“The more you shine, the more positively people start looking at you.”
“The true measure of strength is through a squat and deadlift.”
“The Attitude Era was something special.”
“I usually eat whatever I want… about 5,000 to 7,000 calories a day.”
“At one point in my life, I thought getting old was a bad thing. Then I realized that the prestige, the respect, and the honor that people hold you at for being able to do anything for 20 years is well worth it.”
“Around 2015, I started to see my skills diminish. It happens to everybody. Father Time is undefeated. He is gonna win every time, and I saw him catching me.”
“Your political views should be your political views. I believe in business being non-partisan.”
“I was called everything ugly and black in the world. Man, those where some tough times. They called me Fat Albert, Magilla Gorilla, black ape. It all hurt.”
“Small? Nah, I never want to be small. Big people usually push small people around. Why would I want to be small?”
“Learn how to humble yourself, and be able to take advice and not feel like you know everything.”
“I’ve had matches go 38 minutes. To be able to move for 38 minutes and have somebody’s life in your hands is a difficult thing.”
“I had the pleasure of learning how to wrestle long matches and use psychology.”
“The Undertaker’s theme isn’t really a single, but in terms of eerie music, you can’t beat it.”
“Oh my God, if you’re talking terrible theme songs, you have to mention Matt Hardy. I can’t understand what they’re even saying. There’s a point in Matt Hardy’s song where it sounds like they say ‘I want to meet the cheese.’ I’m always like, ‘Meet the cheese?’ Just goofy stuff.”
“Wrestling isn’t like ballet; it’s not about practicing a routine. You need to focus. You need to concentrate. You need to know your craft.”
“I’m more on the bigger side, so people don’t think I have speed. I’m not the fastest guy, but I guarantee I’m not the slowest.”
“Daniel Bryan is a good athlete, but he’s a better entertainer.”
“Nobody will ever top Owen Hart. Owen was like a brother to me. I loved him so much because he made me laugh harder than anyone’s made me laugh in my life.”
“I’d like to be a tag titleholder, I’d like to be the WWE champion, but more than anything, I want to make guys leaders.”
“I had vied for a championship; I had been involved in being a No. 1 contender, and having runs where I got close but I never got there. Being able to finally get there and be the guy to carry the load and carry it for a while, I felt like I arrived, and it validated my career.”
“I was a big kid my whole life. I grew up among big people. My brother was a big kid. I didn’t really feel like a big kid. Except for the teachers, who pretty much didn’t want me to squish any of the other kids.”
“I was kind of sheltered. I grew up in Silsbee, Texas, a town of 3,000 people.”
“Leo Burke was an unbelievable trainer. Him and Tom Prichard. Tom Prichard was not a big guy. And I learned a lot from him.”
“I’ve had five surgeries that could have ended most people’s careers. But because of the fact that I’m resilient and have a lot of pride, I refused to let myself go out except on my terms. An injury is not going to take me out.”
“It was an unbelievable experience to be in the ring with Jerry Lawler, one of the biggest wrestlers of all time.”
“I remember being in a situation where everybody, as much as they loved seeing Jerry Lawler’s gimmick, they loved to hate him. That’s one of the things I learned early on, that if you’re going to be in a situation where you’re taking on a dominant competitor, you have to get to the point where you love to be hated, if that is what is required.”
“I enjoyed my time working with Mae Young; she was one of the coolest, most respected people that I ever met in the industry.”
“Personally, I had no confines: there were no bounds, no boundaries that I felt when I got in the ring.”
“People say, ‘Oh Mark, you’re a big softie, and you burst into tears so easily.’”
“I had a bunch of people who kinda looked out for me. You know, gave me the words of wisdom.”
“I love the WWE, I love the company, but I have two kids, and they want me home. They want me to see their recitals and sporting events, and I want to see them grow and evolve.”
“People think our business is this completely fictional world of big guys in tight clothes with no brains. That’s not the way it is; this is a psychology-driven business. You have to take people on an emotional ride without using words.”
“So many things come with your maturation process. I changed throughout my time with WWE from a kid in his 20s into a man.”
“Originally, nobody knew John Cena rapped. It was just something he did in the car. I told Bruce Prichard, and that’s how the whole ‘Thugonomics’ run began.”
“Black culture – we dance and sing. We’re entertainers. James Brown said it best: the things we are make people want to be like us.”
“I love fashion. Actually, funny story, I used to give the ‘Esquire Big Black Book’ to young wrestlers when they would join the WWE, because they needed to know how to dress.”
“You can’t be a champion and look like a bum. You have to look, and be, the part. It’s not just because it’s required of your job, but is important to how you hold yourself.”
“I never in my career did appearances, like where you go and sign autographs, and you do the comic-cons and all of that stuff, because I wanted, when I stopped wrestling, to go and do that stuff and have it really mean something to somebody, that it hadn’t been watered down.”
“I always see what I did wrong, what I could do better.”
“I want people, when they remember me, to think of the Hall of Pain, when I was catching guys, 275 pounds. Picking up Big Show, close to 500 pounds, over my head and driving him through a table.”
“At one point, I remember throwing Jerry Lawler so hard that he didn’t touch either rope. He just went straight through and hit the barricade.”
“I grew up learning from guys like Ron Simmons and Owen Hart. They were like mentors to me, so I was able to embrace what they taught me, and I think I did alright.”
“Antonio Cesaro is beyond naturally strong. He trains hard, but he’s got that strength you don’t expect him to have.”
“It’s humbling how my peers view me as not only one of the best Olympic power and weightlifters, but as an athlete.”
“To know that you will be in the International Sports Hall of Fame and that people for hundreds of years will know who you are and what you did, it means everything.”
“Being 19 years old and making the Olympic team on my last lift. I went 6-for-6 and had a perfect Olympic trial. Making the team and being one of the youngest to ever go to the Olympics was pretty special.”
“Eventually, you’ve got to go from being a talent to being a guy that makes talent.”
“Randy Orton is one of the people in the industry I respect the most. Not many people can be as smooth and polished in the ring as Randy is, and still be over with the fans, and he is one of the very best in the industry.”
“I always try to enjoy the moment.”
“If I am in it, I want to win it. I am not here to look pretty.”
“My kids are jaded, spoiled, entitled as hell.”
“I’m a firm believer in not leaving people out to dry.”
“Our fans – they wanna see you, so give the fans what they want.”
“I want to be known as a great dad more than anything.”
“Ribbing is a part of wrestling. That’s the way they show a fondness for you – they play practical jokes on you. They put your wrestling gear in plastic bags and throw it in the shower. Just stupid stuff.”
“Kids – young men find it uncool to be a dad, I think. It’s very cool to me… I love being at home with my kids.”
“I challenge anybody to go through their career and not have a failure as a talent.”
“If you’re going to lose to somebody, losing to a guy like Brock Lesnar is not something that people will laugh at. Brock is arguably one of the top ten fighters on Earth.”
“I understand marketing. I understand licensing. I understand the business side of our business. That comes from paying attention and wanting to do better, not just as an in-ring performer but as someone who loves the industry.”
“I like structure, and I like discipline and people doing the right thing.”
“Back in the old days, guys used to wreck hotel rooms and trash rental cars and all that dumb stuff. When I came into wrestling, they were like, ‘We’re out of cars. You’re one of those wrestlers. No, we’re not renting a car to you.’ It was like that. We had to re-create, re-establish the trust.”
“I want to go out in dramatic fashion. Win, lose, or draw, I want to have a retirement match, and a lot of guys have done it.”
“Daniel Bryan is one of my favorite wrestlers – as a talent, as an entertainer, the way our fans love and revere him. There’s never been a match he and I have been in where it was bad.”
“I like to play around a lot. I would always flirt with the girls in the office and everybody just hanging around, sweet talk.”
“Damien Sandow, he’s a good entertainer. He keeps your attention.”
“I’m kind of glib.”
“Me and Sheamus have a natural chemistry.”
“Oh, man. I think if anybody deserves to be inducted into the Hall of Pain, it’s Donald Trump.”
“I believe in freedom of speech. I believe people have the right to say whatever they want to say. As long as they’re ready to own what they say. Because there’s a price to pay when you say something that’s against the grain that is not correct.”
“When I do retire, you won’t see me in the ring, but I will be working in the back with the young guys.”
“When my mother bought me my first concrete weight set when I was 10, I was hooked. I was doing stuff with the weights that a kid shouldn’t have been doing.”
“I may be one of the very few people on earth that have won a championship in everything they’ve ever done.”
“I’m a Christian, and I forgive people. That’s the mature thing to do.”
“Oh, I was a big Tony Atlas fan. I think I tried to throw my first dropkick because of Tony – and almost broke my shoulder.”
“I have a good sense of humor. I’m not Martin Lawrence by any means. I’m a little too country to be Chris Rock. But I fancy myself as being somebody with a good sense of humor.”
“I wasn’t always 6′ 4” and 400 pounds.”
“John Cena has granted more wishes than anybody in history. He goes the extra mile.”
“I was an unusually big kid for my age and did not know how to express myself after being targeted as the odd one out. I thus landed myself in trouble for reacting aggressively. But with time, I succeeded as an athlete and people started respecting me.”
“Indian wrestlers definitely have a place in the industry.”
“It may be the swansong of my wrestling career, but definitely not the end of Mark Henry!”
“I hate drugs. I drank a beer once and threw up.”
“I didn’t know my own strength. I wasn’t a bully or anything, but I’d be out playing and end up hurting someone. So I had to sit out or play with older kids.”
“If you have a great woman, you don’t need family and friends.”
“I guess I’m a romantic. Call me rough and romantic. Girls like that.”
“I’ve always been a big guy. I weighed 220 pounds in the 5th grade.”
“A lot of athletes are stuck on themselves and don’t want to socialize and that kind of thing. When I see that, I hate it.”
“The only thing better than winning a gold medal is going to Heaven.”
“I’m not fat. There’s a difference between being big and being fat.”
“I had to decide whether I should try to play pro football after high school or try to pursue my powerlifting career.”
“When somebody says I can’t do something, it motivates me to do it.”
“I will be the most marketable of anybody to come through weightlifting ever. With my personality and my size, I mean, I can make people buy things, try what I say.”
“What I want to be is James Bond.”
“I was the first WWE developmental talent. When I moved to Connecticut to start training, I had no idea what wrestling was other than what I saw as a fan.”
“The Rock moved in with me at my apartment, and we trained together after that.”
“Wrestling went from being sometimes comical to very serious, and there was a lot of depth regarding the vastness in which people performed.”
“I’m blessed to be able to say that at every juncture in my career, I succeeded.”
“My brother and I loved to body-slam each other when we were kids. We tore up a lot of furniture.”
“I don’t want to be the second-strongest man in the United States or the second-strongest man in the world. They don’t get much attention. I definitely want to be No. 1.”
“There’s a lot to being a weightlifter. People think it’s all brute strength. But it takes strength, quickness, flexibility, and technique. And it can cause a lot of stress.”
“If it’s dead, I’ll eat it. If it’s alive, I’ll eat it, too. Jus put it in front of me and get out of the way.”
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