Mark Henry, who earned the title of World’s Strongest Man in 2002, bodyslams an opponent in the ring. Credit: WWE

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In the world of professional wrestling, there's strong, and then there's Mark Henry.

At 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 412 pounds, Henry is known as the world's strongest man, and he will dare anyone to prove him wrong.

You don't have to take Henry's word for it. Just look at competitive powerlifting records, and Henry's name is right there — usually at the top of the list.

Henry holds the world records in the: raw dead-lift, at nearly 904 pounds; squat without a squat suit, at 948 pounds; and the all-time, drug-tested raw total, at 2,314.8 pounds.

Still not convinced? Consider that nobody in the history of international lifting has ever lifted as much as Henry in five competitive lifts: the snatch and the clean and jerk weightlifting, and the squat, bench press and dead-lift in powerlifting.

Henry will put that power on display when the WWE's Smackdown invades the BMO Harris Bradley Center at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Where does Henry get his power? Half, he said, comes from natural ability; the rest comes from a "won't stop" mentality.

"I've always been like that," Henry said. "When my mother bought me my first concrete weight set when I was 10, I was hooked. I was doing stuff with the weights that a kid shouldn't have been doing."

While Henry's strength is admired by fans and wrestlers alike, he was not always envied for his size. In fact, Henry was bullied in school.

"I was called everything ugly and black in the world," Henry said. "Man, those where some tough times. "They called me Fat Albert, Magilla Gorilla, black ape. It all hurt."

Henry was large for his age. By the time he was in fourth grade, he was 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighed 225 pounds. To compound matters, he said he had a quick temper, mostly because of the constant teasing.

It was his mother's love and his passion for sports that helped him to overcome his tormentors. First, he started playing basketball, then football, but it was weightlifting that helped him to gain a focus.

Through all the bullying, he held firm to his mother's advice on not trying to fight all his battles with his fists. She worried that, in Silsbee, Texas, most people would not try to fight a person with her son's size fairly, but instead resort to more deadly means.

Henry said that advice saved his life.

Henry has excelled at weightlifting and professional wrestling. He was a two-time Olympian in 1992 and 1996, and a silver, gold and bronze medal winner at the Pan American Games in 1995. He joined the WWE in 1996 — receiving a 10-year contract — and he has made the most of his opportunities holding the European, ECW and World Heavyweight titles.

Henry loves showing displays of power in the ring, from catching a 300-pounder attempting to take him down from the top rope to delivering his signature "World's Strongest Slam."

One of his biggest powerlifting moments came when he crushed the competition at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic in 2002. He set a world record by lifting the 365-pound Apollon's Axle overhead three times. At the time, only three men in the sport had been able to lift it once.

After winning the competition, he officially was crowned World's Strongest Man. He dedicated his victory to his mother, who lost her battle to cancer a year earlier.

Now 42, Henry said that when his WWE contract expires in two years, that he will "really" retire.

But you never know with Henry.

He first announced his retirement during a live broadcast of WWE's "Monday Night Raw" on June 18, 2013. He got in the ring. He cried. He placed his wrestling boots down and told the raucous crowd he was going to miss them. He thanked and complimented then-champion John Cena, who was in the ring. He even looked into the camera and told his wife and children that he was finally coming home.

And just when everyone bought in, he grabbed Cena up in his arms for the World's Strongest Slam.

The fake retirement set Twitter on fire and stunned many of WWE's entertainers as well. Former WWE superstar "Stone Cold" Steve Austin called the angle "tremendous."

"I loved it. Cena was the perfect guy to help (Henry) accomplish this task. I loved every second of it," he said.

Henry said the hardest part about the fake retirement was keeping it a secret. He said only he, Cena and WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon knew.

"When I do retire, you won't see me in the ring, but I will be working in the back with the young guys," he said.

Henry said he still has the responsibility of giving back to those who helped to pave the way for him, such as Tony Atlas, Ernie Ladd and Bobo Brazil.

Don't expect Henry to slow down, however. He has shown that, after 16 years in the business, he still has a lot left in the tank.

James E. Causey is a Journal Sentinel columnist and blogger.

Facebook: fb.me/jamescausey.12 Twitter: twitter.com/jecausey

IF YOU GO

What: WWE Smackdown

Where: BMO Harris Bradley Center

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Tickets: $15-$95, plus applicable fees; available at the Bradley Center box office and Ticketmaster outlets, including Ticketmaster.com and (800) 745-3000