Michael Jordan Blatantly Disrespected a WWE Legend and Almost Got Smacked Before Charles Barkley Stepped In

Michael Jordan will always be known as one of the hardest workers in NBA history. The man was relentless in his pursuit for greatness. The former Chicago Bulls legend won the NBA title six times and went 6-0 in the finals. 

Everyone knows Jordan was highly competitive and had an absolute killer mentality. He was always motivated and never backed down from a challenge. Even in retirement, he is the same. But for once, MJ had to apologize for his words, which disrespected the WWE legend, Mark Henry.

“Yep, got to meet the great Michael Jordan. — The way that he said it [who are you?] to me was very disrespectful, I thought, and I checked him about it. And he apologized. Hell, he invited me to his birthday party at the All-Star game. I went to his birthday party, said happy birthday and thanks for the invite, and had a good time,” Mark Henry recalled.

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Mark Henry addressed the incident once and said, “It didn’t matter [that I knew him]. It was the… You don’t walk up to Mark Henry and talk to me like I’m some kind of peon. I was somebody in the world. Maybe I didn’t make the money you made, people don’t know my name. I don’t sell a billion dollars in shoes. But I’m Mark Henry.”

“And if I wanted to snuff your lights out, I would do it in a heartbeat. Charles smoothed it over. [Michael] was like, ‘My bad, I didn’t want to come across like that.’ But he did. Of course, he smoothed it over and said he wasn’t trying to disrespect me… I put him in his place.”

Michael Jordan and Mark Henry almost got into it?

At the 1996 Olympics, the future WWE legend had friends in the NBA world. Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and David Robinson were friends of Mark Henry. When they went into the hotel and reached the lobby, Jordan met the guys and met Mark Henry for the first time. And the Bulls star knew everyone there except the American weightlifter.

So he did not meet and greet, but instead, he stayed like he always is and did not think that Henry was also a legend in his own field. MJ did not say, ‘Hey, how are you doing guys…?’ or something like that. It was, “Who are you?” And Mark Henry said, “Who the f**k are you?”

That was how MJ and Henry met one another. Charles Barkley could only react in one way and that was, “Ohhhhhh.” Things would have taken a turn without Charles Barkley’s “Ohhhhhh.”

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Jordan was not a part of that team that appeared in the 1996 Olympics, but he came to town to hang out with the other stars and watch the games. Henry had obviously earned the respect in his career that he was asking from someone even like Jordan. MJ understood the stature of Henry and actually apologized for his behavior. At the end of it all, Michael Jordan invited Mark Henry to his birthday. That rather dreadful introduction was a thing of the past.