Mark Henry On WWE ID, Saudi Arabia And Why He Feels Sorry For Big Men

Forbes

26-06-2025

Mark Henry being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018
Mark Henry is unique to the world. Not only as the world's strongest man, but also as one of its most versatile. As a two-time Olympian, Henry pursued professional wrestling. Henry had a rocky start to what would become a Hall of Fame career, as he adjusted to the complexities to pro wrestling both in and out of the ring. But during a resurgent 2011, Henry destroyed Randy Orton to win his first World Heavyweight Championship. Henry deserves a statue in the middle of Silsbee, Texas, but for now he'd just like to see his statue at WWE World next year in Las Vegas.
Henry's fake retirement is the stuff of pro wrestling scripture ("You think it's that easy?!"/"I got plenty in the tank!"), but after legitimately retiring, Henry wasted no time flexing his versatility yet again. Henry has found another career as a DJ, traveling the world and selling out every spot. Henry's Remix Rumble is a staple of WrestleMania week, and is likely to return to Vegas for WrestleMania 42. Henry is a brand-magnet, who hosted an event for Resorts World during WrestleMania, and even spent an entire day that week to do a charity children's hospital event. Even Henry's genes seem to be on their way to the Hall of Fame. Last month, Henry's daughter Joanna won her first Wrestling State Championship.
Mark Henry is now the CEO of upstart All Caribbean Wrestling, a Black-owned territory in the Bahamas that features wrestling stars from Elijah Burke and JTG to up-and-coming standouts Da Russel Twins and Kaylia Capri.
ACW will partner with WWE ID, as they will join forces for Baha Bash 2, a live event on June 28, 2025 at the Baha Mar Hotel in Nassau, Bahamas. Henry will lead a free Strong Kids fitness camp prior to the event. I spoke with Henry in an exclusive sit-down interview to discuss ACW, WWE ID and his view of the current landscape of professional wrestling.
ACW, WWE ID And The Difference Between Indies And Pro Wrestling
Mark Henry started working with All Caribbean Wrestling shortly after attending a live show and seeing it's potential. Alongside owner JB Cool, Mark Henry joined the promotion as as its CEO. This led to invaluable connections, including the elusive spotlight of the WWE ID program, designed to scout the stars of tomorrow for the world's biggest wrestling companies.
'I watched the potential of what they could be, and I saw them missing the mark,' said Henry about ACW. "I told [ACW owner JB Cool] one day, I said 'I'd like to come down there and check y'all out, and see how things can be different as well as enjoy All Caribbean Wrestling.''
'Before I knew it, [the Bahamas ministry]'I said [to JB] 'I'll help you out.' I wasn't thinking of coming in, being one of the owners or buying in or being a CEO of the company. I was just thinking I could help them tighten the screws up, make it a viable commodity and make it better.'
Henry prides ACW as a pro wrestling company rather than an indie. The World's Strongest Man explained the differences in painstaking, and at-times hilarious detail.
'In indie wrestling, you can get a bingo hall, high school gym, convention center—well, maybe not a convention center—an outlet mall…you take the smaller venues. You pack it full of chairs, and you put a ring in there, and bring in your ramp; some piping drape and you've got a wrestling show. That's not what I want to do. That's not me," said Henry.
'What I wanted to do [with ACW] is take the WWE model and make it smaller. I want convention centers. I want small arenas. I want a ramp, I want trons, I want smoke, I want lights. I want the sound to not be echoey and hollow, I want real sound equipment, and I want the talent to be great. I want storytelling. I don't want the double-indie flip through the top of the table, getting hit with a light bulb on plates of glass...'
'Don't forget the plancha,' I chimed in, patly out of FOMO.
'The plancha! That, too. And the Canadian Destroyer.'
'I grew up watching wrestling, and I wanted the soap opera. Who Shot J.R.? I wanted people to be like 'oh, no, this has gotta stop. Gimme more, gimme more! So, that's what we tried to create."
Mark Henry 'Feels Sorry' For Wrestling's Big Men Today
Similar to the NBA, where Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal has commissioned an unofficial Big Man Alliance to celebrate NBA centers of the past and present, Mark Henry prides himself on being in the big man fraternity of wrestling.
Big men of Henry's generation worked a slower, more methodical and menacing style. Everything was powerful, and designed to make the giant look like an unstoppable killer. Today's big man is far more athletically gifted, with 300-pounders like Ivar effortlessly moonsaulting onto their opponent. Henry has no problem with the evolution of the big man in wrestling. But he does feel sorry for them.
'It's fine [for big men to perform high-flying moves] if you're really good at it. But there's a lot of people that do things, and they're not good at them. And it cheapens wrestling, makes it look hokey and not solid,' said Henry.
'I feel sorry for the big man in pro wrestling right now. And people will be like, 'Why do you feel sorry for him?' I feel sorry for him because it's kind of like the reverse role. In America, my white counterparts think that if black people come to power, that we're going to do the evil atrocities to them that was done to us. And that's not the way black people are. Like if it ever switched, it would be more benevolent leading. That's why a lot of the African tribes got taken over because they didn't want to kill their brother. They might be mad at you and not want to do business with you, but they wouldn't want to kill you over it.'
'But that's the way it's happened with the big guy and the little guy in wrestling. The little guy is in power right now, and he has been underneath the, oh, the bigger you are, the better you are. That's not always been the case. And now that it is, they want to keep it that way. They don't want the big guy to flourish. There was a time at AEW, when I first went to AEW, man, I just saw all the money in the world in Wardlow,' said Henry.
'And because the powers that be were smaller guys1, they ixnayed that shit all together. They wanted it to be more balanced for the smaller wrestler, because the guys that were the best there were the smaller guys. Not realizing that the more monsters you create, the better the conquerer.'
'Every big guy needs to remember David and Goliath. David won. That's the whole point of the story, is for David to win. And I didn't think [AEW] let [Wardlow] develop and get there…WWE is able to have a happy medium. A happy balance of big-and-small. But even at the top, top end of WWE, they don't use the big, big guy as the main event guys…right now, the biggest guys are not the best workers. And they don't compel you to do what Roman Reigns does, or what Randy Orton does, or what Logan Paul is growing into. Bronson Reed can be one of those guys because he's really smart and he understands the happy medium philosophy.'
'Gunther used to be a big dude. He used to be one of the monsters and then the world has talked him into, no, you need to be smaller.'
Mark Henry On WWE, Saudi Arabia And the Iran-Israel Conflict
With WWE headed to Saudi Arabia for Night of Champions, many fans have debated whether or not the promotion should move forward given the recent conflict between Iran and Israel, one that led to dueling missile strikes between the United States and Iran. WWE reportedly banned talent from discussing the conflict on air. As of this writing, the promotion is in Riyadh and still plans on moving forward with Night of Champions.
'Saudi Arabia is not the problem or a contributor to the negativity of the world," said Henry about WWE's partnership with Saudi Arabia.
'That war has been fought for 3,000 years. You're not going to change it. I'm not going to change it. Saudi Arabia is not going to change it. I'm going to tell you something about Saudi Arabia. They have once of the largest air forces in the world. You don't want to fight them. You don't want to do nothing over there that ain't proper, because they will get you and they don't have a system to where you got to go through congress and you go through the board, and you got to have all these people talk about it. No. You get caught over there, it's happening in the public square for everybody to see. Don't mess around. And I believe in that. People can get me mad at me all they want to.'
'I'm not worried about anybody. If the WWE goes over there, the full power of the king and his son are going to protect them and keep them safe. Nothing going to happen. Every time I went to Saudi Arabia, I felt more at home and welcome than I do a lot of places in America. People say 'Welcome home, brother! Like there's so many people over there that are brown people that look like you and I. You look like you from Saudi Arabia."
'With this jacket. Yeah, I'm sure I do,' I said.
'Especially with that jacket on,' responded Henry.
Mark Henry On Vince McMahon's Future
Mark Henry spent decades working alongside Vince McMahon as one of WWE's top stars. Henry had the type of relationship with Vince McMahon that is increasingly few and far between after McMahon was ousted from WWE due to allegations of sexual misconduct. McMahon recently launched a new company, 14th and I, and reportedly attempted to purchase Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.
'I have no idea [about Vince McMahon's future.] I have zero idea, but I'm going to tell you something. If I had $7 billion, I would do whatever I wanted to do and nothing you or nobody else was going to stop me from doing it,' said Henry. 'So he can do whatever he wants. He didn't go to prison. The world is very forgiving.'
"And you know what? You can disagree with somebody's policies, you can disagree with race relations, whatever. The thing that's always going to be great is green backs. People always going to like money and people always going want to be entertained and they're going to use whatever resources they can to make themselves feel good.
ACW Baha Bash 2, partnering with WWE ID, takes place Saturday, June 28 4:00 pm local time inside the Baha Mar Hotel in Nassau, Bahamas.