"Greatest and the worst moment in my career" – AEW star on facing The Undertaker in WWE
The Undertaker won 21 WrestleMania matches in a row before finally losing at the event against Brock Lesnar in 2014. Mark Henry, The Deadman's WrestleMania 22 victim, recently opened up about their memorable encounter.
In 2006, The Undertaker defeated Henry in a Casket match to extend his WrestleMania record to 14 wins and no defeats. The nine-minute bout ended with the 2022 WWE Hall of Famer pushing his opponent into a casket after hitting him with a Tombstone Piledriver.
On Chris Van Vliet's Insight podcast, Henry recalled how he had mixed feelings about going one-on-one with the WWE icon:
"I tell people all the time that the greatest and the worst moment in my career happened the same night. Having a co-main event at WrestleMania with The Undertaker and being put in a coffin and having to be in there for like 16 minutes."
4/2/2006
The Undertaker defeated Mark Henry in a Casket Match at #Wrestlemania XXII from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois
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In 2019, WWE creative team member Bruce Prichard revealed that Henry was originally supposed to win at WrestleMania 22. According to Prichard, WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon changed his mind after getting "cold feet."
What Mark Henry disliked about facing The Undertaker
Even in defeat, many WWE Superstars felt honored to share the ring with someone of The Deadman's caliber at WrestleMania.
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In Mark Henry's case, he was unable to fully enjoy the experience due to the match stipulation. He weighed around 400 pounds at the time, causing him to feel claustrophobic inside the casket:
"It [the casket] had to be at least 84 [inches in diameter] maybe to be comfortable in there," Henry said. "And when I say comfortable, there's no such thing as comfortable in a coffin. I don't know if you're claustrophobic or not, but I am. And just to be in there for how long I was in there, it was really rough."
Henry worked for WWE between 1996 and 2021. The 2018 WWE Hall of Famer is now a behind-the-scenes coach in AEW.
Do you have any memories of the WrestleMania 22 match? Let us know in the comments section below.