Mark Henry has opened up about his famous 2013 retirement promo, revealing it started with his real plan to leave wrestling. In an interview with Isiah Madrigal, the Hall of Famer detailed the backstage decisions that shaped the segment and explained why it didn’t lead to a WWE Championship run.
The promo aired on Raw in June 2013. Wearing his now-iconic salmon jacket, Henry gave what looked like a heartfelt farewell speech. WWE Champion John Cena stood by to honor him—until Henry shocked the crowd by attacking him. The ambush set up a title match at Money in the Bank, where Cena ultimately retained.
Henry confirmed that his retirement talk was genuine. He was battling serious injuries and had already told WWE he wanted out. Vince McMahon then pitched turning the real retirement into a storyline.
“I really did wanna retire. And Vince McMahon talked me out of retirement,” Henry said. “He said, ‘Listen, you’ve been telling everybody that you’re gonna retire for almost a year, let’s just keep it going, you retire, and let it be a real retirement, I want you to really get into it,’ and that’s what happened. That was my real retirement speech.”
To keep the angle authentic, almost no one knew. Cena wasn’t told until it happened live, and Henry even kept it from his wife.
“I didn’t tell my wife. She was pretty mad,” Henry admitted. “She was pretty mad that I lied, and yeah, I had some real big-time apologizing to do. But I did it for the greater good of the story, and after the fact, she understood.”
As for why he never won the title, Henry pointed directly to his health. “A lot of people were mad at WWE because… I did not take the opportunity to win the title and run with it,” he said. “At that time, I was very injured.”
The promo remains one of the defining moments of Henry’s career—and Cena’s. Now, with Cena approaching the end of his own run, speculation is growing about his last opponent. On the NotSam Wrestling podcast, Jey Uso was floated as a strong candidate, given his elimination of Cena from the Royal Rumble, which could serve as a fitting final chapter while boosting Uso’s rise.
Where does Henry’s 2013 promo rank among modern wrestling’s most unforgettable moments? Share your thoughts in the comments, and keep following Wrestling Noticias for more coverage.