During a recent appearance on Busted Open Radio, Mark Henry discussed his WWE Hall of Fame induction, his famous 2013 RAW “retirement” speech segment and more. You can check out some highlights and listen to audio from the interview below:
On his Hall Of Fame induction: “Man, [it’s] an unbelievable feeling. I would have to say that my love for wrestling is what made me who I am today. Vince [McMahon] would’ve never know who I was if it hadn’t been for me being on Oprah and saying ‘what does the World’s Strongest Man do in his spare time?’ And wrestling was what I did in my spare time. I was the fan. Everybody out there that listens to this show, and programs like this one, that spends their last dime, or says ‘I’m not going to be able to buy lunch tomorrow, I’m going to go buy a wrestling ticket.’ Like that guy, that was me. I think that it was only fitting that somebody like me actually gets to be in this situation and to be able to tell every one of those fans that you aren’t alone, and you’re doing the right thing. Everybody that looks at you as being weird or not the popular thing to do—they’re the ones that are wrong.”
On the the significance of the WWE Hall of Fame: You want to be rich, and not rich with material things, money, but [with] the respect and relationships that you established. I’ve talked to two people that are really, really close to me, beyond family. They are my confidants, the ‘brain trust’, and they couldn’t even hardly talk to me yesterday. They were just crying; they were like ‘Man, you did it for us! It’s not just you, we hung our hat on you, and you did it.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty big.’”
On if he’ll wear his salmon jacket from his 2013 Raw “retirement speech”: “That jacket is probably five sizes too big right now. I’m going to see. I may just have to put it on anyway.”
On where the retirement speech ranks among his career highs: “It was probably my best performance as far as getting people. It was just a three month premeditated buildup of ‘man, I’m just done. I can’t do this anymore’ or like I don’t want people to see me less than what I see myself at. Then I hit them with the ‘I got a lot left in the tank!’ So, that was such a gratifying feeling to be able to—and I really have to thank Vince for that— I had said I was going to retire and I was tired for so long that it had even got to him. And he was like ‘What’s the deal?’ He was like ‘You really want to go?’ And I was like ‘yeah, I’m hurting.’ and he said [I] could do so much more, especially now. That’s the genius of Vince. He can just see stuff that you can’t see.”