Mark henry biography imdb orange county

American professional wrestler, weightlifter and radio personality (born )

For other people named Mark Henry, see Mark Henry (disambiguation).

Mark Jerrold Henry^[17] (born June 12, )^[4] is an American former powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman, and retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his year career in WWE.

Henry is a two-time Olympian ( and )^[2][18] and a gold, silver, and bronze medalist at the Pan American Games in ^[4] As a powerlifter, he was WDFPF World Champion ()^[8] and a two-time U.S. National Champion (^[9] and ^[8]) and once held an American record in the deadlift.^[19] He still holds the WDFPF world records in the squat, deadlift and total.^[20][21]

In weightlifting, Henry was a three-time U.S. National Weightlifting Champion (, , ),^[11] an American Open winner (),^[14] a two-time U.S. Olympic Festival Champion ( and )^[1] and a NACAC champion ().^[4] He held all three Senior US American weightlifting records in –^[22]

In strongman, Henry won the inaugural Arnold Strongman Classic in ^[4]

Since joining the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in , he became a one-timeWWF European Champion and a two-time world champion, having held the ECW Championship in ,^[23] and WWE's World Heavyweight Championship in ^[24] First winning the ECW Championship, he became only the fourth black world champion in WWE history (after The Rock, Booker T, and Bobby Lashley).

In April , Henry was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of ^[25]

Early life

Henry was born in the small town of Silsbee in East Texas, 90 miles northeast of Houston. As a child, he was a big wrestling fan and André the Giant was his favorite wrestler. While attending a wrestling show in Beaumont, Texas, young Henry tried to touch André as he was walking down the aisle, but tripped over the barricade. André picked him up out of the crowd and put him back behind the barricade.^[26] When Henry was 12 years old, his father, Ernest, died of complications from diabetes.^[27] When he was 14 years old, Henry was diagnosed with dyslexia.^[28]

Henry comes from a family in which almost all of the men are larger than average, especially his great uncle Chudd, who was 6&#;ft 7 in, weighed approximately &#;lb (&#;kg), never had a pair of manufactured shoes, and was known as the strongest man in the Piney Woods of East Texas.^[29]

Henry played football in high school until his senior year, when he strained ligaments in his wrist during the first game of the year and scored below on the SAT.^[28]

Powerlifting career

By the time Mark Henry was in the fourth grade, he was 5&#;ft 5&#;in (&#;m) and weighed &#;lb (&#;kg).^[28] His mother bought a set of weights for him when he was ten years old.^[28] During Henry's freshman year at Silsbee High School, he was already able to squat &#;lb (&#;kg), which was well over the school record.^[28] As an year-old high school senior, Henry was called "the world's strongest teenager" by the Los Angeles Times, and made it into the headlines in early for winning the National High School Powerlifting Championships and setting teenage lifting world records in the squat &#;lb (&#;kg) and total 2,&#;lb (&#;kg).^[30] By the time Henry finished high school, he was a three-time Texas state champion with state and national records in all four powerlifting categories—the squat at &#;lb (&#;kg), bench press at &#;lb (&#;kg) and deadlift at &#;lb (&#;kg) as well as the total at 2,&#;lb (&#;kg).^[28][30]

At the Texas High School Powerlifting Championships in April , Terry Todd, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Texas at Austin and former weightlifter, spotted Henry and persuaded him to go to Austin after he graduated to train in the Olympic style of weightlifting.^[28] In July at the USPF Senior National Powerlifting Championships, year-old Henry came second only to the legendary six-time World Powerlifting Champion Kirk Karwoski.^[31] While powerlifting relies primarily on brute strength and power, which Henry obviously possessed, Olympic weightlifting is considered more sophisticated, involving more agility, timing, flexibility and technique.^[32] There have been few lifters in history who have been able to be successful in both lifting disciplines. Mastering the technique of weightlifting usually takes many years of practice, but Henry broke four national junior records in weightlifting after only eight months of training.^[27] In April , he won the United States National Junior Championships; 20 days later he placed fourth at the U.S. Senior National Championships, and finished sixth at the Junior World Weightlifting Championships in Germany two months later.^[27] Only a few weeks afterwards, he became 's International Junior Champion in Powerlifiting as well.^[1][10] In Henry's first year in competitive weightlifting, he broke all three junior (20 and under) American records 12 times, and became the United States' top Superheavyweight, surpassing Mario Martinez.^[15]

At the age of 19,^[1] Henry had already managed to qualify for the weightlifting competition at the Summer Olympics, where he finished tenth in the Super- Heavyweight class.^[4][15] Ten months before the Olympics, Henry had begun training with Dragomir Cioroslan, a bronze medalist at the Summer Olympics, who said that he had "never seen anyone with Mark's raw talent".^[15] After the Olympics, Henry became more determined to focus on weightlifting and began competing all over the world. In late he took the win at the USA Weightlifting American Open^[14] and further proved his dominance on American soil by winning not only the U.S. National Weightlifting Championships, but also the U.S. Olympic Festival Championships in and ^[1][11] At the Pan American Games Henry won a gold, silver and bronze medal.^[1][4]

Henry won the ADFPA U.S. National Powerlifting Championships in with a 2,&#;lb (1,&#;kg) raw Powerlifting Total.^[9] Despite competing without supportive equipment in contrast to the other competitors, Henry managed to outclass the lifter in second place by &#;lb (&#;kg), defeating not only five-time IPF World Powerlifting Champion and 12 time USAPL National Powerlifting ChampionBrad Gillingham, but also America's Strongest Man of Mark Philippi.^[9] In the process he set all-time world records in the raw deadlift at &#;lb (&#;kg) and the squat without a squat suit at &#;lb (&#;kg) as well as the all-time drug tested raw total at 2,&#;lb (1,&#;kg).^{[33][34][35][36][37]} Later that same year in October, he competed in the drug-free Powerlifting World Championships and won again, even though he trained on the powerlifts only sparingly—due his main focus still being on the two Olympic lifts.^[38] He not only become World Champion by winning the competition but also bettered his previous all-time squat world record to &#;lb (&#;kg) and his all-time drug tested world record total to 2,&#;lb (1,&#;kg).^[8][33][38]

In Henry became the North America, Central America, Caribbean Islands (NACAC) Champion.^[4] He earned the right to compete at the Olympics by winning the U.S. National Weightlifting Championships in the Spring of for a third time.^[38] During his victory Henry became Senior US American record holder (–) in the Snatch at &#;lb (&#;kg), Clean and jerk at &#;lb (&#;kg), and Total at &#;lb (&#;kg), improving all of his three previous personal bests.^[22][39][40] No one in the history of the sports had ever lifted as much as him in the five competitive lifts—the snatch and the clean and jerk in weightlifting—the squat, bench press and deadlift in powerlifting.^[1][40]

In the months prior to the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, Henry received more attention and publicity than any lifter in recent United States history.^[1] He guested at Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and The Oprah Winfrey Show and was featured on HBO Inside Sports and The Today Show.^[1] He was also featured in dozens of magazines including U.S. News & World Report, People Vanity Fair, ESPN The Magazine and Life where he was photographed nude by famed artist Annie Lebowitz.^[1] During this period he connected with WWE owner Vince McMahon for the first time, which led to him signing a year deal as professional wrestler.^[1]

Henry improved his lifts to &#;lb (&#;kg) in the snatch and &#;lb (&#;kg) in the clean-and-jerk during his final eight weeks of preparation for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.^[38] Henry at 6-footinches tall and &#;lb (&#;kg) bodyweight, became the largest athlete in Olympic history and was voted captain of the Olympic weightlifting team.^[38][41] Unfortunately, he suffered a back injury during the competition and was unable to approach his normal performance level.^[1] Due to the injury he had to drop out after his first clean and jerk attempt and finished with a disappointing 14th place.^[4][38][42] His appearance at the Olympics proved to be his last official competition in Olympic weightlifting, as he retired from weightlifting, vowing never to return unless the sport is "cleaned up" of anabolic steroid use.^[38]

Since his career start as a professional wrestler shortly after the Olympics, he broke his leg in the fall of ^[38] But by the summer of the following year he had rehabilitated enough to be able to compete at the USAPL National Powerlifting Championships , where he won the competition to become the U.S. National Powerlifting Champion in the Super Heavyweight class again.^[8][38] He had planned to continue heavy training in powerlifting, although his travel schedule as a professional wrestler with the WWF (now WWE) made sustained training difficult.^[38] Mark's WWF contract was unique in many ways, allowing him at least three months off each year from wrestling, so he could train for the national and world championships in weightlifting or powerlifting.^[43] Barring injury, Mark had originally hoped to return to the platform in late , to lift for many more years, and to eventually squat at least 1,&#;lb (&#;kg) without a "squat suit" and to deadlift 1,&#;lb (&#;kg).^[38][43]

Although in early he was still able to do five repetitions in the bench press with &#;lb (&#;kg), three repetitions in the squat with &#;lb (&#;kg) (with no suit and no knee wraps), and three repetitions in the standing press with &#;lb (&#;kg) in training, while traveling with the World Wrestling Federation, he never returned to compete again in official championships in favor of his wrestling career.^[38] He weighed &#;lb (&#;kg) at that time, and his right upper arm was measured at 24" by Terry Todd.^[38] :When asked in September , who the strongest man in the world was, Bill Kazmaier, considered by many to be the greatest strongman of all time, stated: "It would have to be Mark Henry. [] I think he's one of the strongest men in the history of the world, without a doubt."^[44]

Personal records

Official Records

Powerlifting:Done in official Powerlifting meets

→ current WDFPF world record squat in SHW class (+regardless of weight class and equipment) since ^[8][20]

→ former all-time unequipped squat world record for over a decade in SHW class until ^{[45][46][47][48]} (+regardless of weight class until )^{[49][8][20][21][33]}

→ former all-time raw world record deadlift in SHW class until ^[51] (+regardless of weight class until )^{[45][52][53][54]}

Weightlifting:done in official competition

→ Senior US American snatch record – in SHW class (+regardless of weight class)^[10][22]

→ Senior US American clean&jerk record – in SHW class^[10][22]

→ Senior US American weightlifting total record – in SHW class (+regardless of weight class)^[22]

Strongman:done in official competition and during exhibitions

→ Henry is either the fourth or the fifth verified man to clean and press the legendary implement after Louis 'Apollon' Uni himself in the s (which is disputed), Charles Rigoulot in , John Davis in and Norbert Schemansky in Unlike any of the predecessors, he cleaned it using double overhand grip and push pressed it without involving a jerk.
Despite this performance was eclipsed by Žydrūnas Savickas in , and bettered each year by one more rep, all his cleans were continental cleans. It was not surpassed until , when Vasyl Virastyuk and Mikhail Koklyaev performed 5 reps using the exact clean Henry used.

• Truck Deadlift: &#;lb (&#;kg) x 2 reps ( Arnold Strongman Classic)^[56]
• Hummer push: 7,&#;lb (3,&#;kg) for 12 meters ( Arnold Strongman Classic)^[56]
• Timber carry: &#;lb (&#;kg) for 11 meters on an inclined ramp ( Arnold Strongman Classic)^[56]
• Inch dumbbell: &#;lb (78&#;kg) ( Association of Oldetime Barbell & Strongmen, Dinner event) (joint world record)^[57]

→ Henry is the first man in history to clean the legendary dumbbell. He also proceeded to push press it.

Combined official records:

• Combined official Supertotal (official weightlifting total + official powerlifting total):

&#;lb (&#;kg) + 2,&#;lb (1,&#;kg) = 3,&#;lb (1,&#;kg)^[58][59][44]

• Career aggregate Supertotal (Individual 5 lift PR weightlifting & powerlifting total):

&#;lb (&#;kg) + &#;lb (&#;kg) + &#;lb (&#;kg) + &#;lb (&#;kg) + &#;lb (&#;kg) = 3,&#;lb (1,&#;kg)

Unofficial Records

Olympic WeightliftingAccording to Dr. Terry Todd:^[38]

• Snatch: &#;lb (&#;kg)
• Clean and jerk: &#;lb (&#;kg)

Powerlifting:According to Henry himself:^[60]

• Squat: 1,&#;lb (&#;kg) raw with wraps(According to Henry himself. Dr. Terry Todd reported Henry was capable of a 1, lb ( kg) squat in summer )^[61]
• Bench press: &#;lb (&#;kg) raw
• Deadlift: &#;lb (&#;kg) rawIn training, prior to his lb ( kg) raw deadlift in competition,

In a two-week period in spring , Henry squatted &#;lb (&#;kg) raw without knee wraps for 3 reps, bench pressed &#;lb (&#;kg) for 5 reps, and overhead pressed &#;lb (&#;kg) for 3 reps, all while travelling with the WWF.^[38]

Combined unofficial records:

• Career aggregate Supertotal (Individual 5 lift PR weightlifting & powerlifting total):

&#;lb (&#;kg) + &#;lb (&#;kg) + 1,&#;lb (&#;kg) + &#;lb (&#;kg) + &#;lb (&#;kg) = 3,&#;lb (1,&#;kg)

Professional wrestling career

World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (–)

Early career (–)

At the age of 24, Henry made his first appearance on World Wrestling Federation (WWF) programming on the March 11, episode of Monday Night Raw, where he press slammedJerry Lawler, who was ridiculing Henry while interviewing him in the ring. After Henry competed in the Summer Olympics, the WWF signed him to a ten-year contract.^[4] Trained by professional wrestler Leo Burke, his first feud in the WWF was with Lawler. At the pay-per-view event, SummerSlam in August , Henry came to the aid of Jake Roberts who was suffering indignity at the hands of Lawler. Henry's debut wrestling match was against Lawler in a house show at the Baltimore Arena on September 21, The following day, Henry defeated Lawler in a rematch at In Your House Mind Games.^[4] The feud continued at house shows during subsequent weeks.^[62] On the November 4 episode of Raw, Henry served as a cornerman for Barry Windham in a match against Goldust. He was set to team with Windham, Marc Mero and Rocky Maivia to take on the team of Lawler, Goldust, Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Crush at Survivor Series, but was replaced by Jake Roberts when he was forced to withdraw from the event due to injury. On the November 17 episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Henry defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Crush, and Goldust in a tug of war contest. Henry also worked on several shows for United States Wrestling Association. Henry's career was then stalled as he took time off over the next year to heal injuries and engage in further training.

In November , he returned to the ring, making his televised return the following month.^[63] By the end of the year, he was a regular fixture on WWF programming, defeating the Brooklyn Brawler on the December 15 episode of Raw, and beating The Sultan on the December 27 episode of WWF Shotgun Saturday Night.

Nation of Domination ()

Main article: Nation of Domination

Henry joined the Nation of Dominationfaction with Faarooq, The Rock, Kama Mustafa, and D'Lo Brown on January 12, ^[4] After The Rock usurped Faarooq's position as leader, Henry switched loyalties to The Rock. He also competed at WrestleMania XIV in a tag team Battle Royal with Brown as his partner, but they did not win.^[64] After short feuds against Ken Shamrock and Vader, Henry participated in his faction's enmity against D-Generation X (DX), which included a romantic storyline with DX member Chyna.^[65]

Sexual Chocolate (–)

When The Nation disbanded, he engaged in a short feud with The Rock, defeating him at Judgment Day: In Your House with help from Brown, and then forming a permanent team with Brown, gaining Ivory as a manager.^[4][66]

During the next year, Henry gave himself the nickname "Sexual Chocolate", adopting a ladies' mancharacter. He first resumed his storyline with former enemy Chyna, but it ended with her betraying him in a controversial angle including a transvestite.^[4] During a match at the August SummerSlam pay-per-view between Brown and Jeff Jarrett for the WWF Intercontinental and WWF European Championships (both held at the time by Brown), Henry turned on Brown and helped Jarrett win the match and the titles.^[67] The next night, Henry was awarded the European title by Jarrett in return for his help.^[68] Henry lost the title one month later to Brown at the Unforgiven pay-per-view.^[69]

The night after he tried to make up with Brown^[70] and later in the week claimed to be a sex addict^[71] resulting in him attending a sex therapy session a week later where he claimed that he lost his virginity at eight years old to his sister, and had just slept with her two days ago.^[72] He was part of a storyline about him overcoming sex addiction, which he accomplished thanks to The Godfather.^[4]

After this twist, Henry turned into a fan favorite, and was seen on television romancing WWF veteran wrestler Mae Young as part of the "Sexual Chocolate" character.^[4] He feuded with Viscera during this time, as part of a storyline where Viscera splashed Mae Young while she was carrying Henry's child.^[73][74] Young later gave birth to a hand.

Ohio Valley Wrestling and strongman competitions (–)

In , Henry was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) to improve his conditioning and wrestling skills. In OVW, he teamed with Nick Dinsmore to compete in a tournament for the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship in mid^[4] He also worked a couple of matches for Heartland Wrestling Association. Later that year, Henry's mother died,^[47] causing him to go on hiatus from wrestling.^[4][47] He felt he had to compete in the "Super Bowl of weight lifting"—the Arnold Strongman Classic—in honor of his mother, who gave him his first weight set when he was a child.^[47]

Four months prior to the contest, Henry began lifting the heaviest of weights and trained for the first time since for a major lifting competition.^[47] He had never been a professional strongman before, but in the coming contest he was to face the very best of the best of professional strongmen, such as the #1 ranked strongman in the world, and defending World's Strongest Man competition winner of Svend Karlsen, World's Strongest Man winner of Phil Pfister, World Powerlifting Champion of and equipped deadlift world record holder Andy Bolton, World Muscle Power Champion, Olympic weightlifting Champion Raimonds Bergmanis, and reigning America's Strongest Man of Brian Schoonveld.^[47][75]

On February 22, , in Columbus, Ohio the competition, consisting of four events, designed to determine the lifter with the greatest overall body power, began.^[1] Henry surprised everybody when he won the first event, setting a world record in the process by lifting the Apollon's Axle three times overhead.^[47] Only three men in history had ever been able to press it at all.^[47][76] By deadlifting &#;lb (&#;kg) for two repetitions in the second event and easily pushing a 5,&#;lb (2,&#;kg) or more Hummer with nearly flat tires in the third event, Henry kept his lead continuously throughout the competition and never gave it up again.^[47][75] In the final "Farmer's Walk"-event Henry quickly carried the roughly &#;lb (&#;kg) of railroad ties up an incline, winning the whole competition convincingly^[47][75] to capture the winning prize — a US$75, Hummer, a vacation cruise and $10, cash.^[1][75]

Since Henry had only trained for four months and defeated the crème-de-là-crème of worldwide strongmen, who had been practicing for years, his win was a shock for strongman experts worldwide,^[47] but remained basically unnoticed by the wrestling audience. Henry proved to be worthy of the title "World's Strongest Man" not only by winning the contest, but also by achieving it in record time. By doing so he was again seen as the legit "strongest man in the world" by many lifting experts for a second time since ^{[38][58][47][59][44][77]}

Various feuds (–)

Henry returned to the WWF in April and was sent to the SmackDown! brand, where he developed an in-ring persona of performing "tests of strength" while other wrestlers took bets on the tests, but the gimmick met with little success.^[78] During this time he competed against such superstars as Chris Jericho and Christian.^[4] After being used sporadically on WWE (formerly WWF) television during , as he was training for a weightlifting contest, and suffering a knee injury, Henry was sent back to OVW for more training.^[78][4]

In August , Henry returned to WWE television on the Raw roster as a heel where he found some success as a member of "Thuggin' And Buggin' Enterprises", a group of African Americans led by Theodore Long who worked a race angle in which they felt they were victims of racism and were being held down by the "white man".^[4] During that time, Henry was involved in a brief program with World Heavyweight ChampionGoldberg when the former champion, Triple H, put a bounty on Goldberg.^[78] This was followed by a brief rivalry with Shawn Michaels, before he engaged in a rivalry with Booker T.^[79][80][81] After defeating Booker T twice, once in a street fight and once in a six-man tag team match, he lost to Booker T at the Armageddon pay-per-view in December ^[82][83][84] At a practice session in OVW in February , Henry tore his quadriceps muscle, and was out for over a year after undergoing surgery.^[78][4] Henry was then utilized by WWE as a public relations figure during his recovery, before returning to OVW to finish out ^[4]

During the December 30 episode of SmackDown!, Henry made his return to television, as he interfered in a WWE Tag Team Championship match, joining with MNM (Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro, and Melina), to help them defeat Rey Mysterio and Batista for the championship.^[85] A week later on SmackDown!, Henry got in a confrontation with the World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, and went on to interfere in a steel cage match between MNM and the team of Mysterio and Batista, helping MNM to retain their titles.^[86] Henry then had another match with Batista at a live event where Batista received a severely torn triceps that required surgery, forcing him to vacate his title. On the January 13, episode of SmackDown!, Henry was involved in a Battle Royal for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. He was finally eliminated by Kurt Angle, who won the title.^[87][88]

A week later, Henry received assistance from Daivari, who turned on Angle and announced that he was the manager of Henry.^[89] With Daivari at his side, Henry faced Angle for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble in January, losing when Angle hit him with a chair (without the referee seeing) and pinned him with a roll-up.^[90]

On the March 3 episode of SmackDown!, Henry interfered in a World Heavyweight Championship match between Angle and The Undertaker, attacking the latter when he was seconds from possibly winning the title. Henry then performed a diving splash on Undertaker, driving him through the announcer's table. Henry was then challenged to a casket match by Undertaker at WrestleMania ^[91] Henry vowed to defeat The Undertaker and end his undefeated streak at WrestleMania, but The Undertaker defeated him.^[92] There were talks about Henry ending the streak backstage, but did not succeed. In an interview on Heavy, Henry stated that the decision was close and that if they did ask him about it he would have refused, stating he did not want to carry that weight.^[93] Henry had a rematch against The Undertaker on the April 7 episode of SmackDown!. It ended in a no-contest when Daivari introduced his debuting client, The Great Khali. Khali went to the ring and attacked The Undertaker, starting a new feud and ending Henry's.^[94]

During the rest of April and May, Henry gained a pinfall victory over the World Heavyweight Champion, Rey Mysterio in a non-title match.^[95] Henry entered the King of the Ring Tournament, and lost to Bobby Lashley in the first round.^[96] He later cost Kurt Angle his World Heavyweight Championship opportunity against Mysterio, when he jumped off the top rope and crushed Angle through a table. Henry was then challenged by Angle to face off at Judgment Day, Henry then sent a "message" to Angle by defeating Paul Burchill.^[97] At Judgment Day, Henry defeated Angle by countout.^[98] Although winning, Angle got his revenge after the match by hitting Henry with a chair and putting him through a table.^[98]

Henry later went on what was referred to as a "path of destruction", causing injuries to numerous superstars. Henry "took out" Chris Benoit and Paul Burchill on this path of destruction, and attacked Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero.^[99][][] These events led up to a feud with the returning Batista, whom Henry had put out of action with a legitimate injury several months beforehand. When Batista returned he and Henry were scheduled to face one another at The Great American Bash in July.^[] Weeks before that event, however, on the July 15, Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII, Henry was involved in a six-man tag team match with King Booker and Finlay against Batista, Rey Mysterio, and Bobby Lashley.^[] During the match, Henry was injured, canceling the scheduled match at The Great American Bash, as Henry needed surgery. Doctors later found that Henry completely tore his patella tendon off the bone and split his patella completely in two.^[]

Henry returned on the May 11, episode of SmackDown!, after weeks of vignettes hyping his return.^[] He attacked The Undertaker after a World Heavyweight Championshipsteel cage match with Batista, allowing Edge to take advantage of the situation and use his Money in the Bank contract.^[] Henry then began a short feud with Kane, defeating him in a Lumberjack Match at One Night Stand.^[] Shortly after, Henry made an open challenge to the SmackDown! locker room, which nobody ever accepted. In the coming weeks he faced various jobbers and quickly defeated them all.^[][] On the August 3 episode of SmackDown!, he claimed that nobody accepted the open challenge to step into the ring with him because of what he had done to The Undertaker, presenting footage of his assault on The Undertaker.^[] The Undertaker responded over the following weeks, playing various mind games with Henry.^[][] Henry finally faced The Undertaker again at Unforgiven in September, losing to him after being given a Last Ride.^[] Two weeks later, Henry lost a rematch to The Undertaker after The Undertaker performed a chokeslam on Henry.^[]

ECW Champion (–)

After a short hiatus, Henry returned to WWE programming on the October 23 episode of ECW, attacking Kane, along with The Great Khali and Big Daddy V.^[] Henry then began teaming with Big Daddy V against Kane and CM Punk, and was briefly managed by Big Daddy V's manager, Matt Striker.^[78] At Armageddon, Henry and Big Daddy V defeated Kane and Punk.^[] Before WrestleMania XXIV aired, Henry participated in a man battle royal to determine the number one contender for the ECW Championship, but failed to win.^[]

As part of the WWE Supplemental Draft, Henry was drafted to the ECW brand.^[] At Night of Champions, Henry defeated Kane and Big Show in a triple threat match to capture the ECW Championship in his debut match as an ECW superstar. This was his first world championship in WWE, which also made him the fourth African-American world champion in WWE history.^[] Upon winning the title, it was made exclusive to the ECW brand once again. Henry's title win came nearly a full decade after he was awarded the European Championship, which was back in and the only title he held in WWE.^[23] A few weeks later, Hall of FamerTony Atlas returned to WWE to act as Henry's manager. Shortly after, ECW General Manager, Theodore Long, unveiled a new, entirely platinum ECW Championship belt design.^[] In August, Henry defended the title against Matt Hardy at SummerSlam after getting himself disqualified; however championships cannot change hands via disqualification, meaning that Henry retained the title.^[] Henry later lost the title to Hardy at September's Unforgiven in the Championship Scramble match.^[]

Henry attempted to regain the championship throughout the end of , and had a match against Hardy at No Mercy, but failed as he was unsuccessful.^[] Henry and Atlas then engaged in a feud against Finlay and Hornswoggle, which included Henry losing a Belfast Brawl to Finlay at Armageddon.^[][] At the start of , Henry qualified for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 25, and was involved in a series of matches with the other competitors on Raw, SmackDown, and ECW.^[][][] He was unsuccessful at WrestleMania, however, as CM Punk won the match.^[] In May, Henry began a rivalry with Evan Bourne, which began after Bourne defeated Henry by countout on the May 26 episode of ECW.^[]

Tag team championship pursuits (–)

On June 29, Henry was traded to the Raw brand and redebuted for the brand that night as the third opponent in a three-on-one gauntlet match against WWE ChampionRandy Orton, which he won, turning Henry into a face in the process.^[] In August , Henry formed a tag team with Montel Vontavious Porter and the two challenged the Unified WWE Tag Team ChampionsJeri-Show (Chris Jericho and The Big Show) for the title at Breaking Point, but were unsuccessful.^[][] They stopped teaming afterwards, becoming involved in separate storylines, until the February 15, episode of Raw in which they defeated the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions The Big Show and The Miz in a non-title match.^[] The next week they challenged The Big Show and The Miz in a title match but were unsuccessful.^[] At Extreme Rules, Henry and MVP fought for a chance to become number one contenders to the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, but were the second team eliminated in a gauntlet match by The Big Show and The Miz. Ultimately, The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith) won the match.^[]

Henry mentored Lucky Cannon in the second season of NXT.^[][] Cannon was eliminated on the August 10 episode of NXT.^[] In September, Henry began teaming with Evan Bourne, starting at the Night of Champions pay-per-view, where they entered a Tag Team Turmoil for the WWE Tag Team Championship. They made it to the final two before being defeated by Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre.^[] The team came to an end in October when Bourne suffered an injury and was taken out of action. Henry then formed a team with Yoshi Tatsu on the November 29 episode of Raw, defeating WWE Tag Team ChampionsJustin Gabriel and Heath Slater, after a distraction by John Cena.^[] They received a shot at the championship the next week, in a fatal four-way elimination tag team match, which also included The Usos and Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov. Henry and Tatsu were the first team eliminated in the match.^[]

World Heavyweight Champion (–)

On the April 25, episode of Raw, Henry was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the WWE draft. In the main event of the night, Henry attacked his teammates John Cena and Christian, turning heel in the process.^[] On the May 27 episode of SmackDown, Henry participated in a Triple Threat match against Sheamus and Christian to decide the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship, which was won by Sheamus.^[] On the June 17 episode of SmackDown, Henry was scheduled to face an angry and emotionally unstable Big Show, who warned Henry not to get into the ring; Henry ignored the warning and Big Show assaulted him before the match could begin.^[] This act ignited a feud between the two; Henry attacked Big Show both backstage and during matches^[][] while on the July 1 episode of SmackDown, Big Show's music played during Henry's match against Randy Orton, causing Henry to be counted out and costing him a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. Henry reacted by destroying the audio equipment and attacking a technician.^[] Henry faced Big Show in a singles match at Money in the Bank and won. After the match, Henry crushed Big Show's leg with a chair, (kayfabe) injuring him, an act Henry later referenced as an induction into the "Hall of Pain".^[] Henry did the same to Kane on the next episode of SmackDown,^[] and in the months ahead, Vladimir Kozlov and The Great Khali suffered the same fate.^[][]

On the July 29 episode of SmackDown, Henry was informed that he could no longer compete as no one dared to fight him, but Sheamus interrupted, saying that he wasn't afraid of Henry before slapping him.^[] At SummerSlam, Henry defeated Sheamus by count-out after slamming him through a ring barricade.^[] On the August 19 episode of SmackDown, Henry won a man Battle Royal to become the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship to face Randy Orton at Night of Champions,^[] and throughout weeks on SmackDown and Raw, Henry regularly attacked Orton, getting an advantage over him.^[][][][] At Night of Champions, Henry defeated Orton to win the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.^[24][] Henry successfully defended the title against Orton at Hell in a Cell in a Hell in a Cell match.^[]

On the October 7 episode of SmackDown, Big Show returned and chokeslammed Henry through the announce table, thus earning a title shot against Henry at Vengeance.^[] During the match, Henry superplexed Big Show from the top rope, causing the ring to collapse from the impact and the match to be ruled a no contest.^[] Henry began a feud with the Money in the Bank briefcase holder Daniel Bryan on the November 4 episode of SmackDown, challenging Bryan to a non-title match to prove that Bryan could not become champion. During the match, Big Show knocked out Henry, making him win by disqualification. Big Show then urged Bryan to cash in his contract, but Henry recovered and attacked both Bryan and Big Show before the match could start.^[] At Survivor Series, Henry retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Big Show after a low blow that disqualified Henry. Angered by Henry's cowardice, Big Show crushed Henry's ankle with a steel chair.^[] On the November 25 episode of SmackDown, Henry was knocked out again by Big Show, at which point Bryan cashed in his briefcase for a title match and quickly pinned Henry. However, SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long revealed that Henry was not medically cleared to compete and voided the match, so Henry remained champion and the briefcase was returned to Bryan.^[] Later that night, Bryan won a fatal-four-way match to face Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship in a steel cage.^[] On the November 29 episode of SmackDown, Henry defeated Bryan in a steel cage match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.^[]

Then at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Henry lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Big Show in a chairs match. After the match, Henry knocked Big Show out, resulting in Daniel Bryan cashing in his Money in the Bank contract to win his first World Heavyweight Championship.^[] On the January 20 episode of SmackDown, Bryan retained the championship against Henry in a lumberjack match after Bryan provoked the lumberjacks to come in and attack them to cause a no contest.^[] At the Royal Rumble event, Henry faced Bryan and Big Show in a triple threat steel cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship; Bryan escaped the cage to retain the title.^[] On the February 3 episode of SmackDown, Henry was suspended indefinitely (in storyline) by SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long, after Henry physically accosted Long as he demanded a one-on-one rematch that night with Bryan.^[] In reality, Henry had hyper-extended his knee the previous week.^[] Henry returned to in-ring action on the February 20 episode of Raw SuperShow, losing to Sheamus.^[] On the April 2 and 9 episodes of Raw SuperShow, Henry faced CM Punk for the WWE Championship which he won by count-out and disqualification; as a result, Punk retained his title.^[][] On the April 16 episode of Raw SuperShow, Punk defeated Henry in a no-disqualification, no count-out match to retain the WWE Championship.^[] On May 14, Henry announced he was going under a career-threatening surgery for an injury.^[]

Final feuds (–)

After a nine-month absence, Henry made his return on the February 4, episode of Raw, brutally attacking Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara.^[] Four days later on SmackDown, Henry defeated Randy Orton to earn a spot in the number one contenders' Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship at Elimination Chamber.^[] At the pay-per-view on February 17, Henry eliminated Daniel Bryan and Kane before being eliminated by Randy Orton. After his elimination, Henry attacked the three remaining participants before being escorted out by WWE officials.^[] Henry then began a feud with Ryback after several non-verbal confrontations.^[][][] On the March 15 episode of SmackDown, Henry was defeated by Ryback via disqualification, following interference from The Shield. Afterward, Henry delivered the World's Strongest Slam to Ryback three times in a row.^[] On April 7 at WrestleMania 29, Henry defeated Ryback in a singles match.^[]