Mark Henry is NOT WSM!

[Nathan Say]

I saw him struggle to just bend a frying pan in half, the same kind of frying pan Dennis Rogers rolled into a cigar with one hand. Then he bent a metal bar just in half that Tom Black or some other bender could have laced his shoes with. I know the WWF is just calling Mark Henry WSM to get people to watch, but it bugs me for some reason that they're doing it & totally ignoring the guys who could make him look like a butthead.  

[Guest RobbyTooSlobby]

Hey man don't let it bother you... it's all marketing.  Besides everyone knows that just being able to do ONE thing better in strength feats doesn't make you the strongest in ALL events.

If I could do frying pan bending better than someone who can bench more than me which of us is stronger?  It seems a pointless argument..but i do see your point about the WWF's claims...like i said...marketing.

[Roark]

Nathan,

'laced his shoes with'- wonderful line. May I steal it?

[terminator]

WWF claims notwithstanding, Mark Henry may have one of the most legitimate claims to the title of "World's Strongest Man" (not the trademarked WSM name, just the title).  His combined Powerlifting and Olympic numbers are seriously impressive, plus he's got some incredible functional strength to boot (just ask Richard Sorin or anyone else who knows him).  Take the hype for what it is....WWF publicity.  

I hear he may be at the AOBS dinner.....why don't you come down and inform him he's not the World's Strongest Man?  Maybe a funny new term would be coined.... "the Human shoelace".

[Guest baldy]

or maybe even a new event, like "smacktalker for height".

[terminator]

Nice one Tim, Mr. Henry is one of the few people who can throw a normal sized human and still call it "Dwarf tossing"

[Roark]

Did anyone catch the date when Dennis Rogers cleaned

and jerked the Apollon wheels replica?

[3Crusher]

Roark,

Dennis Rogers did that?  That's over double bodyweight.

[Guest woody36]

Do i detect a note of sarcasm Joe

[Roark]

oops, I was kidding, to illustrate the point that

different men have different specialties, and just

because Dennis is fantastic in hand strength does

not mean he should be considered the WSM anymore

than because Henry won at the Arnold, he should be.

The title Henry won was never advertised as World's

anything, but as The Arnold Strongman competition.

Dennis is a wonder, and so is Mark, but they are

apples and oranges.

Sorry for the mislead.

[Nathan Say]

Henry hasn't done any of the things that he'd have to do to be WSM, he only did well in a contest rigged in his favour that's why I say he isn't WSM.

[supersqueeze]

Nathan - I'm curious what you would have someone do to prove/demonstrate, WITHOUT AMBIGUITY, they are the WSM and that such a claim has meaning?

-mike

[paul valpreda]

Mark Henry is one strong dude. I think the one to be upset with is Vince McMahon. I'm sure Vince is the one pushing the "World's Strongest Man" title on Mark. I can't stand the WWF and all of it's crap. I apologize if I offended any of you professional wrestling fans out there.

[mobsterone]

I'm looking but I can't see any reference to grip here... This sounds like the wsm newsgroup.

[Roark]

Henry cleaned and jerked the Apollon wheels replica

three separate times.

Whatever else may be said, he is only the fifth

man in history to have cleaned and jerked the wheels.

The contest was designed, as David Webster explains

in the new issue of Muscle Mob as "...a PURE STRENGTH

competition for the World's Strongest Men." (though the

title was The Arnold Classic Strongman Competition)

Webster continues "This emphasised all round bodily

power and minimised muscular endurance and cario-

vascular effort."

Is that rigging? Or simply setting terms? Mark may have had

more of a head's up about the events than the other

competitors, and therefore had more chance to train.

Muscle Mob has a good coverage of the event. I have not

talked to Steve about this but I suspect he is willing to sell single copies as advertized. contact him at musclemob@binternet.com regarding the April 2002 issue.

Webster says that the farmer's walk was 'the most awesome 'Walk' I have ever seen', and I suspect he has

seen and been present at more of them than anybody on

earth. Don't dismiss Mark offhand.

[Guest woody36]

Why was it rigged in his favour?truth is all the events

were similar to those in WSM.

The point is,that on the day he won! and not against a

field of has-beens,but against veteran strongmen used to

the variety of events on offer.

Henry isn't a veteran of any strongman competitions,and

it doesn't matter diddly squat whether he had prior notice

of the events,if the others were stronger they would have

beaten him period!

[paul valpreda]

Henry needed a very strong grip to lift those Apollon wheels over his head. Why would this subject be out of place here?

[Nathan Say]

As far as I know, a guy has to do one of two things to be WSM: win the WSM contest, or win the superheavy class at the olympic games. Henry didn't even finish in the top 10 in Atlanta, he wouldn't have even been able to compete if countries like Russia were only allowed to enter 2 athletes. He hasn't entered a WSM contest & even if he did, Girard, Pfister, Karlsen & the rest would humiliate him. That's why he hasn't entered one, because he'd lose & couldn't be billed as WSM. Not that he isn't really strong, he's just not the worlds strongest man. He's done some huge lifts, but he's easily the most overrated strong guy right now. He's friends with the Arnold strongman promoter & it wouldn't suprprise me if he'd known about all the events long before the others. Too bad Pfister was getting over the flu & had a contest a week earlier, then we would have seen some real lifting at the Arnold. Ever hear the phrase 'jack of all trades, master of none'? That fits Mark Henry to a tea. Strong all over, but he's not the best at one thing.

[supersqueeze]

I think you may have "shot yourself in the foot", Nathan. Being the best at one thing does not make you the WSM, being a jack of all trades may.

[Guest woody36]

Nathan,

          The guys you just mentioned were all in the contest,

           so why did he win? did they all have colds?

He won a strongman contest (note i said contest) fair and

square,against some of the "BEST"athletes in the world,

and as far as i can remember he is the only one who isn't

a veteran of any strongmen contests,all the others are.

Put another way, how can Karlson claim to be strongest man

if he can't beat everybody in the world,no matter which

competition he's performing in?

The title of WSM means jack sh*t,because nowadays it

relies mainly on a combination of stamina and strength,

and not as the name implies who is the Strongest.

[Nathan Say]

I don't care what you guys say.   Henry still isn't WSM.

[Sybersnott]

Oh brother!!  This topic has me rolling on the floor!!!     :hehe

Mark Henry is a PERFORMER - yes, he's very strong - yes, he's done feats of strength - yes, he was an Olympic weightlifter in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games (where he came in DEAD LAST in a field of 16).  

I met Mark in person at the AOBS.  The guy is so huge, he could squash me flat like I was a pesky housefly.  So what??

But to say that Mark Henry is "The World's Strongest Man" would be like saying Sybersnott has "The World's Stongest Grip".  Laughable!  I've got a good grip, but compare me to the likes of Sorin, Horne, Kinney, Brookfield, etc. would be comical.  Likewise for Henry.  Mark is very strong, but he is not (nor will he ever be) considered "The World's Strongest Man".  And remember also what that judge told Kazmaier:  "The title is merely descriptive, and does not carry a secondary meaning".

[Guest Harlan Jacobs]

Mark is a very strong lifter. Period. He does not have the speed,endurance,or heart for that matter to compete in strongman compititions. There is no way he could compete with todays strongmen in the events that make up a strongman competition.I know, He did at the Arnold. Most of those events where for the people watching. Oh yea, It was not 100 degrees like it is in the summer either.There where no speed events.Just events where you stand and lift. I would almost pay his entry to a national qualifer just to see him quit after 2 events. In a compitition that ment somthing, There is no way he could beat Phister,Schoonveld,Perry,Gillingham or many of the other national ranked guys. He could not beat 245 lb Chad Coy !   On the other hand, None of these guys could compete with him in clean and jerk, Or snatch. It's just not the same thing.

[Guest]

One may say with certitude that Mark Henry is not the

"World's Strongest Man" since he has never won that

particular competition with that particular title.  However

one may say with personal conviction that Mark Henry

is the world's strongest man if he meets your own personal

criteria.  But, choosing that specific criteria is not an easy

task.

One could choose a single lift - but which lift?  The squat?

The deadlift?  The backlift?  Its not an easy decision.  But

let's choose one for the sake of argument:  the squat.

Once a particular lift is chosen it must be defined.  What

form must be used?  How deep must one squat?  A full

squat - why?  Lifter A may squat more the Lifter B in

a full squat, but Lifter B may squat more than lifter A

in a parallel squat - who is the strongest? I don't know.

One could choose multiple lifts and each lift would require

its own rules.  Rules that bias the competition in favor

of some at the expense of others.  

One could choose multiple lifts with multiple rules and

award a medal to each subcategory:

    Full Squat

    Parallel Squat

    Quarlter Squat

    1/16 Squat

    Knee Flex

    Most Weight Before Legs Snap

Of course this sort of competition would spread the field

too thin with many people having a claim on a world

title.

The importance of the WSM is not that it crowns the

undisputed world's strongest man, but that it gathers

the best strongmen in the world and gives them a

chance to compete on a world stage instead of carnivals

and freakshows.

So, Mark Henry's claim to be the world's strongest man

is unprovable and a bit silly.  But so is getting bent

out of shape because he makes that claim.  It's

equally impossible to prove he's not (you can't prove

a negative).

[Roark]

raday,

On target!

In the old days, more difficult than the contest itself

was getting the contestants to agree on which lifts

to include in the contest. Each man, of course, choosing

his strong events for inclusion.

Later, when lifting organizations determined which lifts

would be included, obviously men strong in those events

won.

WSM does not yet have a standard set of lifts, but frankly

that very fact is what appeals to me even though it opens

debate.

Years ago Paul Anderson NumberOneFan asked me:

'Don't you think Paul was the strongest man in the world?"

"In which lift?", I asked.

"In ANY lift", he replied, revealing he was wearing more blinders than the field at the Kentucky Derby starting gate.