Braun Strowman And Baron Corbin On How Mark Henry Impacted Their Careers
Mark Henry recently spoke with the WWE website about how he's working for WWE as a talent recruiter these days. It was noted that Henry has discovered and helped refine some of WWE's top young talents, including Braun Strowman, Bianca Belair and Apollo. Below are highlights from the interview:
Braun on his first conversation with Henry and how he wanted to live his dream of becoming world's strongest man first:
"The first time was probably in 2012 at World's Strongest Man. I'd been a huge fan of his for a long time and had met him a couple of times through my strongman endeavors over the years. To have him approach me and offer me a tryout with WWE was a dream come true."
"A lot if it was because I was really passionate about the strongman sport. I did a lot of things in a short amount of time that not many men were able to do. But I've always been a ham and a showman for crowds. I got to compete in front of a few thousand for strongman, so realizing that I could step over to WWE and have opportunities like I did at WrestleMania in Dallas to perform in front of 101,000 people — that was the big thing for me."
Baron Corbin on Henry helping him during his early WWE developmental days:
"He came in and thought I had something special. He told me I had a good look, the way I moved was good. He really helped mold me in those early days, which helped the evolution of who I am and what I do. When you have a guy of his caliber come to you and tell you they see something in you ? if that doesn't light a fire, nothing will."
Henry on paying it forward and seeing his recruits find success:
"I feel like I'm paying it forward. It feels good to be able to look at somebody and go, 'Man, you're me 22 years ago; you can do this!' I find chunks of coal that have a glisten to them. They get to Orlando and [the WWE Performance Center coaches] start chipping away and chipping away. Next thing you know, 'Mark, there's a diamond under there. We're going to polish it up.' They do all that work. I appreciate the whole developmental process ? coaching them, educating them and putting them out there to see if they can thrive."
"Every time I see Apollo, Braun or Bianca, Baron Corbin and other people I've helped foster, I gush. It gives a validation to my eye. I love it. There's nothing like it."