Getty Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Rob Pelinka discuss the upcoming Los Angeles Lakers' season.
WWE Hall of Famer, Mark Henry is not only the World Strongest Man, he’s also a great story teller.
Appearing on Instagram Live’s #WORDSWITHSCOOP, Henry shared his thoughts on The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar and Wrestlemania 36.
Also on Words With Scoop, Henry, a Texas native also weighed in on the coronavirus and the cancellation of the 2020 Summer Olympics, meeting Magic Johnson in 1992 and comparisons between the Big Show and Andre The Giant.
Check out my notes below:
Mark Henry shares feelings on the 2020 Summer Olympics being postponed this year due to coronavirus:
“You know what, I’m all for it man. I think the Olympics are really about the athletes. The systems that house the athletes, the Olympic Games, the World Championships you name it – is important. But the number factor is, who is the best athlete on the planet at that specific sport. And I just want all the athletes to go into it just like you are going to compete in the Olympics. On the day that you were supposed to compete, keep training. Go straight through it. Because you may not ever get that moment back and I think that you can’t rely on the Olympic Games being the ultimate competition. You have to compete against yourself and on that day, you should do it. And next year do it again. You gotta prep. You gotta “pre-Olympic” competition with yourself. It’s like you a have guaranteed redshirt.”
On talking with Magic Johnson on the plane ride to Barcelona in ‘92:
“In ’92 on the plane going to Barcelona, a man touches my shoulder and I look up and it’s Ervin Johnson. It’s Magic. I had competed in a celebrity Slam Dunk contest that Foot Locker ran and somebody told Ervin that I was on the plane and he came up to me and said, “Listen, hey man. I saw you in that Slam Dunk contest. How in the hell did you do that?”…we just had a conversation and I started crying. He was like, ‘whoa whoa whoa, what’s going on?’ I said, ‘I wanted to come and talk to you, but I was told not to. They said leave the Dream Team guys alone.’ And he said, “Aw man, that’s bullshit” like you, cool as Ervin is…I told him everything I got in life was because of you. My mother in 1980. That summer they came out with shoes called ‘Weapons’ and I wanted those shoes.”
Mark Henry on comparison between the Big Show and Andre the Giant:
“For what Andre did and what he went through in wrestling, I put him above all wrestlers. He’s above the Mt. Rushmore. He’s above the top ten list or your top three or whatever list that you can put together. I put him above it. As an entertainer and a guy that could do everything, the Big Show was limitless. He was the BEST big guy athlete that I’ve ever seen. Not only the wrestling but how he wrestled and how he traveled. You gotta understand Big Show was 7’1” and at one point close to about 500 pounds. And to see him overseas with no first class seats, I had a lot of respect for him. He suffered a lot just like Andre did. It’s very difficult to get on a little bus in Europe for 20 days and doing a show every night. And Big Show was a main event guy like I was. Even more so in certain eras, he would work those long matches and at the end of the show and get right back on that bus, 3-5 hour bus rides in Europe and got to the next town and did his thing again.”