5 Best & 5 Worst Moments From WWE Raw's 3 Hour Era

6. BEST: Mark Henry Doesn't Retire

mark henry
WWE.com

It was one last bit of heavy lifting for the 'World's Strongest Man', but in doing so he created one of Monday Night Raw's finest ever segments.

On June 17th 2013, a dapper Henry came out to address the crowd following a John Cena promo, amidst rumours he was set to retire. Wearing a now-infamous salmon jacket, he delivered an impassioned speech talking about his chaotic journey through nearly two decades in WWE, even stopping to speak directly to his children to note that Daddy was finally 'coming home'.

It was a touching monologue that left the entire live crowd emotionally drained as they prepared to wave goodbye to a man that had become part of the furniture up to and including his remarkable run as World Heavyweight Champion in 2011.

John Cena had stuck around to pay special tribute to the tearful Henry by giving him his WWE Title belt to pose with. Applause and 'Thank You' chants rained down on the scene, at which point 'The World's Strongest Man' dumped Cena onto the canvas with a huge slam.

'You think this got easy?! I got a lot left in the tank!' screamed Henry towards the fallen Cena, delighted that his ruse had worked. He'd sealed a WWE Title match with the cruellest of facades.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett