Vince McMahon Rib Started Mark Henry ‘Hall Of Pain’ Gimmick

WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry has revealed how his ‘Hall of Pain’ gimmick actually came about following a rib pulled on him by Vince McMahon.

Henry was the most recent guest on Stone Cold Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions on the WWE Network, during which he explained how the gimmick that led him to the WWE World Championship was born.

He said (transcription credit: Wrestling Inc):

“Pretty much the whole ‘Hall of Pain’ era started with a rib. You go back to the beginning of my wrestling career, Vince [McMahon] ribbed me. He took me out into the ring and said I was going to have a match against Sin Cara. I’m standing there in the ring, nobody comes out. I go to the referee — who was Scott Armstrong — I said, ‘Scott. What’s going on, man? Where’s he at?’ and he’s like, ‘They are re-wrapping his knee, I think, that’s what they told me. They’re re-wrapping his knee.’ Now I’m pissed at Sin Cara, and if he came out, I was going to hurt him because I felt like this is disrespecting the business.

“Now I’m pissed. I jump through the ropes. I come to the back and it’s a ghost town! Nobody’s there, and I just start destroying it, tearing s**t down, pulling the lights down, and punching the walls. Just — Darth Vader s—. I wanted everything to melt. And I go down the hallways and I kick Vince’s door open and he’s gone.

“Started calling Vince, ‘Man, I quit, this is the last time. Nobody ribs me, I’m a grown ass man.’ … Vince calls, ‘Man, why did you get so bent out of shape about that, we just playing around.’ I was like, ‘Man, I don’t deserve that. I love this business and I respect you, and I feel like I opened myself up for you to disrespect me. Obviously, you don’t respect me and you damn sure don’t fear me, so we don’t need to talk no more.’ He was like, ‘Listen, I’m sorry.’ He was really remorseful and sorry.”

Vince McMahon actually then showed Henry the footage of all the carnage he’d caused on his rampage, and told him that if he was able to do that on TV, there was money to be made.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

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• Vince McMahon
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