Wrestling / Mark Henry

World's Strongest Man

"Somebody gonna get their ass kicked
Somebody gonna get their wig split
Somebody gonna get their ass kicked
Somebody gonna get their wig split
Beat him up, beat him up
Break his neck, break his neck
Beat him up, beat him up
Break his neck, break his neck"

Mark Jerrold Henry (born June 12, 1971) is a retired American radio host, powerlifter and professional wrestler. Before that, he was a two-time U.S. Olympic Festival Champion and holds the WDFPF world records in the squat, deadlift and total. He also holds 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.

Naturally all that raw power would lend itself well to Monday Night Raw. Mark Henry is also a professional wrestler, dubbed "The World's Strongest Man", and is an 18-year veteran of WWE. He has won both the World Heavyweight Championship and WWE's version of the ECW Championship. On January 13th, 2018, Mark Henry quietly retired from active ring work, choosing to take up work as a producer for the company. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame that April.

At AEW Double or Nothing 2021 Henry debuted for the company and it was announced that he had signed as a coach and analyst for their upcoming new TV show, AEW Rampage.

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"The World's Strongest Tropes!":

• A Man Is Always Eager: Essentially the whole Sexual Chocolate gimmick, which was defined as a "big guy with a big appetite". This was eventually exploited by Jeff Jarrett and Viscera, who made him betray his tag team partners in exchange for female company.
• Abhorrent Admirer: Sexual Chocolate was meant to be this towards every female figure he chased. Previously, Rock himself tried to invoke and exploit it when The Nation captured Chyna, as he ordered Henry to kiss her (Rock could have done it himself, but he stated he would never kiss "a piece of trash like her") as a humiliation.
• Aborted Arc:
  • His relationship with Chyna seemed to be genuine, to the point she actually protected Henry from the Pretty Mean Sisters and helped him against some other wrestlers. The entire storyline was then cut short and did a full backpedal when Chyna revealed she and Henry had not even slept together and it was all a trick to humiliate him in public with her friend Sammy.
  • Henry has had several plans cut short due to injuries or trips to Ohio Valley Wrestling.
• Acrofatic:
  • Earlier in his career, he could perform sunset flips and very high jumping leg drops. Injuries grounded him for the most part, but he sporadically brought it again. His tag team match with Big Show in OVW saw him using a jumping leg lariat, and in 2002 he did a leapfrog over Mike Awesome.
  • 2006 was also a particular year of athleticism for Henry, as he debuted a a non-flying version of Último Guerrero's Guerrero Special to finish Rey Mysterio and later did a memorable apron-to-table diving splash to Kurt Angle.
• Actually Pretty Funny: Busted Open Radio began regular coverage of Mission Pro Wrestling when Thunder Rosa took over and began making changes during the "speaking out" movement...then La Rosa Negra, actively fighting a Heel–Face Turn, showed her gratitude by snatching a poster of the hosts and rubbing her butt on it. Henry was amused rather than offended.
• All-American Face: His original wrestling gimmick back in 1996 featured a star-spangled outfit, among other patriotic stuff.
• Always Someone Better:
  • The 90s Henry wanted nothing with Kane, but the situation reversed in their later years, with Henry coming usually in top whenever they wrestled in Smackdown or ECW. Interestingly, the latter situation extends partially to real life as well: Kane once stated in an interview that whenever they trained together, he could never lift in his very peak as much weight as Henry could lift even right after coming back from injuries.
  • Subverted with The Great Khali. He was introduced by Daivari as Henry's superior, an even greater monster who could finally defeat The Undertaker after Henry had failed to do so, and this was quickly proven right by Khali by pinning cleanly the Dead Men in their next match. However, despite Khali remained billed as the biggest monster in Smackdown, Henry proved the most effective of the two at long term, and actually beat Khali himself down every time they clashed directly.
• Amazon Chaser: He developed an interest for Chyna after the latter kept fighting back and occasionally beating him down every time he advanced on her. She was also a case of All Amazons Want Hercules as well... though only apparently.
• And Now You Must Marry Me: Downplayed and deconstructed. Henry threatened in storyline to demand Chyna for sexual harassment (as she had pushed her ass into his face during one of their fights) if she didn't accept to go to a date with him. Surprisingly, she actually seemed to like it, to the point of becoming officially Henry's Violently Protective Girlfriend... but it was all revealed to be a ruse in order to get some revenge on him.
• Anti-Villain: Though his most known heel runs had him portraying a sadistic bruiser, he actually played some sympathetic villainous roles over the years. The heel iteration of Sexual Chocolate was essentially a Tragic Villain enslaved by his own dumbness and sex drive, and The Silverback's time at the side of Melina had Henry claiming to be just assisting a rape victim in her quest for revenge.
• Arch-Enemy: The Big Show and Kane are the main ones, given that they have clashed many times through their respective careers. In The New '10s, Sheamus, Randy Orton and Ryback were also usual nemesis of his. Also, he used to have an enmity with Matt Morgan in OVW.
• Ass Kicks You: His leapfrog guillotine move, in which he slammed his rear against the upper back of an opponent leaning on the second rope. He also used occasionally a second rope seated senton a la Yokozuna.
• Badass Boast:
  • "You can't beat me with strength. Speed can't beat me. You're gonna find out, YOU, JUST, CAN'T, BEAT, ME… PERIOD! I am the world's strongest man! You better be worried about surviving through the night."
  • "If I charge for air, you keep your bill paid!"
  • In the incident with Shawn Michaels mentioned below, Henry apparently said to him "Man, you think [Sycho Sid] standing in front of you's going to protect you from me? I will rip you off the bone, and then I'm gonna put my foot in your ass."
• Badass Santa: Has been known to play the part of "The World's Strongest Santa."
• Bald of Evil: Henry turned on the Big Show on the October 27 episode of Rawduring their tag team match against Gold and Stardust. Henry was bald when this turn happened.
• Bash Brothers:
  • His most enduring tag team parter was D'Lo Brown after the Nation of Domination broke up, at least until Henry betrayed him. After this, Henry would later have an intermittent team with fellow NOD alumni The Godfather, whom ironically Brown and Henry had previously betrayed in NOD.
  • Into the 2000s, Randy Orton became a sort of recurrent partner too, but it didn't stick, and another team up with former NOD guy Ron Simmons was cut short as well.
  • Later Henry formed his next big alliance with Big Daddy V, as well as an on/off one with The Great Khali.
  • After turning face, it was Montel Vontavious Porter who Henry formed an official tag team with. When MVP left, Evan Bourne replaced him a bit in the 2010s.
  • Henry settled down again with The Big Show. Henry then turned heel for good and renounced to steady tag team partners until his retirement.
  • When in OVW, Henry had several short-lived teams with Rob Conway, Mr. Black, Big Show, Nova and Elijah Burke.
• Beard of Evil: Even when you can't hear him speaking, that beard is a statement all its own.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: At Survivor Series 2011, The Big Show snared Henry's leg in a chair and leg-dropped it.
• Belly Flop Crushing: His splash maneuvers, naturally.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Henry is considered to be a big soft teddy bear of a man in real life, but as you might expect from such a monolithically strong man, when sufficiently provoked he could get dangerously angry. One time Vince McMahon pulled a rib on him by sending him out after SmackDown, supposedly for a dark match against Sin Cara, but instead of sending Sin Cara out after him he just left Henry standing on his own in the ring like a goof for over 10 embarrassing minutes (you know, the kind of thing that Vince considered the height of comedy). Once Henry caught on to what was going on, he stormed backstage and tore everything apart. Vince naturally apologised to Henry for the rib, and this led to the creation of his "Hall of Pain" gimmick.
• Big Beautiful Man: Sexual Chocolate believed himself to be this, and Ivory and Mae Young seemed to agree, but nobody else did (sincerely).
• Big Damn Heroes: His second moment of in-ring action in WWF had him saving Jake Roberts from Jerry Lawler.
• The Big Guy: As a babyface, especially when he was a member of Team Kofi Kingston for the Survivor Series. Somewhat downplayed in general, as Henry tended to suffer from Redemption Demotion when turning face.
• Blatant Lies: In order to impress Chyna during their date, Henry convinced D-Lo Brown to disguise himself and act as his limo chauffeur. Naturally, Chyna saw through the disguise and asked if he was D-Lo, which prompted Henry to say "Naw, naw, that ain't D'Lo". Incredibly, she seemed to buy it.
• Blood Knight: Yes. Well, usually he's willing to fight the biggest dog in the yard, even when it's not the best idea, as Jonathan Coachman had criticized him for.
• Book Dumb: A side effect of dyslexia is having this reputation.
• Braids of Action: In 2002, and they were rather iconic, until he shaved it in 2013.
• Breakup Break Out: It has taken him awhile, but ultimately his star has shined brighter than former tag-team partners D'Lo Brown, Rodney Mack, and Montel Vontavious Porter. He can even be considered the most successful Nation of Domination alumnus after The Rock, which is no small feat.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Said about him on WWE.com during his 2003 Raw return. Specifically, that everything before that point had been him being lazy but he now had a "new" work ethic, in an attempt to make him seem more dangerous.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Because Vince McMahon has a fascination with incest it seems, trauma from sex with his sister when he was eight years old was used as the Freudian Excuse for Mark Henry's psychosexual problems. Thankfully the WWF decided to stop mentioning it.
• The Brute:
  • In the Nation Of Domination, particularly for The Rock.
  • In OVW, he also worked as a hired gun for Kenny Bolin and a bodyguard for Elijah Burke.
  • Also to Theodore Long in Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises.
  • He was also an unofficial brute for MNM after Melina introduced him as her bodyguard.
  • Finally, he was also Matt Striker's muscle along with Big Daddy V.
• Bumbling Sidekick: Was one to D-Lo Brown for years after the Nation broke up. Henry essentially was the big twerp who did everything necessary to aid his more competent partner in his championship runs.
• Bullying a Dragon:
  • Very early into his career, Henry broke an ankle while in a tour, and notorious jerkass Shawn Michaels adopted the custom to prank him by hiding his crutches. Henry eventually got fed and confronted him, and even although the World's Strongest Man could barely walk at the time, Michaels opted to run behind the similarly 300 pound Sycho Sid for protection, all while Henry assured him not even Sid could protect him when Mark recovered from his injury. Unfortunately, Michaels was well connected to Vince McMahon, and Henry ended up being accused of being a gym bully and sent to Stampede Wrestling to learn discipline. (Henry acknowledged that his time here served him well, though, as he had the chance to train with the Hart family.)
  • Bradshaw also liked to play racist jokes on Henry to get him angry, leading Henry to threaten him until Bradshaw's partner Faarooq (who is black too) revealed he had been the mastermind for the kicks. However, Henry retained a reputation to be aggressive backstage, and it got him sent to OVW.
  • In the receiving end, apparently Henry tried to do some hazing ritual to former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Ron Waterman in their days togethers in OVW, and it ended with Mark being submitted in 35 seconds. Waterman clarified Henry and the rest of the crew were otherwise nice to him.
• Catchphrase:
  • Since 2011, "THAT'S WHAT I DO!", usually after utterly destroying someone in the ring.
  • After joining AEW in 2021, "It's time for the main event!" when announcing that it's time for the main event on Rampage.
• Canon Discontinuity:
  • Storyline with Mae Young and a pregnancy? What are you talking about? She gave birth to a what? A hand?!
  • Subverted as of the 1000th episode of Raw. They had Mae Young with her "son" who was now all grown up. That is, they had a person in a large hand costume.
• Characterization Marches On: Henry's first appearances in WWF painted him as a very clear babyface, sporting a patriotic All-American gimmick and generally behaving as a honorable guy. After he shockingly turned heel and joined Nation of Domination, he never was this clearly a hero again. Even his late face tenures, where he would do comedy and goof around, looked more like he had become simply bored of being evil.
• Character Tic: When in a tag team match, both as a hero and a villain, clapping lively whenever his partner performs well. Also, checking out if he has blood on his lips after taking a hard bump.
• Charles Atlas Super Power:
  • In Real Life. Dude not only lifted a Hummer, but also still holds records in dead lift and squat for drug-free powerlifting despite the fact that a) he set them back in 1995 and b) he retired from powerlifting in his early twenties, long before most powerlifters hit their peak.
  • Unsurprisingly, The Big Show listed him as one of the three strongest men he'd ever been in the ring with, along side Kane and John Cena. One time, Big Show told a story of a time he witnessed Henry trying to rip a quarter in half with his bare fingers, and while he couldn't rip it, he ended up bending it in half. Big Show sheepishly admitted he later tried to do the same thing and failed.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Has an astonishing number of betrayals in his list of misdeeds, probably more than any other Hall of Famer. To list them, he has backstabbed Ken Shamrock, Farooq, The Rock, The Godfather, D'Lo Brown, The Godfather again, Kenny Bolin, The Great Khali, MVP, John Cena, Big Show, and even The New Day. It's almost miraculous (or a mass series Horrible Judge of Character) that he was always trusted on to team up with again.
• Combination Attack:
  • He debuted a double team finisher with Big Show in which Mark lifted the opponent, Show performed his KO Punch and Henry dropped him with the World's Strongest Slam.
  • He also featured old school aided splashes with D'Lo Brown and Evan Bourne, although neither of the two teams ever got the technique right - it only served as the typical spot in which somebody would interrupt them with disastrous results.
• Compliment Backfire: To everybody who tried to congratulate him after he became the World Heavyweight Champion.
• The Corruptible: As Sexual Chocolate. Many wrestlers and valets took advantage of his sex fixation to either defeat him or gain his loyalty, among them Jeff Jarrett, The Godfather and Viscera.
• Costume Copy Cat: As Markswoggle on the orders of Raw guest hosts Jeremy Piven and Dr. Ken, who wanted Mark Henry to take out Chavo Guerrero for some reason. It Makes Sense in Context, sort of.
• Crying Wolf: It's all but stated that this is why he didn't get a retirement speech after he actually retired in 2018.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Has won many through his career. If it is during his occasional pushes, you better count his matches which are not Curb Stomp Battles. If it is during his more frequent jobbing seasons, you can unfortunately count many, unless losing ones.
• David Versus Goliath: Unless he's going up against someone like Kane or The Big Show, Mark Henry is always Goliath (and he's still heavier than Kane, only shorter). Subverted in his encounters with Daniel Bryan, as (so far) Mark Henry has always come out on top.
• Dating Catwoman: His subtext with Chyna started back while they were in rival stables, The Nation and DX respectively. Even when The Nation broke up, Henry and Brown were still vaguely opposed to DX while he was dating Chyna. However, she dumped him at the end.
• Death from Above: From 2003 to 2006, he used occasionally a Yokozuna-esque Banzai Drop with this name. He later changed it to an unnamed corner slingshot splash. Before that he was noted for the elevation he (used) to be able to get on his running splash.
• Distracted by the Sexy: The reason behind Sexual Chocolate's frequent losses was his tendency to halt the course of matches to drool after his opponent's pretty valet, leaving himself open to attacks. That and the fact that he was still a Dumb Muscle (see below).
• Duel of Seduction: Sexual Chocolate had one for weeks against Debra, Jeff Jarrett's valet, due to their respective gimmicks being those of a woman-eater and a man-eater. Long after the feud was closed, Jarrett and Debra ended up gaining Henry's loyalty, but only after adding Miss Kitty to the mix and offering Henry a night with her and Debra.
• Dumb Muscle: More or less averted for most of his career, as although he was never a mastermind, Henry was typically savvy enough to use his strength the right way, and could be occasionally very smart. However, this trope was played straight and quite exaggerated into his Sexual Chocolate gimmick, when he was treated as a lubric simpleton who easily got distracted and only knew how to ram and slam. It took several treks to Ohio Valley Wrestling to remove this burden.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He appeared in RAW segments before his debut in 1996, press slamming Jerry Lawler in response to some criticism and laughing at Big Van Vader when he taunted Henry at ringside.
• Everything is Big in Texas: He's from Silsbee. And yep, he's big.
• Faint in Shock: He fainted when Chyna proposed that he get into a three-way with her and her friend Sammy who ended up not being exactly what she looked like.
• Fat and Skinny: Whenever he's tagging with someone lighter than him, which is pretty much everyone at his career time except for The Big Show, The Great Khali and the defunct Viscera/Big Daddy V. That said, a couple of Henry's regular tag partners have been on the slight side even as wrestlers are concerned - like Evan Bourne, for example.
• Fat Bastard: Has been heavy and evil for most of his career, and his most successful times have been the moments in which he was heaviest and evilest.
• Finishing Move
  • The World's Strongest Slam (a high-angle falling powerslam debuted in 2003) and his older finisher, the big splash (which stopped being a full-time finisher after he lost most of his jumping height).
  • His first finisher was a Canadian backbreaker rack, which he used only once. He got it back sporadically as a signature move.
  • His second one was the Bear Hug, a move he occasionally got back when he needs a submission finisher.
  • In 2006, he often finished jobbers with more outlandish moves, like an inverted chokeslam, a chokehold STO and the Death From Above (banzai drop). He also used a full nelson slam for a match in OVW against Dan Rodimer, notable because it was actually Rodimer's finisher.
• Fire-Forged Friends: In 2001, Henry was brought to OVW as a member of Bolin Services to destroy Big Show, but Henry ended up losing most of his matches against Show, partially due to Kenny Bolin's misguided interferences and Bad Boss traits. Mark finally turned on Bolin and, despite their differences, allied himself with Show.
• Flanderization: Initially, Henry's romantic facet with Chyna was only a twisted sideshow of his character, as he was still a serious wrestler who could manhandle even a main eventer any given night. Deep into the Sexual Chocolate storyline, he started drifting into a goofier, sillier persona, and by the time of his hookup with Ivory, Henry had become a wrestler who was still strong, but also so perverted and weak-willed that any sexy female turned him silly. Then he betrayed his own best friend for a threesome with Jeff Jarrett's valets, and by doing so he revealed himself to be a sex addict maniac who had way more interest in females than in wrestling itself and could just not win a match without at least some external help. He needed a complete reboot away of the entire Sexual Chocolate character in order to get any good again.
• For the Evulz:
  • His betrayal of Ken Shamrock for the Nation of Domination happened just because Henry wanted to be part of a baddies's band, as Shamrock had just taken care of all the stable by himself and it was obvious that Henry could have formed an equally powerful alliance with him.
  • After betraying The Rock to disband Nation of Domination, Mark Henry, D-Lo Brown and The Godfather appeared to form a three man unit, but then Henry and Brown turned on Godfather for no discernible reason and formed their lasty tag team instead.
  • In 2005's OVW, Henry once wrestled Pat Buck in his street clothes and, after squashing Buck, he took off his belt and whipped him.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Spent a year as a babyface jobber to the stars, with The Worf Effect setting in on his "World's Strongest Man" moniker. Then he spent several months ripping Big Show, Kane, and Sheamus to shreds and defeated Randy Orton clean for the title, cementing himself as WWE's number one monster heel. Inverted after WrestleMania, though. Maybe in part due to his injuries, he's been conspicuous by his absence.
• Game-Breaking Injury:
  • During his "monster heel push" in 2011, Henry smashed the ankles of The Big Show, Kane, Vladimir Kozlov and The Great Khali with steel chairs, forcing them out of action (he even called this group his "Hall of Pain"). For at least two of them it did break the game, as Khali was little more than a jobber since and Kozlov never appeared again.
  • His groin injury that led to him dropping his World Title.
  • Shortly before the 1996 Olympics Mark badly injured his back, leading to a disappointing performance and his eventual retirement from professional weightlifting.
• Genius Bruiser: Book Dumb reputation aside, Henry has a talent for poetry and is known backstage as a creative genius.
• Gentle Giant: Towards kids as a face, such as in the 2013 Battle For Christmas promo.
• The Giant: After his weight gain around 2005 he became a full-fledged one, if not in height (and Mark is not exactly short), at least in weight, strength and meanness.
• Glass Cannon: Zig-zagged. In kayfabe, although he is always a menace in offensive terms, his level of toughness has varied through the years: at some points he could endure wild beatdowns and come for more, while in others all it took to pin him was a chokeslam or a DDT. Out of kayfabe, he definitely counts, for he has gotten injured a lot (but nobody shouldn't call him this to his face).
• Groin Attack: Unsure if he could beat The Big Show again in his last championship match, he simply kicked Show in the balls. (Since the title cannot change hands via DQ, he remained the champion.) Big Show was... not pleased.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Especially after Big Show tried and failed to break his leg. From then on his mission in WWE was to destroy and he did not need much excuse to harm anyone or otherwise go berserk, interpreting everything in a manner most offensive to him.
• Hard Head: He frequently uses a high-impact headbutt, and Big Show once left himself groggy trying to hit Mark with one of his own.
• Harem Seeker: Sexual Chocolate never had enough female company, so even after getting his desired date with Chyna, he invited the Pretty Mean Sisters, who had incidentally aided him and D-Lo Brown, for a private party before a match. Thing is that it backfired, as they instead put him in an unwanted BDSM session that made Henry and D-Lo lose said match. Chyna came later to drive them away from Mark, although Brown wouldn't be so lucky and ended up instead caught in a fake miscarriage scheme by the PMS.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: For whatever reason, some fans seem to love him, even when his performance level is not at its best, and he has always been a charismatic figure who can make them eat out of his hand. On the other hand, it is pretty easy to turn fans against him by having "The World's Strongest Man" bully a smaller wrestler they also like, not to mention his association with race baiting stables.
• Hero Antagonist: Possibly or possibly not. When Melina (falsely) accused Batista of raping her, Henry sided with her and MNM while claiming to believe her, which made him look like he sincerely was under the impression to be helping a victim. However, he behaved as viciously as ever whenever he teamed up with them against other wrestlers, and was also perfectly okay with Daivari's offer to buy his services from Melina, so it is strongly implied that he never really cared about the rape thing and only wanted an excuse to go after a main eventer under a skilled manager.
• He's Back!: Averted on the 2/04/13 Raw. After returning from a yearlong injury, he screamed "I ain't never left!" to a fan chanting "Welcome back."
• Hero Killer: In his 2011 heel push he's injured The Big Show, Kane, and Vladimir Kozlov before pinning Randy Orton clean. The first one came back to bite him when The Big Show returned on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Hired Guns: Melina hired him to take out Dave Batista for MNM, and Daivari borrowed him from her to do the same to Kurt Angle. Later Matt Striker added him up to Big Daddy V as well.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • A recurrent fail in Henry's game sees him dominating his opponent, only to then try an impossibly risky flying move and let his opponent roll away to have Henry crashing against the mat. The preferred move choices have been the corner slingshot splash, a second rope diving one, or the Death From Above, but around 2010 it happened with a simple seated senton which Mark started trying to use on everybody without ever connecting.
  • Ironically, Henry was victim of a seated senton at his PPV match against Vader in 1998. He was getting the upper hand of the brawl until he thought trying a sunset flip (yes, a sunset flip) was a good idea.
• Hypocrite: He questions The Big Show's leg drop onto a chair: "Who does this to people?"
• I Know Karate: Inverted. He trained Catch Wrestling with Stu Hart while in Stampede Wrestling, learning especially wrist locks, but he never unveiled it nor used it on the ring, with his only submissions moves ever being bearhugs, backbreaker racks and the like.
• Informed Ability: Henry was sent several times to Ohio Valley Wrestling to hone his skills, but how much he managed to improve is a difficult matter. He never returned from OVW with a better moveset or a new persona; his only important changes were gaining (or losing) weight, establishing the World's Strongest Slam as his finisher and getting braids.
• The Juggernaut:
  • His 2006 run, and later his 2011 Hall of Pain, push pretty much.
  • It was also attempted during the Thuggin' and Buggin' gimmick, but that was all put to rest when a Raw debuting Chris Benoit dislocated his shoulder.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Breaking people's ankles during the "Hall of pain" gimmick, thanks to The Big Show.
• Killer Gorilla: Being a massive Scary Black Man prone to frighteningly strong and vicious beatings, WWE at one point decided to have him call himself "The Silverback" and "The King of the Jungle" and pound his chest as a taunt during his 2007 push. This lasted less than a year, as he stopped doing the gimmick for its evident racist overtones.
• Kingpin in His Gym: Very often a lot less literal than most examples, as Mark Henry is often seen making deliberate demonstrations in areas one wouldn't consider working out in. He once strapped two semi trucks together and then (after an initial failure) started pulling across a track to prove Sheamus couldn't beat him in a strap match.
• Legion of Doom: Inverted, as APPLE (he, Santino Marella, Daniel Bryan and Evan Bourne) were the good guys banding together against the Corre.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: After Viscera splashed Mae Young, Henry faced him in a match in No Way Out 2000, but Viscera predictably ragdolled Sexual Chocolate around, and when Young tried to check on Mark, he threw her to the ground and threatened another splash on her. But then Henry got angry, blocked him with a spear and slammed the 500 pounder down, pinning him for the win. Slamming Viscera up was a feat which only Big Show and Albert had accomplished up to the point, and only Test and Bobby Lashley would do the following years.
• Lightning Bruiser: Back when he was light enough to be only barely a superheavyweight, roughly from 1996 to 2003, Henry could put some serious lineal speed on his charging attacks. He still lacked mobility, though, so their opponents could get out of his way.
• Likes Older Women: About Mae Young.
• Lover, Not a Fighter: Quoted literally to describe himself during his relationship with Chyna. This came, evidently, after he had touted himself Sexual Chocolate.
• Made of Iron: Henry endured some deep punishment in his matches against Vader and Viscera, including slams, drops, suplexes and ladder crashes, and yet he got the win in both.
• Manly Tears
  • During his (fortunately kayfabe) revelation as a sex addict, and the explanation of his betrayal of D-Lo Brown.
  • During his fake retirement speech.
  • A more legitimate example would be during his reading of a poem he wrote in honor of the late Owen Hart following the latter's untimely death.
• Mean Boss: Even as a face, he was this to Tony Atlas, who was his manager in WWECW. This cost him a match when Luke Gallows and CM Punk had teamed up on Mark Henry and Tony was not around because Mark declined his offer for help.
• Mighty Glacier: Averted and then played straight. The Attitude Era Henry was not a big superheavyweight, especially compared to Viscera, Kane and Big Show, so it was relatively easy for strong wrestlers to take him down with clotheslines or shoulder blocks if he didn't come with his own momentum. His strength, while always above average, wasn't very consistent either, and while he did big by military pressing Vaderduring his time in NOD, by the end of his Sexual Chocolate run he couldn't slam anyone heavier than him. This changed when he started increasing his weight from 2003 onwards, which turned Henry gradually into an immovable strongman; he peaked around 2006, when he became a massive mountain of a man who could meet Viscera in equal conditions and manhandle Kurt Angle just by squashing his fist on his hand.
• Moral Myopia: Despite repeatedly breaking people's legs himself just because he can, he gets mad at The Big Show for trying to do it to him.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Hey Mark, remember how you took out Kane? Who was suffering from a bit of Badass Decay the last time we saw him? Yea, well, he's back now, and badder than ever. And he has his mask back on. Good news though, he's going after John Cena.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Had this reaction when a masked Kane returned. Although, fortunately for him, he was not the target
  • Also his reaction to The Undertaker's ring entrance.
  • He also causes this himself. What other reaction is appropriate when a 400-pound Scary Black Man starts stalking his way to the ring?
• Politically Incorrect Villain: By proxy of being in Nation of Domination and Thuggin' and Buggin' Enterprises, which were black supremacist factions.
• Power Stable: Was a member of The Nation of Domination with The Rock, Faarooq, D'Lo Brown and Kama Mustafa, then the Nation after the Rock went from Dragon-in-Chief to The Starscream and overthrew Faarooq on the Raw after WrestleMania XIV, later recruiting Owen Hart. Also of Thuggin' and Buggin' Industries with Teddy Long, Rodney Mack, Jazz and Christopher Nowinski.
• Precision F-Strike: His current WWE character promo ends with him saying "...somebody's gonna get their ass kicked." Since this is PGWWE, the line is put through a heavy filter to make it sound scary and unintelligible, but it's not really hard to hear it.
• Punch Catch: Against Kurt Angle at Royal Rumble. He caught a punch and squeezed Angle's fist until he fell to his knees in pain.
• Put on a Bus
  • Was "indefinitely" suspended for putting his hands on Teddy Long. This was so he could take time off to heal, as he suffered a knee injury on top of his groin injury. Although The Bus Came Back in relatively short order, first appearing on the Elimination Chamber PPV endorsing John Laurinaitis for Raw and Smackdown GM, then on Raw, then finally Smackdown.
  • He was then out for more than eight months due to surgery to his shoulder. He came back on the January 4th edition of Raw, laying waste to Rey Mysterio Jr., Sin Cara and Daniel Bryan.
• Red Baron
  • The World's Strongest Man. Interesting point; the title is semi-legit. He was on the U.S. Olympic Weightlifting team in the early nineties, though injury eventually sidelined his Gold Medal chances. He won the Arnold Strongman Classic in 2002 at the age of 31, and still holds several world records in powerlifting to this day. While he may not be The World's Strongest Man anymore, he's typically acknowledged in the sport as being one of the strongest men on earth.
  • He's also used "Sexual Chocolate," "The King of the Jungle" and "The Silverback."^note Yes, the same one that Ryan Reeves used earlier in his career.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Wore a pink suit during his "retirement" speech.
• Scary Black Man
  • Look at him. Just look at him. And he's in a good mood in that picture.
  • The latest production of his ring entrance ratchets this up even more. When he steps out from behind the curtain to head towards the ring, the camera view shifts to showing the back of his head as he steps forward; the shadowy effect is like an eclipse forming on the entire arena.
• Screaming Warrior: He's well known for his loud outbursts during matches nowadays.
• Shout-Out: "Sexual Chocolate" was a reference to the film Coming to America.
• Signature Move: Among them it's notable the leapfrog body guillotine, which at his Sexual Chocolate times was nicknamed Chocolate Mousse.
• Smash Mook: His run as The Brute for Nation of Domination was a bit more than this trope, but when the stable broke up and Henry turned into D-Lo Brown's henchman, he became so much of a Dumb Muscle that he was only useful to slam and splash softened opponents on the ring.
• Sore Loser:
  • If he faces someone who can match him in strength, this is his usual reaction. For example, when he faced Kane in arm wrestling, when Kane was on the verge of winning, Mark punched him in the face with his other hand, then gave him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
  • Back in OVW, after being defeated by Big Show in a singles match, Henry went into full sore loser mode and hit him with two splashes.
  • More recently, when Ryback was on the verge of beating his record in the bench press challenge, Mark Henry grabbed the barbell and forced it down against Ryback's throat.
• Squash Match: Many, both won and lost (the latter mostly during his Sexual Chocolate run).
• Stout Strength: Exactly the kind of build that's typical for competitors in "world's strongest man" competitions.
• Tag Team: His most stable tag team was his unnamed alliance with D'Lo Brown, which outlasted both Nation incarnations they shared. In recent times, he was featured in a team nicknamed The World's Strongest Tag Team with MVP (years later MVP referenced it on Twitter as Power Ballin'), and even more recently, his alliance with Big Show.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: He ended his feud with Big Van Vader by hitting four consecutive big splashes on him. It got him DQ'ed, but he didn't care.
• Those Two Guys: With old friend/enemy Paul Wight as the AEW Dark Elevation commentary team, where they spend a lot of time behind the mic bantering back and forth in between calling matches.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Taunting The Big Show while on crutches wasn't the smartest idea.
  • Additionally, the beginning of his feud with Big Show. When an angry, 450-pound man is telling you to stay away from him because he's so pissed that he's going to beat the hell out of anything that gets too close, it's probably not a good idea to goad him by stepping into the ring anyway.
• Took a Level in Badass/Badass Decay: His 2011 Face–Heel Turn saw him turn from a midcard face with Informed Ability into a midcard heel with slightly less Informed Ability and a bad attitude. Then his angle with The Big Show took off, and Henry turned into The Juggernaut, taking four fellow super heavyweights out of action, including Big Show himself. This led to a World Title run where he pinned Randy Orton clean in a match that really was not all that close. Once he dropped the title (to Big Show, who lost it to Daniel Bryan about two minutes later), he degenerated into another common brute again and didn't seem quite as threatening. From there he went on to . However, he was never a complete He even lost several weeks of television time as well as a PPV to an injury. Then, when Teddy Long and John Laurinaitis were in a storyline power struggle over WWE's two main brands, Henry looked to be on his way to becoming a nigh-unstoppable menace again. Then he got injured again. Came back, started running roughshod over anyone he came into contact with again. Nowadays, he's more of a second-tier part-timer—appearing occasionally, dangerous as hell, but worfed if it's against the top guys.
• Troll: His fake "retirement".
• Unbuilt Trope: Sexual Chocolate was the predecessor of the gimmicks used by "The World's Largest Love Machine" Viscera and "The Punjabi Playboy" Khali, that is, a goofy, repulsive superheavyweight who believed himself to be a ladies man and was eager to get around. However, while those two were relatively successful in their schticks, Viscera using it to creep opponents out on the ring and Khali having fun while hanging out with allies, Sexual Chocolate was actually a deconstruction of the concept: for him, being a delusional sex addict was a hindrance, not an advantage, and it derailed his performance by making him unfocused and easy to manipulate.
• Ungrateful Bastard: In their times in Smackdown, The Great Khali often came to aid Henry against common opponents, but Henry never really did the same for Khali, and even attacked him in a couple of occasions. They seemed to have a bit of a Worthy Opponent relationship, though.
• Unnecessary Roughness: Most of the things Henry's done since his 'Hall of Pain' gimmick started. Especially the bit about destroying people's ankles with chairs.
• Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: Henry seems to be the ultimate Unstoppable Force, as he has at least one win against almost every other giant wrestler he has faced through his career: The Sultan, Golga, Vader, Viscera, Kane, The Great Khali and The Big Show (and Matt Morgan if counting tag team matches).
• Unstoppable Rage: GOD DAMN!!!!
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: He's been delivering several ever since the Big Show attempted to break his ankle with a steel chair. Mark Henry instead turned the tables and broke Show's... and several others after that.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He's upset with management for what he feels was years of misuse. Unfortunately for the Smackdown locker room, they were the ones he was taking it out on. And then it was John Cena on Raw because Mark Henry believed he had never gotten an honest shot at what was then Cena's WWE Championship. (So far, Big Show and Daniel Bryan seem like the only targets who really deserved it, all the others were victims he had to compile to get his point across.)
• Villain Song: "Somebody's gonna get their ass kicked... somebody's gonna get their wig split! ...BEAT 'EM UP! (Beat 'em up!) BREAK HIS NECK! (Break his neck!)". Crowning Music of Awesome: Three Six Mafia once performed the song live as Henry was coming down to the ring. He then proceeded to utterly destroy Chris Benoit, who was no pushover.
• Villainous Valor: After Big Show broke his ankle with a steel chair, Mark Henry complained about it loudly but did still manage to keep competing by taping it up.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With The Godfather after the Nation of Domination. Henry turned on him at least twice, although they always re-formed the team afterwards. Possibly natural to their characters, given he was a sex addict while Godfather was a pimp.
• World's Strongest Man: Obviously, this was his Red Baron and gimmick in WWE, but he was also a legitimate contender to the title in real life. He was certainly one of the strongest men in human history to ever be formally recorded. In 2003 Bill Kazmaier, considered by many to be the greatest strongman of all time and known as "the strongest man who ever lived" in the 80s, was asked who the strongest man in the world was at the time, and he said it had to be Henry, calling him "one of the strongest men in the history of the world, without a doubt".
• The Worf Effect
  • During his Sexual Chocolate run, Henry's burying booking made him easy to squash by almost any mid-carder. He got better.
  • The Rock did this to him to show up John Cena.
  • He's also been repeatedly worfed by Brock Lesnar.

---

"See I'm a hard-hitter. One hitter, quitter quitter.
Step up to me, lil' buddy. You steppin' up to a gorilla.
I bang your head, dog, till your head like eggnog.
Don't think I'm scared, dog. I'll leave you red, dog."