The WWE Hall of Fame will turn into the Hall of Pain as Mark Henry is the last one to be joining the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2018.
The 46-year-old Olympian weightlifter is one of the longest-serving WWE employees, having joined the company in 1996. He signed a 10-year deal upon arrival at the age of just 24 and made his debut at SummerSlam that year, starting a feud with Jerry “The King” Lawler.
In 1998, Henry joined the Nation of Domination along with Farooq, The Rock, D’Lo Brown, and Kama and went on to have a memorable feud with D-Generation X. Unfortunately for him, after the Nation disbanded, Henry was given a sex addict gimmick and was referred to as the Sexual Chocolate. Henry had a hilarious program with the late Mae Young where Young gave birth to a hand.
Henry disappeared from WWE television as he returned to OVW for training and to participate in more strongman competitions. In 2002, he returned to the main roster but an injury quickly forced him out again, returning in 2003, before yet another injury kept him for a long time.
Mark Henry returned in January 2006 and engaged in a feud with The Undertaker and had a casket match with him at WrestleMania 22. After going through most of the Superstars on the roster, Henry was injured again, tearing off his patella tendon off his bone, putting him on the sidelines again for a whole year.
In 2008, Henry was drafted to ECW and he was joined by Tony Atlas as his manager. He won the ECW title in a triple threat match against Kane and Big Show at Night of Champions but he lost the title to Matt Hardy at the Unforgiven pay-per-view.
In 2011, Henry started his path to the World Heavyweight title, winning a 20-man battle royal to become the number one contender. He defeated Randy Orton at Night of Champions, marking his first world championship in WWE after 15 years. He lost it at TLC to the Big Show in a chairs match. The Olympian then had to leave WWE again for nearly a year to undergo another surgery.
Perhaps one of his greatest moments came in June 2013 when he teased his retirement on Raw while wearing the infamous peach-looking jacket. Henry cried in front of the fans and John Cena joined in…only for the whole thing to be a swerve as Henry viciously attacked Cena and challenged him for the only title that he never won: the WWE title. Henry never won the title and after that he engaged in different feuds and took more hiatuses due to injuries.
His final match in a WWE ring came at the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33. He appeared at the Raw 25th anniversary special in a backstage segment as well.
The weightlifter won the ECW title, World Heavyweight title, and European title during his WWE career but his weightlifting accomplishments trump pretty much anything he did in WWE, winning several championships and strongman competitions.
