5 best Mark Henry matches in WWE
Mark Henry shocked the world when he appeared at AEW Double or Nothing. "The World's Strongest Man" was thought to be a WWE lifer, so when he emerged at Daily's Place, the crowd went unglued.
Mark Henry had quite a legendary career in WWE, and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018. Though he'd only held three championships during his twenty-five-year run with the company, Henry solidified himself as one of the greatest big men to ever lace up a pair of boots. To this day, when the topic of top "hoss matches" comes up, it's hard not to pick out some of his bouts with The Big Show or Sheamus during the beloved Hall of Pain run.
With Mark Henry joining AEW as an analyst, commentator, and a coach for the younger talent, we'd like to look back at the five best matches in Mark Henry's WWE career.
#5 Mark Henry vs Randy Orton- Night of Champions 2011
This list won't be entirely made up of Hall of Pain matches, but it is tough not to include the start of his World Heavyweight Championship title run. In this contest, Mark Henry, out of nowhere, became one of the most terrifying superstars in WWE history when he crushed Randy Orton at Night of Champions.
That's not to say Randy Orton didn't get any offense in. These two ended up having the best match of the night. In the opening moments of this bout, unlike most of the contests on this list, Orton had Henry's number. He took the fight to "The World's Strongest Man" and managed to escape several major moments of terror. Unfortunately, when you're facing someone like Mark Henry, all it takes is one heavy shot.
A big boot laid Orton out, and from then on it was all Henry. He hammered Orton with clubbing blows and crushed him with massive big body splashes. Orton had to slip out of his heavy moves, power slams, The World's Strongest Slam and more just to slide in a sleeper. Still, Henry always managed to power out and leave Orton worse for wear.
Near the end of the bout, Orton seemed poised for another title retention. But Henry played possum and took out Orton's right leg with a nasty kick to the knee. A healthy Orton already had enough trouble putting Mark Henry down. An injured one was easy pickings for the challenger.
With a World's Strongest Slam, Orton fell to Henry and the Hall of Pain. To this day, this victory remains of the best highlights of Henry's career.