10 Things We Learned From Mark Henry's WWE Network Doc
5. Being Demoted To OVW Made Him Realise How Little He Knew
Back to the wrestling side of things, and one seriously disheartening portion of Mark's career.
In 2000, he was sent down to OVW by WWF management. The goal was simple: improve his conditioning and become a better in-ring worker. To his credit, Henry concedes that he'd also been developing a bit of an ego in 1999-2000, and he definitely needed taking down a peg or two.
This represented a cross roads in his career, and it helped Mark realise just how far he had to go before he'd be a sustainable act on the main roster. Some promo footage (including one with a bemused Jim Cornette) is shown. Just like the earlier training montage, it shows that Henry was rough around the edges.
He'd develop some promo skills eventually, but that took years. During his unwanted developmental run in OVW, Mark had fire in his words without clear direction, and it's amazing to see someone who'd been signed to such a huge deal bumble their way through basic interviews.