Lakers Icon Kobe Bryant Compared To WWE’s Undertaker by Hall of Famer

News at week’s end revealed that Los Angeles Lakers icon, Kobe Bryant will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this fall.

Appearing on a weekly #WORDSWITHSCOOP Instagram Live Q&A, WWE Hall of Famer, Mark Henry chatted with me about a wide range of topics including the Undertaker‘s longevity and comparison to Kobe Bryant and more.

Below are notes from our Q&A:

Mark Henry on his wrestling Mount Rushmore:

“The Undertaker, The Rock, Steve Austin and Ric Flair. And which I bumped Andre off and Andre is the reason why I’m a wrestling fan. I say the reason why I left Andre off is because of the modern era of wrestling what Steve Austin and The Rock did with crossover as well as their in the ring work and their historical reference of what they did in pro wrestling. Andre exists OVER a Mount Rushmore. He was bigger than Mount Rushmore. Andre is not even – he left wrestler status. He left the earthly plane of pro wrestling and he’s like a spirit of it. You can’t mention wrestling without thinking Andre. So he’s bigger than wrestling.”

Mark Henry on Kobe Bryant comparison to the Undertaker and how difficult he is to wrestle the Undertaker:

“It is VERY difficult. And I tell people all the time. I have wrestled Ric Flair. I wrestled Shawn Michaels. Wrestled Triple H. and Vader and Stone Cold, The Rock, Ron Simmons. Like you go down the list of the top 50 greatest wrestlers and if they were ’95 and ’96 and now, I probably was in the ring with them in some capacity. Being in the ring with the Undertaker was completely DIFFERENT. I can stand 4 feet, 5 feet away from him and you can’t hear ANYTHING. It’s like a jet engine going on in your ear. And you can feel like – there was a time in the late 80’sand the early 90’s when everybody truck had the boom in it. Everybody had the woofers and the 6 by 9’s and the amps. When you’re in the ring with the Undertaker, it does your clothes just like that. You can feel it. It’s not even the sound. It’s that nervous energy. It’s electricity that’s produced and all you have to do is watch the crowd when Undertaker comes. Everybody stands up! And it’s like everybody’s focused on the slow walk to the ring and if you can’t get into it, then you need to turn the TV off and watch something else. Because that’s the most electrifying, entertaining, outstanding thing about pro wrestling that I’ve ever experienced.”

Mark Henry On almost beating the Undertaker’s win streak:

“It was close. And there was some conversation about me being the one to break the streak. And if they would’ve asked me, I would’ve been like hell no! I don’t want to carry that weight [laughs]…

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