Oct 17th, 2019

Oct 17th, 2019

The WWE know it and so should you; if there was ever a better time to be an Aussie and a wrestling fan, that time is now.

WWE Hall of famer and Olympic gold medallist, Mark Henry, also known as 'The World's Strongest Man,' has made it clear that Australian sport is on the 'radar' of WWE talent scouts.

Visiting Australia recently to promote the upcoming WWE live tour in October, Henry who currently works in talent development for the WWE, spoke exclusively to Wide World of Sports and made it clear there's more to Australia than just a country for athletes to come and perform in each year.

"It's only fitting that we pick sports like rugby, Australian rules and others to find big tough guys," Henry said.

Mark Henry is impressed with former NRL star Daniel Vidot (Getty)

"We go to the NFL and NBA combines looking for talent.

"Coming to Australia and finding rugby players is definitely top on our list."

With WWE talent scouts casting a careful eye on our home-grown talent, Henry commended the effort shown from former NRL star turned wrestler, Daniel Vidot.

Vidot who played over 100 games of first grade NRL, and who in recent times has been highly praised by the likes of Triple H, is a prime reason why the WWE watches over Australian sport.

"Daniel's doing really well down in WWE NXT," he said.

"I went to the WWE performance recently and one of the guys said, 'Hey you want to keep your eye out on him.'

"He's very athletic, he's a tough dude and he looks like he will hurt you. That's very important in our business, that toughness and being able to take it.

Mark Henry (Getty)

"A lot of people can give it, but a lot can't take it. He can do both."

If that's not enough to get Australians excited, Henry went on to give a big rap to Melbourne's own Buddy Murphy, an athlete who Henry's worked closely with, who last year became Australia's first male wrestler to win a championship on the main roster.

"Very recently I talked to Buddy about aesthetics, the way you look and the way people perceive you," he said.

"I'm a fan, so I'm going to voice my opinion to the people I like and he was very receptive.

"Some people have really big heads and don't want to listen, Buddy is not that guy. He was absorbing everything I said."

It's been a few years since Henry last did a WWE world tour, but if there's one thing he doesn't miss about competing night in and night out, it's the travel, especially outside of the United States.

With travel times taking a heavy toll, Henry recalled a time he was in no mood to wait and left with only one option as a parked car obstructed the take-off of a WWE tour bus.

Australian Tag-team crowned at Wrestling's biggest event

"The travel for a bigger athlete is by far the worst of wrestling," he said.

"When you're travelling in Europe, a lot of the streets are really narrow and we had two WWE tour busses parked back-to-back.

"Some ***hole decided they were going to back their car in and they cornered us and we were trapped.

"The WWE said we will just call another bus company and get onto another bus. I said 'no, I'm not waiting an hour for another bus.'

"I saw the way car was turned, I pulled the bumper up off the car and threw it on the curve. I went to the front of the car and started angling and turning it to where there was enough space for the bus to pull out."

"I'm angry, so my strength increases like the Hulk when I'm hungry."

WWE LIVE will return to Australia with events in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane commencing on October 21st. Details and tickets can be found at Ticketek.