On a recent edition of “The Kurt Angle Show” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry discussed signing with WWE, being rushed to live television, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On coming in with a big deal and being resented: “Oh yeah, they hated my guts. And sabotaged me intentionally, tried to sabotage me and I never got joked with by anybody. I mean, we joked around with my friends. You play the dozens, talk about your mama, that kind of thing. But nobody ever put like, salt in my food when I wasn’t looking or tried to put pills in my drink to knock me out, or put s**t in my food or — you know, man, it was so much that happened like the ribbing got ridiculous.”
On ribbing in WWE in the late 90s: “It was ridiculous. And there were points where people took liberties. Like, they knew they could get away with it and the framework of wrestling. So they would knock the shit out of me.”
On people taking advantage of him: “I didn’t know better. So once I started knowing better, I started going, ‘No, I’m not doing that.’ And, [they’re like] ‘Oh, you’re a big star.’ It was that s**t, like man it was bad. And then they realized that I would fight. And when I got angry, it’s very entertaining when I’m angry. Kurt’ll tell you, like, I don’t mind it if you want it. Let’s go. Oh, I don’t give a s**t who you are.”
On being rushed to TV: “My first match was a pay-per-view. Vince [McMahon] has admitted to it. He said that he was like, ‘Man, in a perfect world, I wish we’d have had another year or two to wait before we’ — Mainly for, not just for the wrestling. But to be able to be more mature and integrate with the locker room, and have the locker room realize, ‘The business is changing, guys. We’re going to have professional athletes start to come in and be trained.’ Lawrence Taylor came to WrestleMania. And one of the reasons he said that he didn’t keep wrestling is because he hated being there. How awful is that?”
