The WWE could be losing another star by next year if Mark Henry does push through with his plans for retirement.
To those who may have caught up with that old ‘fake’ retirement bit that happened in 2013, well this time the said plans of the World’s Strongest Man are for real.
At 44-years-old Henry has already mentioned that he doesn’t have any plans of re-signing with the WWE and the his career will officially come to an end when the WWE hosts Wrestlemania 32 right in his hometown state of Texas.
Henry would have exited the WWE scene as early as 2013, revealing he had no plans of re-signing at that time. But for some reason, WWE CEO Vince McMahon was able to pull of something and Henry eventually signed a new contract.
This time, however, the scenario seems to be entirely different. Henry is not involved in any major storylines so it should be interesting to see if McMahon would repeat his magic in 2013 to keep Henry on the WWE roster despite scarce appearances.
"I've been trying to retire for the last eight years and the business won't allow me to. I'm at the point now to where I appreciate the crowd and I appreciate the locker room and all of the people that I work with and work for” says Henry in an interview with Digital Spy last June.
“But I'm getting to the point to where I'm getting too old for this stuff and I need to drift off into the sunset. That's where that came from."
Henry will celebrate his 20th year in the WWE come 2016 and at his age, a retirement (or at least a long break without having to worry about commitment from hereon) would make sense from the power lifter turned wrestler.
Assuming that Henry’s plans do materialize as he sees it, it remains to be seen if the WWE has any plans on the World’s Strongest Man.
He has been making cameo appearances, seemingly being called upon in minor to middle cards in WWE shows with no real indication that he will be getting a big push soon.
Come Wrestlemania 32 and with a full roster to compete with, Henry could probably end up as one of the participants for the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royale. Could he possibly rule that one and leave with the proper send-off?
Henry has had a colourful career in the WWE which includes seeing how it is to be champion not to mention going up against other future Hall of Famers. If he does hang it all up, could he be open to special appearances in the future?
Seeing how past wrestlers did that, the thought of it is highly likely.