Mark Henry

Mark Jerrold Henry (born June 12, 1971) is an American powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman, and professional wrestler who is currently signed to WWE. He was two times an Olympian in 1992 and 1996 and a Silver, Gold and Bronze Medalist at the Pan American Games in 1995. As a powerlifter, he was drug-free World Champion (1995) and a two time U.S. National Champion (1995 and 1997) as well as an all-time raw world record holder in the squat and deadlift. Currently, he still holds the WDFPF world records in the squat, deadlift and total and the USAPL American record in the deadlift since 1995. He is credited for the biggest raw squat and raw powerlifting total ever performed by a drug tested athlete, regardless of weight class, as well as the greatest raw deadlift by an American citizen. In weightlifting, Henry was a three time U.S. National Weightlifting Champion (1993,1994,1996), an American Open winner (1992), a two time U.S. Olympic Festival Champion (1993 and 1994) and a NACAC champion (1996). He holds all three Senior US American weightlifting records of 1993-1997. In 2002 he won the first annual Arnold Strongman Classic. Since joining the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in 1996, he has become a one-time WWF European Champion and a two-time world champion, having held the ECW Championship in 2008, and the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011.

Before becoming a professional wrestler, Henry was a successful powerlifter as well as weightlifter. He began powerlifting at Silsbee High School, where he became Texas State Champion three times in a row from 1988 to 1990, as well as National High School Champion in 1990, setting teen-age world records in the squat and total. Beginning his weightlifting training in 1990, Mark moved to Austin and won the National Junior Weightlifting Championships in 1991. In 1991 he captured the Junior International title in powerlifting as well. At only 19 years of age, Mark qualified for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, where he placed 10th in the super heavyweight class. More determined than ever to focus on Olympic weightlifting, he began competing in earnest all over the world. He won the U.S. American Open in 1992 and the U.S. Olympic Festival Championships in 1993 and 1994. At the 1995 Pan American Games, Henry won 3 medals in the super heavyweight division - a silver medal in the weightlifting total as well as a gold medal in the snatch and a bronze medal in the clean and jerk. The following year, he became a North America, Central America, Caribbean Islands (NACAC) champion. He was U.S. National Weightlifting Champion in 1993, 1994 and 1996. At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia Henry was voted team captain of the weightlifting team and made his last public appearance as an Olympic weightlifter - after sustaining a back injury during the competition he finished with a disappointing 14th place. Despite his awesome talent in powerlifting, Henry seldom competed in his senior years due to his focus on weightlifting. In 1995 he easily became ADFPF/USAPL National Powerlifting Champion and World Powerlifting Champion of the World Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation, setting world records in the squat, deadlift and Powerlifting Total. By that time, prior to the Olympics 1996, at the young age of 24, Henry was generally considered as the strongest man in the world by most lifting experts for not only holding major all-time powerlifting world records but also the greatest five-lift-total ever achieved in the history of the lifting sports. He made public appearances in TV and magazines as the "World's Strongest Man", which would later become his nickname as a professional wrestler as well. It was in this phase of his life, in which he also made connections with Vince McMahon. In 1997, while already being a wrestler, he competed one last time as a powerlifter to win the USAPL National Powerlifting Championships again.

In early 1996, at the age of 24, Henry signed a ten-year contract with the WWF. Henry was trained by former Canadian professional wrestlers Stu and Bret Hart and Leo Burke. He made his television wrestling debut in September 1996. In January 1998, Mark Henry joined the stable Nation of Domination. After the disbanding of the group, he acquired the moniker "Sexual Chocolate", which led him to participate in controversial angles.

In 2000, Mark Henry was sent to the company's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in Louisville, Kentucky to improve his wrestling skills. In 2001, after his mother died, he left wrestling for a while and decided to compete in the first annual Arnold Strongman Classic in 2002 - a strongman contest designed to find the strongest man on the planet based on brute strength and power. After training on heavy weights for 4 months, Henry won the contest convincingly, out-muscling some of the greatest strength athletes from all over the world, including defending World's Strongest Man contest winner of 2001 Svend Karlsen and 2006's World's Strongest Man Phil Pfister, as well as Powerlifting World Champion Andy Bolton. One month later, having proved himself worhty of the moniker "World's Strongest Man" once again, Henry returned to WWE, where he took part of the group "Thuggin' And Buggin' Enterprises" in 2003, a group compiled of African Americans who worked a race angle in which they felt they were victims of racism and were being held down by the "white man".

The following year, Mark Henry tore his quadriceps muscle, and was unable to compete for over a year. Upon his return, he was briefly involved in feuds with Kurt Angle and The Undertaker, before suffering a knee injury. After it healed, he continued to feud with The Undertaker, before being moved to the ECW brand in June 2008, where he had Tony Atlas as a manager. In June 2008, he won the ECW Championship and held it for three months. In 2011, Henry had a resurgence on SmackDown, which led to him winning his first World Heavyweight Championship in September 2011 when he defeated Randy Orton.