WWE Tenure: 17+ years Fresh off of his competition in the 1996 Olympics, Mark Henry signed an incredible 10 year contract with WWE. This is before he even wrestled a single match. For that first decade, Vince McMahon may have had some serious second thoughts. Henry spent his first couple years as a midcard comedy act, and then was sent down to developmental for a considerable amount of time to improve his in-ring skills. After a relatively short return, he missed an entire year due to injury in 2004. When he did come back, WWE began to take him more seriously. He finally started picking up some momentum as an act. He faced off against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 22, and a few years later (and after a couple of failed babyface runs) he captured the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011. It took 15 years for him to reach that point. If you added up every injury Henry has sustained over his career, he probably would be leapfrogged by many talent in tenure. He's actually competed in over 150 less televised matches than Randy Orton, despite Orrton debuting five years after him. While Henry has been a great talent and ambassador for WWE, don't expect him to still be competing a few years from now.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
