AUSTIN, Texas — This Wednesday night, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) will continue its Texas tour with a visit to the HEB Center in Cedar Park, fresh from a very successful date at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio. A disruptor in the wrestling space, AEW is making waves with weekly shows on TNT and TBS, and by acquiring a mix of talent that combines some of the great names on the indie wrestling scene, like the Young Bucks and current World Champion Adam “Hangman” Page, and well-known wrestling stars with name recognition across several generations, from CM Punk to Sting to Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard.

Another such name is professional wrestling Hall of Famer and Austin native Mark Henry, who has been with the company for the past year. For Henry, AEW’s return trip to the Austin area is just one of the many reasons to be excited about the promotion’s growth.

“I’m always excited about coming back to Austin,” Henry said. “The crowd here is as hot as it is anywhere. I look forward to being in a bigger arena one day. It’s cool to get 8,000, what the Cedar Park center holds, but it would be really really cool to fill up the new stadium, so I’m looking forward to that.”

Noting the difference between the last show in Austin and this upcoming one, Henry says, “Everywhere we’ve done somewhere twice, it’s sold out the second time. Because the first time, the product does such a good job of letting people know what we’re about, that they have to come, and they always tell somebody.”

So, what is the difference between AEW’s product and some of the wrestling we’ve seen before? Henry chalks it up to a loose and fun atmosphere.

“Pro wrestling is gonna be pro wrestling, but a couple of things that could be different is the energy of the crowd,” he said. “There’s rules that govern everybody and everything, but we want a loose, happy, partying type environment, and that’s allowed when you buy a ticket for an AEW show. “

But the fans aren’t the only ones encouraged to have a good time.

“Also, it’s a competition between the talent,” Henry noted. “People want to go above and beyond to entertain you, and every day is the Super Bowl. Every day is the day you get to try and make a difference, and bring attention to your skill set, and make people want to be a fan of yours.”

And that fandom is apparently working, as AEW is not only selling out live shows but also winning some of the key demographics on the television side.

“What it is is AEW is consistently happy with saying that we’re going to put the best action on that you can see on television,” said Henry. “That is exactly what AEW is accomplishing. The ratings don’t lie. You check the key demographics…we are consistently number one, and that is where the tire meets the road. There’s a show here in Austin that I love to listen to called ‘Ball Don’t Lie,’ and it’s the same way with what we’re doing. The results don’t lie. You tune into an AEW show, and you see why we’re first.”

This, of course, isn’t the first time there’s been a disruptive force in the world of professional wrestling. From Ted Turner’s founding of WCW in the late 1980s, to promotions like New Japan Pro Wrestling, Impact!, and Ring of Honor, which AEW owner Tony Khan just purchased, there have been challengers to the throne for decades.

Henry says: “You know, about every fifteen years, wrestling has a turnover, and we’re at the cusp of that turnover in pro wrestling. Any brand, any genre around the world, it just happens that way. I’ve been a part of it once before, and I was on the end of the first one. This is my third decade of wrestling, and around the second real turnover, and approaching a third in three years, and I think, in three years, there will be no competition. AEW will be the pinnacle of the industry.”

As for what caused him to want to get involved with AEW, Henry said, “I love the fact that everybody is competing with trying to make sure that them as an individual… get your fandom. They’re trying to win your fandom every night. I love the fact that this renaissance era of wrestling I just happen to have a spot in again. You gotta be able to evolve, and I wanted to be more on the executive side, rather than the talent side. I got my wish. It’s going really, really well, and somewhere along the line, I started announcing, so now I’m back on television again, so it’s awesome.”

These days, the wrestler and former World’s Strongest Man has evolved, as well. No longer working in the ring nightly, Henry has turned his attention to being involved with the running of the company.

“I help establish the educational programming and community involvement, the vision of the company,” he said, describing his role. “I work as a coach, as a mentor. Now I’m announcing, doing backstage interviews. There’s a lot that comes with it. AEW’s not the company where everybody has just one assumed role. It’s a run it by committee. If there’s something that needs to be done…If there’s chairs that need to be set up, people will set them up, and they’re not going to ask, ‘hey, what’s your role?’ Everybody’s just going to go and do it. We wanna make a good impression, and sometimes, you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet, and that’s what we’re all doing.”

The promotion, as with the rest of the professional wrestling world, is loaded with talent from Texas, home of such wrestling notables as Dustin Rhodes, The Undertaker and Henry himself. Asked why Texans make such good wrestlers, Henry theorizes, “Ricky Starks, Thunder Rosa, Abadon… I mean Texas has always been at the epicenter of pro wrestling. From the Von Erichs to now, and even before then, with Jose Lothario, and you go to 'Cowboy' Bill Watts, and the list goes on. I mean, wrestling in Texas is as American as apple pie and football, so why wouldn’t you have a great tradition, and a great young generation with the history that we’ve had?”

All history aside, Henry is as excited as anyone else to see what will happen at the HEB Center on Wednesday.

“Well, I’m going to tell you right now. Every week, it seems like there’s a surprise, and Tony Khan has become a man of trying to make sure that that’s something that continues, and the talent… there’s so many matches that I’m looking forward to seeing. I want to see what’s going to happen… Thunder Rosa became a world champion last week in San Antonio, and now I want to see what’s going on this week, what Britt Baker brings to the table… see how they approach that.”

He’s so confident in the show, he offers this guarantee.

“I don’t even have to tell you that you’re going to have a good time. You just do it and hit me back if you need to have your money returned!” he said.