back up.

With the blessing of the Federation's front office, Henry decided to accept the entry into the Arnold Strongman Challenge. He went back into the gym and began powerlifting again, all the while dedicating himself to honoring his mother's memory.

"It helped me emotionally, because I know she remembered me being the strongest man in the world," Henry said. "She was proud of the fact that I had reached the World Wrestling Federation. When she would introduce me to somebody, she'd introduce me as her baby and the strongest man in the world. She was the one who bought me my first weight set when I was 11 years old, because I had seen the powerlifters in the Olympics and decided then that that's what I wanted to do. She started it all, from giving birth to me to buying my first weights."

Henry said the first month of training was constant, excruciating pain, filled with cramping, dehydration and muscle pulls. Yet, like never before in his life, he persisted and trained hard through the pain. By the time the event rolled around, Henry was 385 pounds and stronger than he had ever been.

The field against which he competed was formidable, to say the least. Norway's Svend Karlsen is the defending champion of ESPN's World's Strongest Man competition. Great Britain's Andy Bolton and American Brad Gillingham are champions of the World Powerlifting Congress and International Powerlifting Federation, respectively. Latvia's Raimond Bergmanis is a three-time Olympic powerlifter and frequent ESPN Strongman competitor. The other three entrants, Paul Pfister, Mark Philippi and Brian Schoonveld, are all past winners of the America's Strongest Man competition (a preliminary to the World's Strongest Man).

Yet it was Henry who blew away the field in the first event, the legendary Apollon's Wheels. The Wheels are a 366-pound barbell with an impossibly thick 2-inch-thick bar which is nearly impossible to grasp, and which does not rotate as the weight is hoisted. In the more than 100 years since the Wheels were created, only three men had ever been able to successfully clean and jerk them over their head.

Henry not only joined that ultra-elite group, he completed the exercise a staggering three times.

"I was able to do three times in two minutes what it had taken 100 years for three men to do," Henry said. "I saw spots [after the event]. I was overwhelmed. All the muscles are taking up so much oxygen from the blood that your brain doesn't get enough oxygen and you can't function. My body quivered a bit, but I wasn't running on regular-octane fuel that day. I had some jet fuel in me."

To make the feat even more remarkable, the competitors had to bounce right back for the second of the four events, the dead lift. Henry and Bolton, the world record-holder in the event, each reached the maximum 885 pounds, and the tiebreaker came down to number of reps. Henry, going first, completed two with ease. Bolton, however, completed three to win the event.

"If we had been able to go down to one lift, one lift until one of us quit, I would have outlasted him," Henry said. "He almost passed out from lifting it three times. There was blood coming out of his nose and mouth."

The next day, Henry sealed his overall triumph by finishing fourth in the Hummer Push (in which the massive vehicle's tires are deflated to a near-flat condition) and third in the Farmer's Walk (carrying 800 pounds of railroad ties up an incline). Henry took a conservative approach to the final event, Todd said, because he was assured of victory if he finished sixth or higher.

Now looking ahead to completing his Federation comeback, Henry said he's back into the cardiovascular workouts, looking to come down to 340 pounds -- what he said would be his ideal weight for ringwork. His remarkable victory at the Arnold Strongman Challenge, he says, is something he can parlay into the success which always seemed to elude him in the World Wrestling Federation.

"There was a difference in the way I approached the bar [of Apollon's Wheels] and the way the other guys did -- it was like the difference between The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Undertaker and our other top, top guys and everyone else," Henry said. "I'm not saying I'm ready for those guys, but I'm not going to run from them. I'm a man like anyone else in this business.

"You have to have confidence in yourself, but I know they bring a lot more tools to the table. For me to beat guys of that caliber, I'm going to have to be flawless. That's what I was on the first day of the Arnold Strongman. That first event, I had so much emotion that I was supercharged. And I was perfect. For the first time in my life, I can say I was perfect."

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So, looks like big Mark will be back on the WWF roster shortly? But with an already overflowing roster and an unsuccesful earlier stint behind him, does he have what it takes?

Grandprix wrote:
> I remember when all the Big Show used to do was go around headbutting everyone.

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What, you mean every Monday and Thursday?

Ha ha

"All the muscles are taking up so much oxygen from the blood that your brain doesn't get enough oxygen and you can't function. My body quivered a bit, but I wasn't running on regular-octane fuel that day. I had some jet fuel in me."

All the proof you need that something fishy is going on here :0)

I remember when all the Big Show used to do was go around headbutting everyone.

†hë_Çøñg_Mðñ wrote:
> Wrong. He did a bear-hug right at the start of the match. Thats 1 for a start.

I must have missed it.

Mark Henry would at least to more moves than the amount the Big Show is doing right now.... in my opinion anyway.

Wrong. He did a bear-hug right at the start of the match. Thats 1 for a start.

I bet he could gorilla press the Big Show. Speaking of the Big Show, exactly how many moves did he do against William Regal. I counted...0 (1 if you count whipping into the ropes.)

Yeah he needs to vary his moves, he only does Gorilla Presses and Bear Hugs. But yep a return could be possible.

problem I always had with him was that he was strong but didn't seem to utiliser that power into any original moves. Yeah he could do gorilla presses and bear hugs, but I've seen it all before. Anyway all the publicity he has generated will probably catapult him back to the WWF sooner rather than later, so i suppose we better get used to the idea....

Does he have what it takes?
Dunno never seen him wrestle but I've just heard about him. If he can wrestle and he's extremely strong why not. If he's been in the WWF before he can't be that bad.

I'm also not Tazz, but then few people are.