History YMMV / MarkHenry

* BornInTheWrongCentury: Or decade, at least. Wrestling history buffs often note that Henry's career might have looked completely different had he entered the business about 10-15 years before he did. His size and legitimate strength would have made him an attraction in the Golden Era and might have made him near indispensable in the early 90s when Vince was looking for natural mass in the wake of the fallout from the steroid scandal. Unfortunately for Mark, he signed ''just'' before the start of the Attitude Era, during which character work, promos, and to some degree workrate - most of which were underdeveloped for Henry in the spring of his career - were more valued.

** "THAT'S WHAT I DO!"

** His salmon-colored suit jacket.
** "IT'S TIME FOR THE MAIN EVENT!"

* StrawmanHasAPoint: His 2011 FaceHeelTurn... though you'd have to know more than what WWE presented on screen to know what his point was, beyond Miz's denial and MVP attempt to prove Henry had a personality.

** Courtesy of his infamous "Fake Retirement" speech: "Y'ALL A BUNCH OF PUPPETS!" and "YOU THINK IT'S THAT EASY? I GOT A LOT LEFT IN THE TANK!"

* AssPull: The revelation of Chyna being just ''pretending'' to be his girlfriend in order to teach him a lesson. This came out of nowhere after weeks of showing Henry slowly gaining Chyna over and Chyna eventually becoming his amazon lover.

** In 2007, in midst of his ''[=SmackDown=]!'' push, Henry did an appearance for Ohio Valley Wrestling against Daniel Rodimer of ''Wrestling/WWEToughEnough'' fame. Rodimer proceeded to beat the crap out of Henry for most of the match, until Henry eventually recovered and won with a full Nelson slam, which was [[PowerCopying Rodimer's own finishing move]]. This was the first time they met on the ring, and afterwards Henry returned to the main roster and never faced Rodimer again. What was the story behind this match remains unanswered, but it has been speculated it might have been part of an AbortedArc.
** Later into that year, Henry did another return for OVW and suffered a clean loss to Paul Burchill of all people, presumably because Burchill was an OVW main eventer at the time. Sending a pushed monster from the main roster to job in a developmental territory remains one of the bookers' usual shenanigans towards Henry, as it led to absolutely nothing and was followed by Henry squashing jobbers in ''[=SmackDown=]!'' just like he had been doing up to that point (and was made even worse because Burchill himself jobbed to him the next time he stepped on the main roster).

* MisBlamed: While the nickname itself was a bit creepy, the Sexual Chocolate character wasn't by itself what got Henry completely deflated in 1999. It started as just a joking title he gave himself early into his supercouple with Chyna, during which he was still a very competent wrestler that could even be a bit of an evil schemer at times. The cringe-worthy moments that everybody associates to Sexual Chocolate, like Henry being deceived by transvestites, sleeping with his sister, and being a sex addict idiot, actually came later, when the executives decided to completely derail the act in the process of de-pushing Henry.

** His 2013 return received a massive pop, even as he decimated Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr in the ring. This would have been unthinkable just a few years before.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: His 2011 FaceHeelTurn...though you'd have to know more than what WWE presented on screen to know what his point was, beyond Miz's denial and MVP attempt to prove Henry had a personality.

** Henry and Wrestling/{{Big E|Langston}} seemed tailor made to do a StudentAndMasterTeam storyline together, given that both are heavily decorated black powerlifters. Even though Big E joined Wrestling/TheNewDay, Henry is hardly alien to goofy comedy, so he could have still worked fine as an occasional mentor figure for the team, especially during their serious tag team championship tenures or any other instance that required a veteran on their side. However, while Henry ''did'' appear briefly with The New Day, nothing of the kind ever materialized.

** Later into that year, Henry did another return for OVW and had a clean loss to Paul Burchill of all people, presumably because Burchill was an OVW main eventer at the time. Sending a pushed monster from the main roster to job in a developmental territory remains one of the bookers' usual shenanigans towards Henry: it led to absolutely nothing and was followed by Henry squashing jobbers in ''[=SmackDown=]!'' just like he had been doing up to that point (and was made even worse because Burchill himself jobbed to him the next time he stepped on the main roster).

* CriticProof: His early career in WWE didn’t bring him much dignity, respect or success. It did however bring him literally millions of dollars.
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: For the longest time, Mark Henry was seen as your stereotypical giant. Big and intimidating, but who couldn't talk worth a damn. Then he gave his now infamous "Fake-retirement" promo, [[ShockingMoments and everyone's jaws collectively dropped]].

* MisBlamed: While the nickname itself was a bit creepy, the Sexual Chocolate character wasn't by itself what got Henry completely deflated in 1999. It started as just a joking title he gave himself during his supercouple with Chyna, during which he was still a very competent wrestler that could even be a bit of an evil schemer at times. The cringe-worthy moments that everybody associates to Sexual Chocolate, like Henry being deceived by transvestites, sleeping with his sister and being a sex addict idiot, actually came later, when the executives decided to completely derail the act in the process of de-pushing Henry.
* NeverLiveItDown: Sexual Chocolate, including '''Mae Young.''' Especially '''the hand.'''
* OlderThanTheyThink: Henry's killer runs in 2006 and 2011 were neither the first nor only times he was pushed as a proper monster. During Henry's rookie time, first as a patriot wrestler and then as the muscle for Nation of Domination, he got put over Wrestling/TerryFunk, Wrestling/{{Vader}} and even Wrestling/TheRock, and also gave tough matches to Wrestling/KenShamrock, Wrestling/MickFoley and other big names. It was actually with the Sammy incident that his push ended and he was turned into a joke.

* TheScrappy: His run as a commentator for ''AEW Dark'' has not been well-received. Especially when partnered with Paul Wight.
* ShockingMoments: Still amazing to see him pick up Wrestling/{{Vader}}, the Wrestling/BigShow and the Great Khali like they're nothing. And some of the stories of his incredible feats of strength make his title of World's Strongest Man sound more like a factual description than a nom-de-guerre.

* XPacHeat:
** As Mark Henry was walking to the ring for a match against Wrestling/CMPunk on the April 2, 2012 edition of ''Raw'', a fan behind him held up [[https://imgur.com/4PiUf0Z a sign]] that said this:

%% * StrawmanHasAPoint: His 2011 FaceHeelTurn.

* WinTheCrowd: Henry was generally detested throughout the years by many fans due to his lack of mobility and inconsistent booking. This all changed after his transition into WWE's resident monster heel in 2011. Aside from the fact that he was finally being booked to be the unstoppable force he was capable of being, Henry was busting his ass to put on the best matches he possibly could to prove he was worth it and gain support. According to the ratings for ''[=SmackDown=]!'' between 2010 and 2012, the highest level of interest came during Henry's reign as World Heavyweight Champion, and he is nowadays beloved by both casual fans (despite remaining a heel) and smarks.

--->"Sir! I feel compelled to stress that we are not booing because of your effective {{heel}} work, we are booing because you are simply awful."
** His WinTheCrowd moments came after ''fifteen'' years of the guy suffering XPacHeat.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: How the IWC felt about him being in the World Title picture up until he actually won the title.

* {{Mondegreen}}: Eat 'em up (EAT 'EM UP) / Make a snack (MAKE A SNACK).

* UnfortunateImplications: WWE briefly thought it'd be a good idea to call the big AngryBlackMan "The Silverback" or "The King of the Jungle." It wasn't long before it was dropped. Henry would later state that he immensely disliked the nicknames, as he realized the implications immediately and asked management to drop it. (And considering the stuff he ''did'' willingly do under that contract, that's saying something.)[[note]]The schtick got even worse in Spain, where it became BlackComedy (NoPunIntended) after late Spaniard WWE commentator Héctor del Mar famously nicknamed Henry "The Friend of Film/KingKong who Spends his Summers in Cancún". Racist humor [[ValuesDissonance used to be hardly a fuss in Spain]], but such gag would have been cringe-worthy in the States.[[/note]]
-->'''[[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/17/racist-wwe-mark-henry-silverback_n_5596593.html Mark:]]''' Honestly, I could not do it. I told them: 'I can't do that. I got two little black kids at home.'

* AssPull: The revelation of Chyna being pretending to be his girlfriend in order to teach him a lesson. This came out of nowhere after weeks of showing Henry slowly gaining Chyna over and Chyna eventually becoming his amazon lover.

** In 2007, in midst of his ''[=SmackDown=]!'' push, Henry did an appearance for Ohio Valley Wrestling against Daniel Rodimer of ''Wrestling/WWEToughEnough'' fame. Rodimer proceeded to beat the crap out of Henry for most of the match, until Henry eventually recovered and won with a full Nelson slam, which was [[PowerCopying Rodimer's own finishing move]]. This was the first time they met on the ring, and afterwards Henry returned to the main roster and never faced Rodimer again. What was the story behind this match remains unanswered, and it has been speculated it might have been part of an AbortedArc.
** Later into that year, Henry did another return for OVW and had a clean loss to Paul Burchill of all things, presumably because Burchill was an OVW main eventer at the time. Why did they send a pushed monster from the main roster to job in a developmental territory remains as one of the bookers' usual shenanigans towards Henry: it led to nothing and was followed by Henry squashing jobbers in ''[=SmackDown=]!'' just like he had been doing up to that point (and was made even worse because Burchill himself jobbed the next time he stepped on the main roster shortly after).
* CreatorsPet: An example of how wrong can this go in real life. As Wrestling/VinceMcMahon loves big, strong men, and Henry is very large and extremely strong, Vince thought it was a good idea to give Henry an unprecedented ten year, $10 million contract and a significant initial push. Only two years after his signing, however, things went awry: as [[http://411mania.com/wrestling/meethinks-01-31-06-marking-for-mark-henry/ this column]] puts, around this time the company realized Henry didn't have the Midas touch Vince had seen on him, and when they ran off of ideas about what to do with Henry, they started the infamous Sexual Chocolate angles in a more than likely attempt to drive Henry to rescind the contract and disappear from their sight. It was Henry's professionalism, (and the fact that he apparently genuinely [[https://youtu.be/gsdXpNPOpk0 enjoyed the gimmick]]) that led him to endure the continuous humiliation and patiently stick around through the end of his contract (and the beginning of a new, less outrageous one) while waiting for a booking rescue that might never come. Even although it would take more than a decade, Henry ultimately proved Vince right when he showed with the Hall of Pain act that he ''could'' put on a great show if given a good angle to work with - which made the company's attitude towards him HarsherInHindsight and himself one of the most wasted wrestlers in the story of WWE.

* MisBlamed: While the nickname itself was a bit creepy, the Sexual Chocolate character wasn't by itself what got Henry completely deflated in 1999. It started as just a joking title he gave himself during his supercouple with Chyna, during which he was still a very competent wrestler that could even be a bit of an evil schemer at times. The cringe-worthy moments that everybody associated to Sexual Chocolate, like Henry being deceived by transvestites, sleeping with his sister and being a sex addict idiot, actually came later, when the executives decided to completely derail the act in the process of de-pushing Henry.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Henry's killer runs in 2006 and 2011 were neither the first nor only times he was pushed as a proper monster. During Henry's rookie time, first as a patriot wrestler and then as the muscle for Nation of Domination, he used to get put over Wrestling/TerryFunk, Wrestling/{{Vader}} and even Wrestling/TheRock, and also gave tough matches to Wrestling/KenShamrock and other big names. It was actually with the Sammy incident that his push ended and he was turned into a joke.

** Even if his moveset was small and his mic skills needed work, Henry still gave a very convincing impression of a classic power wrestler during his time as Nation of Domination's enforcer. The decision to turn him into a sexually-themed loser instead of keeping him as a strong midcarder like his partners D'lo Brown and [[Wrestling/CharlesWright The Godfather]] ended up giving WWF nothing more than some cheap laughs and the economic losses of a ten million dollar contract they never really tried to amortize.

** Henry and Wrestling/{{Big E|Langston}} seemed tailor made to do a StudentAndMasterTeam storyline together, given that both are heavily decorated powerlifters. Even though Big E joined Wrestling/TheNewDay, Henry is hardly alien to goofy comedy, so he could have still worked fine as an occasional mentor figure for the team, especially during their serious tag team championship tenures or any other instance that required a veteran on their side. However, while Henry ''did'' appear briefly with The New Day for a time, nothing of the kind ever materialized.