Mark Henry was the latest guest for Steve Austin on his podcast and the two cover several topics about Mark’s early career, including how he was initially told to forget about his ‘World’s Strongest Man’ background before breaking into wrestling.
“I was told that ‘you need to forget about all of that’ and just absorb this and go on. That’s like me saying, ‘hey, you need to stop being black, you need to stop being Christian and you need to become a vegan.’ There ain’t no way! I can’t do it! I can’t do none of it! I’m never gonna stop eating meat. I love meat. I’m a foodie. I’m a born and raised Christian. My grandmother and mom would roll over in their graves if I switched religions and as far as me never being black, I’m one of the blackest black people you’re ever gonna meet. It just can’t happen, Steve!
You can’t just walk into Vince McMahon’s office and say ‘Hey man, you know I’ve been doing this for like six months. I ain’t been on TV.’ I did. My dumbass. I didn’t know better. I didn’t know nothing about wrestling, other than the fact that I was a fan and you take one of these fans out here and try to make them a hall of fame wrestler, it’s just not the way it works.”
Henry also talked about how Ricky Steamboat provided a big turning point in his career, validating his work with a single phrase:
“He was like, ‘You know what? It’s good to see that psychology still exists in our business.’ That was the first time that anybody ever brought me in. That said, ‘You’re a part of us. You’re one of us.’ He said, ‘our business.’ He didn’t say ‘my business’ and I felt like as accomplished as I ever felt in power lifting, weightlifting, Strong Man or anything like Ricky Steamboat in one comment, validated the fact that I belonged in the business and nothing nobody else could say would tell anything different.”
Listen to “WWE Hall of Famer “World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry” on Spreaker.
