WWE Hall Of Famer Was Hated When They Joined The Company

WWE Hall Of Famer Mark Henry believes he was hated by fellow wrestlers after joining the company in 1996.

Henry was signed to a ten year contract by WWE in 1996, hot off the heels of representing the USA at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. It was a second appearance at the summer games for Henry, who also carried the hopes of his country in weightlifting at the 1992 Olympiad in Barcelona.

During a recent appearance on The Kurt Angle Show, Henry lifted the lid on his early days with WWE and shared details about the ribbing culture in the locker room:

“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.

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”

WWE Hall Of Famer Mark Henry Believes He Appeared On TV Too Quickly

Henry, who now operates as a psychology coach for AEW, would go on to enjoy a legendary career that saw him lift both the World Heavyweight Championship and ECW Championship en-route to a 2018 induction into the WWE Hall Of Fame.

The Silsbee, Texas native believes that he debuted on TV too quickly, however, and revealed that it was a view shared by Vince McMahon:

“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?”

H/T: 411Mania for the above transcription.