REAL WWE STORIES with MARK HENRY
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Hey everybody, welcome back to the You Should Know podcast. It feels so good to be back in this seat putting out another podcast for you guys. If you're new here or if you haven't already, please be sure to hit that subscribe button. It helps me get great guests like we have today. Our guest today is, you know what?

One second. I got to give him the respect he deserves. I got to give him the respect he deserves. He's a two-time Olympian, the co-host of Not A Sports Show and Sirius XM's Busted Open. It's WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry.

What's going on, Peyton? Mark, it's an honor to have you here. If you would have told me at 11 years old, whenever I was buying WWE tickets, buying these belts, shirts, if you would have told that kid that I'd be interviewing you in 10 years, I wouldn't have believed it. So it's an honor, and I appreciate you coming on. Man, I appreciate being on, man. I love to see young journalists and young hosts.

cut their teeth and build their way up to the top and you're on the way. I really appreciate that. And I'm going to get straight into it as a fan. If these questions are too fangirlish, just let me know. But, you know, coming from a small town in East Texas, being a pure athlete,

The world's strongest teenager. I mean, that by itself is crazy. And transitioning into the WWE. Going into the WWE, you can't just be an athlete. You have to be a performer, an actor, an entertainer. How did you make that transition? You know what? I was always a clown. When I walked in the room...

I never was shy. I was always trying to entertain. So it was pretty natural for me. I just, I needed an acclimation period to understand what it is I was doing and how to do it. And then after that, you know, the rest is history. And did you go through a developmental league with the WWE or was it kind of just like they threw you in the deep end?

Well, they just threw me in. There was no developmental system when I came in. I was the first hired-on developmental wrestler. And everybody before me had to go live in a certain territory, wrestle every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And then they would, you know, travel back and forth and do shows in other states and other places. But, yeah, man, I was the first one.

Is it true that whenever you were coming up in the WWE, you were housed with Dwayne The Rock Johnson or y'all were roommates? Yeah, well, I had an apartment in Connecticut where the office headquarters was. And he came from Canada playing football and didn't have a place to stay. He was going to stay in a hotel. And he was like, hey, man, you mind if I sleep on your couch till I get my check? Because he didn't have any money.

And I told him, yeah, like, man, you're welcome, man. I got extra bedroom, man. You stay there as long as you want to. And we were fast friends, you know, like brothers and even still. Yeah, I totally understand that. Like living with somebody, going towards a common goal, grinding every day to get something, y'all create a different kind of brotherhood and friendship. Do you remember any golden moment

from your time living with him? We had one argument. I like the temperature below 70, so I had the temperature on like 65 or 66 or something like that. And then I wake up in the middle of the night sweating bullets. And I go to the air conditioner and it's like on 75. And I was like, put it back on there and I go and knock on his door and

You know, he comes to the door all groggy and everything. And I said, man, listen, I know you're paying the cable bill, but you're not paying the utility. Leave the air conditioner alone. That was the only time we were like, man, you got it freezing in here. Like, that was the only time we ever had, like, any kind of argument or anything. But outside of that, Dwayne is the most –

studied person that I ever met. Like he's over prepared for whatever situation he goes into. He's constantly writing notes and very meticulous that way. And I actually learned from that. I felt like, wow, that's pretty damn cool. I'm going to do the same thing. That's awesome to hear. Like,

I feel like an 11-year-old kid right now. It's amazing to hear all this stuff. And going back to that super fan, I want to know what happens in the ring and everything. Whenever you're in the ring and someone doesn't sell your move, is it true that you might give them a little extra to make sure they sell it? It's called a potato. Okay, explain that to me. If you throw a punch at me and you hit me really hard, then...

you have a receipt coming and a receipt is you're going to receive equally or more than what you gave. And what you do to them is called a potato because I guess if you like, you know, just standing there not paying attention and somebody throws a potato at you, it's going to, you know, hurt like hell and it's going to be kind of surprising. And that's kind of what it is.

You know, I've thrown a couple and I received a few. So, you know, it balances itself out. I would hate to receive a potato from you. That seems like that would be a bad experience. Doing some research on you and going through the catalog, I saw something that kind of, I don't know, I didn't like to see it, but I mean, I understood it because I'm a fan of you, obviously, respect you a lot. I've been a fan of you since I was a child. And then

Being in this podcast industry, I respect highly of Joe Rogan, like what he's done for the space. And I saw y'all had a little, I don't know what to call it, maybe a tiff. There wasn't anything too serious, just some exchange of words. It was about two years ago, I think. Did y'all ever have a conversation behind the scenes to piece that up? Or was it just kind of like, it is what it is? No, I've never met Joe Rogan.

I respect his work rate and what he's done for podcasting. But during that time, it was a very, very sensitive issue with me. He made comments about Jimmy Superfly Snooker. And Jimmy Superfly Snooker had just died the week before. So I was pissed. And he belittled pro wrestling. And now, two years, three years later...

I've actually heard him say, you know what, I got a newfound respect for pro wrestling. And he talks positively about pro wrestling, even though it's not his thing. And he looks at it like, you know what, it's not my thing. I'm not into it, but I see and understand what those guys do and girls do. But he wasn't there back then.

You know, I was angry at the fact that he made a comment about Jimmy Superfly Snooker after he had died, recently died, and I'm a friend of the family. And I love Jimmy. Jimmy was good to me when I first came into pro wrestling, and is rightfully so. I really don't have any beef with Joe Rogan. I don't know him. I just know he made an asinine comment that hurt my feelings, and being in radio...

I had to hear that. And I was like, man, it's too soon. It was too fresh on my heart. And that's kind of what was the sum of it. But, you know, I appreciate the fact that, you know, I've heard him say that, you know, he don't feel the same way about our industry as he once did. And I mean, I've made mistakes in my life, too.

So, you know, I've said some stuff that can come across as dumb and ignorant. And my maturity and the fact that I was more educated to what that is, you know, those things I've been able to work through. Yeah, and you speak of one of the greats like Jimmy Superfly. And I don't know if you've seen any episodes, but I have a lot of basketball players on this show.

a podcast just being from my background that's who I'm connected with and it's regular in our world to have a top five now I've heard your top five before but just in case it's changed or anything's new I want to hear the the top five best WWE wrestlers of all time the best WWE wrestlers I mean the top four is pretty easy you know The Undertaker, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan,

Andre the Giant pretty easy but then you have the Rock and Stone Cold Triple H Shawn Michaels and probably about another 15 guys that can be in that fifth spot so

You know, I would, you know, I would have to say that, you know, the top four, the Mount Rushmore is easy because those guys earn that spot, those spots, those four spots. But that fifth spot is up for debate. Right. You always got to leave it open.

Once you retired from the WWE, and I'll get you out of here, we only got like one or two more. Once you retired from the WWE, you really took the role of mentorship. And I read that you helped Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton out. What is it that you saw in them when they were in the early stages of their career? Well, I saw talent and the fact that they wanted to be great, that they didn't just wanna get on television and make some money.

They wanted to be great. They wanted to be remembered. And you can tell when somebody's passionate about something. When they're passionate, you have to support. And I didn't start mentoring when I retired. When I came into the business, the first seven years, or the first five years, I felt like my traveling, learning how to be a pro wrestler was pretty damn difficult. And...

I didn't get any help because people were worried about me taking their spot. And about seven years in, I was pretty proficient in everything that was related to pro wrestling. I got it. I felt like, you know what? When these new guys come in, I'm going to let them know what it is and not keep stuff from them or give them false information or

you know, treat them like, you know, Aaron boys because they're new. And that resonated with a lot of guys. I mean, you know, I got to see Randy Orton's first day, Batista's first day, Daniel Bryan, you know, like there's guys that are going to be Hall of Famers that I was there to help, you know, direct them and push them along on their first day. So, you know, I take a lot of joy in that.

Yeah, I bet that's a different kind of fulfillment you get mentoring somebody rather than when you were in the actually in the ring. And to close this out, you're now the co-host of Not A Sports Show and Sirius XM's Busted Open. When did you decide to make the transition into broadcasting? You know what? I always wanted to. And I was a communications major when I was in Colorado Springs living at the Olympic training facility.

I wanted to be a disc jockey. I was going to be the guy that did the Quiet Storm, you know, with Mark Henry and all of that kind of stuff. So I always had an interest in radio. And I said when I was done, I was still going to do it. And I fostered relationships with a lot of guys that were in sports radio. And the executive director was

at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs was Charles Davis. Oh. And Charles Davis was another guy that, you know, he told me, you have a good voice, man. Like, you ever thought about radio? And I was like, yeah, I'm a communications major. And he was like, no, no, I'm talking about, like, how serious you want to be. And he was cutting his teeth.

at that time like that was his his other thing his side thing and man he was just a good influence man that great stories truly a legend you've accomplished so much and it's an honor to have you on the show I really do appreciate you everything it's not the last time I sure appreciate it I hope not thank you for everything you've done you know past this podcast tell them where they can find your shows Mark

You know what? You can go on YouTube and look up not a sports show one. And that's at nada in OTA sports in the number one. And you can look me up on social media, all things, uh, the Mark Henry at the Mark Henry on everything. And, um, you can hear me on busted open. We're on six days a week on Sirius XM on channel one 56. Uh,

Fight Nation, you know, we talk about sports and we talk about wrestling and all boxing and the fighting art. So tune in. Truly a legend. WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry. Thank you so much. This has been a You Should Know podcast. I'll see you guys later.