The real lesson here is that nobody, ever, should haze Mark Henry.
Appearing on The Steve Austin Show podcast, The World’s Strongest Man talked with Stone Cold about his weightlifting career, his early days in WWF, Ron Simmons, as well as getting hazed in a late 1990s pro wrestling locker room.
Working his way back from an ankle injury, per Henry one prank from then WWF main eventer Shawn Michaels nearly pushed him over the edge, but also changed the trajectory of his career.
“Well, it took me getting banished to Canada, because I threatened to kill Shawn Michaels. Like, they hid my crutches when I broke my ankle, and I said, ‘Okay this is it. Like, It’s over. I don’t want to do this. Man, you 180 pounds, man. I’d kill you man. It’d be unfair for me to whip you.’ And he said ‘Are you threatening me?’ And I said, ‘I don’t think it’s really a threat. I’m just telling you like it is. Y’all need to leave me alone.’ And he told Vince, and Vince said, ‘Hey man, you can’t threaten our top guys! What’s wrong with you?’ And I was like, ‘Look man, I just ain’t used to nobody trying me. Like if they wanna try me they gotta be able to accept the consequences,’ And Vince said, ‘No, dammit! You can’t just be beating people up! It’s not gonna fix it. They’re trying to bring you in, but you’re pushing them back.’”
“Hey man, you can’t threaten our top guy” and “No, dammit! You can’t just be beating people up!”, 100% sound exactly like something Vince McMahon would say.
Following the incident where Henry nearly ended HBK, he was sent up to Canada to train with Bret Hart for nearly nine months. Henry would go on to finish his pro wrestling training back in the states, before becoming a permanent fixture on the main roster.
Good on Mark Henry for standing up for himself when he was still just a rookie coming up through the ranks.