Mark Henry

Mark Henry is an American powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman and professional wrestler who is currently signed to WWE.

An Olympian in 1992 and 1996, he won a silver, gold and bronze medal at the Pan American Games in 1995. As a powerlifter, he was drug-free World Champion in 1995 and a two-time U.S. National Champion in 1995 and 1997. He also holds an all-time raw world record in the squat and deadlift. He is credited for the biggest raw squat and raw powerlifting total ever performed by a drug tested athlete, regardless of weight class, as well as the greatest raw deadlift by an American citizen.

In weightlifting, Henry was a three-time U.S. National Weightlifting Champion, an American Open winner, a two-time U.S. Olympic Festival Champion and a NACAC champion. He holds all three Senior US American weightlifting records of 1993-1997. In 2002 he won the first annual Arnold Strongman Classic. Since joining the WWE in 1996, he has become a one-time WWF European Champion and a two-time world champion, having held the ECW Championship in 2008 and the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011.

Despite his awesome talent in powerlifting, Henry seldom competed in his senior years due to his focus on weightlifting. In 1995 he easily became ADFPF/USAPL National Powerlifting Champion and World Powerlifting Champion of the World Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation, setting world records in the squat, deadlift and Powerlifting Total. By that time, prior to the Olympics 1996, at the young age of 24, Henry was generally considered as the strongest man in the world by most lifting experts for not only holding major all-time powerlifting world records but also the greatest five-lift-total ever achieved in the history of the lifting sports.

He made public appearances on TV and in magazines as the "World's Strongest Man," which later also became his nickname as a professional wrestler. In June 2008, he won the ECW Championship and held it for three months. In 2011, Henry had a resurgence on SmackDown, which led to him winning his first World Heavyweight Championship in September 2011 when he defeated Randy Orton.