What Is Mark Henry's Net Worth?
Mark Henry is an American powerlifter, wrestler, strongman, and Olympic weightlifter who has a net worth of $4.5 million. Mark Henry made his professional wrestling debut in 1996 and was trained by Leo Burke, the Hart wrestling family, and Lewis Hotchin and weighed in at 412 pounds at 6 ft 4 in tall. Mark earned gold, silver, and bronze medals in weightlifting at the Pan American Games in Mar Plata in 1995, and he has won approximately thirteen gold medals in various strongman competitions throughout his career. At the age of 18, Henry was recognized at "the world's strongest teenager" by the "Los Angeles Times." He qualified for the 1992 Summer Olympics and placed tenth in the super heavyweight class. Mark's personal powerlifting records include a squat of 953.5 pounds, a deadlift of 903.9 pounds, and a powerlifting total of 2336.9 pounds. His personal weightlifting records include a snatch of 396.8 pounds, a clean and jerk of 485 pounds, and a weightlifting total of 881.8 pounds.
Henry began wrestling for the World Wrestling Federation in 1996 and was signed to a ten-year contract after competing in the 1996 Summer Olympics. He won the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011, and he retired from the WWE in 2018. Since his retirement, he has worked as a coach, talent scout, and commentator/analyst with All Elite Wrestling. Mark was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame in 2012 and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018. He has appeared in the films "MacGruber" (2010), "A Haunted House 2" (2014), and "Incarnate" (2016), and he co-hosts the SiriusXM radio program "Busted Open."
Early Life
Mark Henry was born Mark Jerrold Henry on June 12, 1971, in Silsbee, Texas. He is the son of Barbara and Ernest Henry, and he has an older brother, Pat. Sadly, when Mark was 12, his father passed away from complications from diabetes. Most of the men in Henry's family were larger than the average male, and his great uncle Chudd stood 6 ft 7 in tall, weighed around 500 pounds, and was said to be the strongest man in East Texas' Piney Woods. Mark was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 14, and he became interested in wrestling as a child. In a 2009 interview with "Bleacher Report," Henry said that during his youth, his favorite wrestler was André the Giant, and when he attended a wrestling event in Beaumont, Mark tripped over a barricade while trying to touch André. According to Henry, "André saw me with my feet hanging over the top of the barricade and my hands on the floor, so he picked me up, and he put me back on the other side of the barricade." Mark was a member of the football team at Silsbee High School, but he couldn't play as a senior because he strained ligaments in his wrist and scored below 700 when he took the SAT.
Powerlifting Career
By the time Henry was a fourth grader, he weighed 225 pounds and stood 5 ft 5 in tall. Mark's mother bought him a set of weights, and as a high school freshman, he could squat 600 lb. In 1990, he won the National High School Powerlifting Championships and set teenage world records in the squat (832 lb) as well as powerlifting total (2,033 lb). Within a few years, Henry had become a three-time state champion who had set both state and national records in every powerlifting category: squat, bench press, deadlift, and total. At the 1990 Texas High School Powerlifting Championships, University of Texas at Austin kinesiology professor Terry Todd convinced Mark to come to Austin after graduation to start training in the Olympic style of weightlifting. A few months later, Henry was runner-up at the USPF Senior National Powerlifting Championships, then he won the 1991 United States National Junior Championships and later became the International Junior Champion in Powerlifiting.
During his first year as a competitive weightlifter, Mark became the top Superheavyweight in the country. In 1992, he placed tenth in the Super-Heavyweight class at the Summer Olympics and won the USA Weightlifting American Open, followed by wins at the U.S. Senior National Weightlifting Championships in 1993, 1994, and 1996. In 1995, Henry won three medals (gold, silver, and bronze) at the Pan American Games and won the ADFPA U.S. National Powerlifting Championships. The following year, he was named the North America, Central America, Caribbean Islands Champion, and by the time he turned 24, Mark was acknowledged by many as the world's strongest man. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, he injured his back and dropped out after his first try at the clean and jerk, finishing in 14th place. Henry then retired from weightlifting, but in 1997, he became the U.S National Powerlifting Champion (Super Heavyweight class).
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Wrestling Career
In 1996, Mark signed a 10-year contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which later became known as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He made his WWF debut at the age of 24 on "Monday Night Raw," and in 1999, he won the WWF European Championship and created the persona "Sexual Chocolate." In 2000, Henry worked on his wrestling and conditioning skills with Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), and in 2001, he took a hiatus from wrestling after his mother died. He then competed in the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic in his mother's honor and won $10,000 along with a cruise and a $75,000 hummer. Mark won the ECW Championship in 2008 and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in 2011, and in 2018, he retired from the WWE and began working in a backstage role. In 2021, he joined All Elite Wrestling and became part of the "AEW Rampage" commentary team as well as a coach.
Personal Life
Mark married Jana Perry on April 24, 2005, and they have two children, Jacob and Joanna. In September 2012, Henry served as a pallbearer at the funeral of actor Michael Clarke Duncan, who died of respiratory failure during a two month hospitalization following a heart attack. During a 2019 interview with Chris Nowinski, co-founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, on "Busted Open," Mark announced that he intends to donate his brain to science after his death so it can be used for CTE research. He said of the decision, "I definitely want to go on record that I'm donating my brain to the brain bank, and I hope that something good can come out of y'all having my brain. Maybe it will help with figuring out how things work in the future that will benefit my kids and everyone else's kids…. We always want the future to be better for our families and your families, speaking of the fans out there that have kids playing sports. And some of you parents, you weekend warriors. Like, you get a ding, get some help."
Awards and Honors
In 1990, the "Los Angeles Times" dubbed Henry "The World's Strongest Teenager." In 2007, he was named to the All-time Top 25 All-Mens US Powerlifting Nationals Team. For weightlifting, Mark won a gold medal in the Snatch, a silver medal in the Olympic weightlifting Total, and a bronze medal in Clean and jerk (all in the SHW division) at the 1995 Pan American Games. He finished in first place in the SHW division at the 1991 U.S. National Junior Weightlifting Championships, the 1993, 1994, and 1996 U.S. Senior National Weightlifting Championships, the 1992 American Open Weightlifting Championships, and the 1993 and 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival Championships. Henry also won the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic. For professional wrestling, Mark has earned the Cauliflower Alley Club's Iron Mike Mazurki Award (2019) and the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame's Frank Gotch Award (2021), and "Pro Wrestling Illustrated" named him Most Improved Wrestler of the Year in 2011. With the WWF/WWE, he has won the ECW Championship, World Heavyweight Championship, and WWF European Championship one time each and the Slammy Award three times (Holy $#!+ Move of the Year in 2011, Feat of Strength of the Year in 2013, and Match of the Year in 2014).
Real Estate
In 2012, Mark and Jana purchased a 4,518 square foot home in Austin, Texas, that was built in 2001. The home includes four bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, a swimming pool with fountains, a three-car garage, and an outdoor fireplace. The mansion was listed for $819,900, but the price the couple paid for it is unknown.
