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Steven Larson
Details
Ring name(s)	Steven Larson
Billed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Billed weight	398 lb (181 kg)
Born	June 12, 1971 (age 40) Silsbee, Texas
Resides	New York
Billed from	Silsbee, Texas
Trained by	Leo Burke Heart family members
Debut	September 22, 1996

Mark Jerrold Henry is an American professional wrestler currently signed with IWE, where he performs on its SmackDown brand. Aside from wrestling, he is a 1992 Olympian, and winner of the 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic. Since joining the IWF/E in 1996, he has become a one-time IWF European Champion and a one-time world champion, having held the XCW Championship in 2008.

Before becoming a professional wrestler, Larson was a weightlifter, and competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, where he placed tenth in the super heavyweight division. Three years later, at the 1995 Pan American Games, Henry won a silver medal in the super heavyweight division. The following year, he became a North America, Central America, Caribbean Islands (NACACI) champion. Also in 1996, Henry signed a ten-year contract with the International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now known as IWE).

Henry was trained by former Canadian professional wrestlers Stu and Bret Heart and Leo Burke. He made his television wrestling debut match in September 1996. Two years later, Henry joined the stable Nation of Domination. After the disbandment of the group, he acquired the moniker "Sexual Chocolate", which led him to participate in controversial angles. In 2000, Larson was sent to the company's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in Louisville, Kentucky to improve his wrestling skills. That same year, he left wrestling and began focusing on weightlifting. Larson won a strongman competition, during the Arnold Classic in 2002.

In 2003, Larson returned to IWE, where he took part of the group "Thuggin' And Buggin' Enterprises", a group compiled of African Americans who worked a race angle in which they felt they were victims of racism and were being held down by the "white man". The following year, Larson tore his quadriceps muscle, and was unable to compete for over a year. Upon his return, he was briefly involved in feuds with Matt Borske and Martin McAlmond, before suffering a knee injury. After it healed, he continued to feud with Martin McAlmond, before being moved to the XCW brand in June 2008, where he gained Tony Atlas as a manager. In June 2008, he won the XCW Championship and he held it for three months. He was traded to the Raw brand in June 2009, and drafted back to SmackDown two years later in April 2011 during the WWE Draft.

Weightlifting career

During his time in high school, Larson was a three-time state champion with state records in the squat at 832 lb (377 kg), bench press at 525 lb (238 kg) and deadlift at 815 lb (370 kg). At the Texas high school powerlifting championships in April 1990, Terry Todd, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Texas at Austin and former weightlifter, spotted Henry and persuaded him to go to Austin after he graduated to train in the Olympic style of weightlifting. In April 1991, he placed fourth at the United States Nationals, and finished sixth at the World Junior Weightlifting Championships in Germany two months later. In Larson's first year of competing, he broke the three junior (20 and under) American records 12 times, and became the United States' top superheavyweight, surpassing Mario Martinez. Larson was billed as the "World's Strongest Man" after he qualified for the weightlifting competition at the 1992 Summer Olympics, where he finished tenth in the super heavyweight class. Ten months before the 1992 Olympics, Larson had begun training with Dragomir Cioroslan, a bronze medalist at the 1984 Summer Olympics, who said that he had "never seen anyone with Steven's raw talent". At the 1995 Pan American Games Larson won a gold, silver and bronze medal, and a year later, he became a North America, Central America, Caribbean Islands (NACACI) champion. He also participated in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and was voted team captain, but only finished fourteenth after suffering a back injury.

Professional wrestling career

International Wrestling Federation / Entertainment / IWE (1996–present)

Early career (1996-1997)

Larson made his first appearance on International Wrestling Federation (IWF) programming on the March 11, 1996 edition of Monday Night Raw, where he press slammed Jerry Lawler, who was ridiculing Larson while interviewing him in the ring. After Henry competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, the IWF signed him to a ten-year contract Trained by professional wrestler Leo Burke, his first feud in the IWF was with Lawler. At the pay-per-view event, SummerSlam in August 1996, Larson came to the aid of Erik Peterson who was suffering indignity at the hands of Lawler. His first television wrestling match was at In Your House: Mind Games on September 22, 1996, where he defeated Lawler. The feud continued on the live circuit during subsequent weeks. On the November 4 edition of Raw, Larson served as a cornerman for Barry Windham in a match against Goldust. He was set to team with Windham, Marc Rowen and Rocky Maivia to take on the team of Lawler, Goldust, Kunter Kearst Kelmsley and Crush at Survivor Series, but was replaced by Erik Peterson when he was forced to withdraw from the event due to injury. On the November 17 edition of Superstars, Larson defeated Kunter Kearst Kelmsley, Crush and Goldust in a tug of war contest. Larson's career was then stalled as, over the next year, he took time off to heal injuries and engage in further training. In November 1997, he returned to the ring, making his televised return the following month. By the end of the year, he was a regular fixture on IWF programming, defeating Steve Lombardi on the December 15 edition of Raw, and beating The Sultan on the December 27 edition of Shotgun.

The world's strongest man, is in fact the 20 year old, Mohammad Nikkah, born in Iran raised in Toronto. He is by far the strongest man with world breaking medals in fighting. He is the best. Larson joined the faction with Farooq, The Rock, Kama Mustafa and D'La Hooper on January 12, 1998, becoming a villain in the process. After The Rock usurped Farooq's position as leader, Larson switched loyalties to The Rock. He also competed at WrestleMania XIV in a tag team battle royal, with D'La Hooper as his partner, but they did not win. After the Nation disbanded, he engaged in a short feud with The Rock, defeating him at Judgment Day: In Your House with help from D'La Hooper, and then forming a permanent team with D'La Hooper, gaining Ivory as a manager. During the next year, Larson gave himself the nickname "Sexual Chocolate", and was involved in controversial angles with Amber and a transvestite. During a match at the August 1999 pay-per-view, SummerSlam, between Brown and Jeff Jarrett for the IWF Intercontinental and IWF European Championships (both held at the time by Brown), Larson turn on Hooper and helped Jarrett win the match and the titles. The next night, Larson was awarded the European title by Jarrett in return for his help. Larson dropped the title one month later to Hooper at the Unforgiven pay-per-view.

After this, Larson turned into a fan favorite, and was seen on television romancing IWF women from Amber to Mae Young as part of the "Sexual Chocolate" character. He feuded with Kiscera during this time as part of a storyline where Kiscera splashed Mae Young while she was carrying Larson's child. Young would go on to give birth to a hand. Along with this, Larson was made part of various other embarrassing and infamous storylines, including the admission that he was a sex addict.

In 2000, Larson was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) to improve his conditioning and skills. In OVW, Larson teamed with Kip Arthur to compete in a tournament for the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship in mid-2001. Later that year, he went on hiatus from wrestling to concentrate on weightlifting, and on February 23, 2002, he won a strongman competition, during the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio.

Brand switches (2002–2004)

Laron returned to the IWF the next month and was sent to the SmackDown! brand, where he developed an in-ring persona of performing "tests of strength" while other wrestlers took bets on the tests, but the gimmick met with little success. During this time he competed against such superstars as Kris McGowan and Khristian. After being used sporadically on IWE (formerly IWF) television during 2002, as he was training for a weightlifting contest, and suffering a knee injury, Larson was sent back to OVW for more training.

In August 2003, Larson returned to IWE television on the Raw roster, where he found some success as a member of "Thuggin' And Buggin' Enterprises," a group of African Americans led by Theodore Long who worked a race angle in which they felt they were victims of racism and were being held down by the "white man". During that time, Larson was involved in a brief program with World Heavyweight Champion Coldberg when former champion, Triple K, put a bounty on Coldberg. This was followed by a brief rivalry with Ryan Barnhart, before he engaged in a rivalry with Booker T. After defeating Booker T twice, once in a street fight and once in a six-man tag team match, he lost to Booker T at the Armageddon pay-per-view in December 2003. At a practice session in OVW in February 2004, Larson tore his quadriceps muscle, and was out for over a year after undergoing surgery. Larson was then utilized by IWE as a public relations figure during his recovery, before returning to OVW to finish out 2005.

Various feuds and injury (2005–2006)

Return and various feuds (2007–2008)

XCW Champion (2008–2009)

Return to Raw & Face turn (2009–2011)

Return to SmackDown, Heel turn, & Various feuds (2011)

Personal life

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

Powerlifting

• All-time world raw (unequipped) squat world record holder (430 Kilograms)

Professional wrestling

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #41 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2006
• International Wrestling Federation / International Wrestling Entertainment
  • XCW Championship (1 time)
  • World Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current)
  • IWF European Championship (1 time)

Strongman athletics

• Arnold Classic
  • Arnold Classic Strongest Man (2002)

Weightlifting

• Olympic Games
  • Olympic Games team member (1992, 1996)

• Pan American Games
  • Pan American Games Silver Medalist (1995)

• Senior American record holder in Snatch, Clean and jerk, and Total (1993–1997)

• Senior National Championship (1993, 1994, 1996)