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Mark Henry shocked the world when he appeared at AEW Double or Nothing. "The World's Strongest Man" was thought to be a WWE lifer, so when he emerged at Daily's Place, the crowd went unglued.
Mark Henry had quite a legendary career in WWE, and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018. Though he'd only held three championships during his twenty-five-year run with the company, Henry solidified himself as one of the greatest big men to ever lace up a pair of boots. To this day, when the topic of top "hoss matches" comes up, it's hard not to pick out some of his bouts with The Big Show or Sheamus during the beloved Hall of Pain run.
With Mark Henry joining AEW as an analyst, commentator, and a coach for the younger talent, we'd like to look back at the five best matches in Mark Henry's WWE career.
#5 Mark Henry vs Randy Orton- Night of Champions 2011
This list won't be entirely made up of Hall of Pain matches, but it is tough not to include the start of his World Heavyweight Championship title run. In this contest, Mark Henry, out of nowhere, became one of the most terrifying superstars in WWE history when he crushed Randy Orton at Night of Champions.
That's not to say Randy Orton didn't get any offense in. These two ended up having the best match of the night. In the opening moments of this bout, unlike most of the contests on this list, Orton had Henry's number. He took the fight to "The World's Strongest Man" and managed to escape several major moments of terror. Unfortunately, when you're facing someone like Mark Henry, all it takes is one heavy shot.
A big boot laid Orton out, and from then on it was all Henry. He hammered Orton with clubbing blows and crushed him with massive big body splashes. Orton had to slip out of his heavy moves, power slams, The World's Strongest Slam and more just to slide in a sleeper. Still, Henry always managed to power out and leave Orton worse for wear.
Near the end of the bout, Orton seemed poised for another title retention. But Henry played possum and took out Orton's right leg with a nasty kick to the knee. A healthy Orton already had enough trouble putting Mark Henry down. An injured one was easy pickings for the challenger.
With a World's Strongest Slam, Orton fell to Henry and the Hall of Pain. To this day, this victory remains of the best highlights of Henry's career.
#4 Mark Henry vs. Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio and more in a 20-Man World Heavyweight Championship Battle Royal- SmackDown January 13th, 2006
Mark Henry returned to SmackDown in late 2005 and demolished Batista, leading to one of WWE's best battle royals not listed as a Royal Rumble. Genuinely, this bout was fantastic. The early going, of course, served to highlight T"he Wrestling Machine Kurt Angle," who jumped from RAW to SmackDown.
In the opening seconds, Angle tossed former WWE Champion JBL to the floor along with Big Vito. Angle, Rey Mysterio, Mark Henry and Bobby Lashley then carved their way through the competition.
Mark Henry would be the one to eliminate the future World Heavyweight Champion, absolutely manhandling Lashley like he'd done to anyone else unfortunate enough to stumble into his path. Another fan favorite, Henry's fellow AEW co-worker Matt Hardy, was also eliminated by "The World's Strongest Man." Eventually it came down to Rey Mysterio and Henry, while Kurt Angle was knocked out on the floor.
The crowd went mental for Mysterio, as he was in a terrible situation against a newly improved Henry. "Eddie" chants filled the stadium while the underdog did his best to chop down the big man. Henry even felt the wrath of not one, but two 619s. Still, he was able to withstand Mysterio fury. Henry caught his opponent in midair and launched him high over the ropes to eliminate him.
At that point, it was down to Mark Henry and Angle, and for the next seven minutes in the Wachovia Center, the Olympian put on a phenomenal performance. The clash was all based around one major point. How could Angle get Henry over the ropes? He hit the big man with an Angle Slam, but Henry responded with a splash in the corner that left Angle crumbling to the floor.
Kurt Angle quickly went from a hated heel on RAW to one of the most loved heroes in his home state when he finally forced Mark Henry to tumble over the ropes.
This match was a perfect way to highlight what Mark Henry could bring to a promotion. He was excellently presented as a dominant, destructive heavyweight that's nearly impossible for anyone, even the company's top dogs, to overcome.
#3 Mark Henry vs Rey Mysterio- SmackDown May 5th, 2006
You could say that the beginning of 2006 was the alpha test for Mark Henry's Hall of Pain run. After he injured the nearly unstoppable Batista and forced WWE to strip him of the World Heavyweight Championship, Henry was the odds-on favorite to win the belt in the aforementioned over-the-top battle royal. But in the end, he was eliminated by Kurt Angle, who went on have a strong, short reign before Rey Mysterio won the gold at WrestleMania 22.
Mysterio's first World Heavyweight Championship run is viewed as one of the worst in the company's history. During this period, WWE was actively burying its top star week after week. Mysterio racked up losses against The Great Khali, Finlay and Rob Van Dam, and he also faced Sabu in a title match that ended in a draw .
But oddly enough, one of Mysterio's best WWE matches came during this run, and it was a bout against Mark Henry. Though Angle and Henry had a bit of a dud at that year's Royal Rumble, fans saw what he was capable of in that battle royal, especially when it came to a performer like Mysterio.
As a massive powerhouse, Henry needed someone who can sell his powerful, devastating shots. At the time, there was probably nobody better to fill that role than Mysterio. In the video above, you can see how Henry cut off the champion's offense with a devastating single clothesline.
JBL had paid Mark Henry off to weaken Mysterio ahead of their title match at Judgement Day, and that's exactly what he did. Henry even surprised fans with an incredible feat of athleticism where he rolled backwards with Mysterio in his arms to nearly hit the World's Strongest Slam.
Mysterio countered with a tilt-a-whirl DDT and a 619. That just wasn't enough, though, and Mark Henry flattened the World Heavyweight Champion with the World's Strongest Slam. In this dynamic clash of styles, Henry looked like a genuine monster against the fan-favorite champion.
#3 Mark Henry vs CM Punk- Monday Night RAW April 16th, 2012
This bout is a forgotten classic. Mark Henry was at the end of his Hall of Pain run here, as he had lost the World Heavyweight Championship several months earlier. Still, on the RAW after WrestleMania, he was put in a WWE Championship match with CM Punk.
There, he won the match via count-out. The next week, Mark Henry defeated the WWE Champion again, this time by disqualification. With two back-to-back wins over Punk, Henry seemed destined for another run at the top. After all, for two weeks, CM Punk was unable to put a dent in "The World's Strongest Man."
Looking back at their first bout in this series, this set of matches was already off to a great start. Mark Henry demolished Punk and a raucous post-Mania crowd was stunned when Henry picked up a victory. The fans were clearly furious when they saw what they did to their hero.
At this point, Punk was still in an intense feud with Chris Jericho, adding to the tension of Punk somehow getting cheated out of the WWE Championship. The "Voice of the Voiceless" faced another major test when, on April 16th, he faced Henry in a match with no count-outs and no disqualifications.
Henry was already able to dominate CM Punk for weeks under the regular rules of a WWE match. With the added possibility of Jericho's intererference, it seemed like there was no way Punk could escape with the title still around his waist.
This match should come to mind for anyone who wants to see the blueprint for a David vs. Goliath clash. The clear difference in size and power helped these competitors tell an excellent story. Punk had to use every trick in the book in order to tear down the wall that was Mark Henry. All the while, he had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hands.
It takes two to tango, and it was obvious that the crowd was more than invested in this match. The fans were on the edge of their seats for every move. Any time Punk began to fire up, they were right there with him, screaming and chanting him on. But when Henry cut him off, they fell silent, as their worst fears nearly came true.
Ultimately, Punk's ingenuity and speed allowed him to avoid Mark Henry and send him into a steel chair that was wedged into the turnbuckle. Punk then hit a chair-assisted elbow drop for the remarkable victory.
Find this one where you can. Whether you've got the network or you have to, unfortunately, use Peacock, this hidden gem is worth a watch.
#1 Mark Henry vs John Cena- Money in the Bank 2013
Most fans know this story for Mark Henry's incredible promo and his classic salmon jacket. Nobody has come close to fooling the entire wrestling fanbase the way Henry did when he convinced everyone that he was retiring in 2013. The man played us all like a fiddle.
To this day, you can hear fans calling to talk to Henry on Busted Open on Sirius XM to tell him how they were nearly brought to tears when, during this promo, he told his daughter Joanna, "Baby, I'm coming home."
Then, he pulled off the greatest swerve of that year by turning on John Cena. This excellent story had a lot of hype to live up to, but the in-ring action was just as good. At Money in the Bank in 2013, Henry and Cena tore the house down.
Listen to the crowd in the video below. The Wells Fargo Center was set to explode from the opening bell, and for good reason. Henry dropped Cena the second he ran across the ring, as he nailed the champion with a nasty knee and an emphatic headbutt.
From then on, Henry and Cena kept up a slow pace for the majority of the match, milking every moment for all they could while a wild crowd screamed, "Let's go Cena, Cena sucks." This bout came sixteen years into Mark Henry's career, a year after the Hall of Pain, and he showed that he still had a lot left in the tank.
Plus, the fans were in Mark Henry's corner. Every time Cena got a little bit of offense in, they'd bring the house down with a chorus of boos. When Henry cut off an early flurry of offense from Cena, you would have thought that "Stone Cold" Steve Austin had just returned with the response they got.
Eleven minutes into the match, Mark Henry caught Cena when he went for his diving leg drop, and the crowd shot to their feet. They felt like they were about to witness history. After the promo of his career, he was seemingly about to become the WWE Champion. When he drove Cena into the mat with the World's Strongest Slam, everyone in attendance and everyone at home was screaming for the three count.
Of course, he didn't win that night. Cena kicked out, and three minutes later, he made Mark Henry tap out with the STF. Still, regardless of the outcome, this contest was a true highlight for both men's careers. When the Best of John Cena Collection comes out, and you know it will, this feud should be featured on it.
It can be argued that Cena should have lost here, and in all honesty, Mark Henry more than deserved to pin the Leader of the Cenation on this night. That being said, this was also the summer that kicked off the "Yes!" Movement. A month later, Daniel Bryan defeated Cena for the WWE Championship before he got screwed out of the title by Triple H and Randy Orton.
So if Mark Henry won this bout, Bryan probably would not have gotten his legendary run leadinng up to WrestleMania 30. Regardless, fans can always look back on this match and remember Henry's excellent performance.
