Mark Henry On How The Rock Helped Him In The Early Stages Of His Career
This evening, Mark Henry will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame after a 22-year career in the company. During this time, Henry has been placed in numerous angles and storylines, some good and some bad, but he filled a resume that included reigns as World Heavyweight Champion, ECW Champion, and European Champion.
After starting off as a babyface, stemming from WWE hyping his appearance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, Henry commenced a feud with Jerry Lawler. The feud led to Henry defeating Lawler at In Your House: Mind Games, despite Lawler ridiculing him early in the match for being inexperienced. Following the match, Al Snow (as Leif Cassidy), Marty Jannetty, and Triple H attacked Henry, but none of them were successful.
Taking some time away to recover from injuries and get more WWE training, Henry returned as a heel to join the Nation of Domination. Henry was teaming with Ken Shamrock against The Rock and D-Lo Brown, and clotheslined Shamrock less than five minutes into the match as he was going for an ankle lock on The Rock.
Henry spent the early years of his pro wrestling career learning and understanding the business. In a recent interview on the live Post Wrestling podcast at WaleMania, Henry shared who helped him in his early days.
"First, Owen Hart, and then second, Billy Gunn was one," said Henry. "Yeah, Billy cold-blooded. But, you know what, it was a bunch of guys. Just being in the Nation [of Domination], Dwayne, or The Rock, was of those [people] that I never thought in a million years that we would stay friends because he got me fined more times than anybody I know. He was in the mirror [saying], 'I have to put on special face cream.' So we were late all the time and we would get fined. I had a bunch of people who kinda looked out for me. You know, gave me the words of wisdom."
Henry also shared how important it was of The Rock sharing information with him to help get further in the WWE.
"Even though [The Rock] was in the business the same amount of time as I was at that time, I mean I had a four-month jump on him, but he grew up in wrestling," said Henry. "So, he knew the protocols, he knew like 'don't do this,' and 'do that.' I was a video game head and I liked sports games and stuff like that... so, [The Rock] was like, 'This is what you do.' And I was like, wow, I did it, and stopped getting in trouble and started getting more pushed to the front of the line and the rest was history."
Henry will be inducted by The Big Show, who he also shared on the podcast is like a real-life brother to him, and is one of his closest friends in the WWE.
You can view the interview below, and please credit Wrestling Inc. if any portion of these quotes are used.