Mark Jindrak enjoyed a career of almost two decades in professional wrestling but has barely been seen by fans since, until now.
The New Yorker cut a sizable figure during his WWE pomp, standing at 6ft 6 and weighing over 250 pounds.
Wrestling fans may best remember him for his time with what was Vince McMahon’s organisation, but he’d already starred in WCW at the tail end of the 1990s before making the jump when McMahon bought out his competition.
He spent time in OVW, WWE’s developmental territory of the day, before being handpicked and primed for major superstardom around 2003 with the star-studded Evolution group being put together.
The faction – comprising of Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque, Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Dave Bautista, wrestling as Batista – was one of the most dominant of what’s now known as the Ruthless Aggression Era. Flair and Levesque were already household names, with Orton and Bautista going on to become megastars in their own right years later, the latter transitioning into Hollywood fame.
Yet the course of history for the group could have ended up running so differently had initial plans come to fruition – Jindrak was earmarked for a role with the group in what would have undoubtedly been his major break.
Sadly for him and despite being suited and booted in an Evolution photoshoot that never saw the light of day the time, the plans were scrapped. The reasons behind the call to shelve Jindrak have never been outlined with clarity, but, years later, the man himself spoke about receiving the devastating news from then chief McMahon.
“My worst fear came true when we were at Madison Square Garden [for] Raw and Vince McMahon called me into his office,” Jindrak told WWE’s Ruthless Aggression documentary.
“He said: ‘I think at this time it might be a better move not putting you in that group, but we think we’re going to put you with Garrison Cade in a tag team.”
Jindrak was close to Orton at the time, The Viper echoing as much in the 2020 documentary in saying:
“He was my best friend at that point in my career. We spent a lot of time together and to see him upset about that, and anybody would be upset… that’s a s*** thing to go through.”
Jindrak nonetheless pushed through, pairing up with Cade and enjoying moderate success as a tag team, featuring in a high-profile match at WrestleMania 20 in 2024.
He ventured out into singles wrestling not long after, aligning with legend Kurt Angle and later challenging unsuccessfully for the United States title.
Come 2005, he was released by WWE and branched out to wrestle in Japan and Mexico over the ensuring decade, finally hanging up his tights in 2018.
Two decades after his biggest run in the US, could a return be on the cards? Jindrak, now 47, has said on social media he’s been inspired into a return after being taken by the Netflix wrestling series Heels.
A post on X was accompanied by a photo of the star, still clearly in phenomenal condition. In it, Jindrak tagged WWE and AEW, writing: “Mark ‘Benjamin Button’ Jindrak. I’ve been watching Heels on Netflix and I’m inspired to try and wrestle back in USA again.”
Fans were wowed by the grappler’s appearance, one urging: “Come on back Jindrak. Cool to hear that #Heels inspired you.”
Another added: “Brother you’re in better shape than ever. Go get em pal,” while a third chimed in: “This is awesome news!! You look great!”
A WWE comeback featuring in any wrestling return may seem a lofty ambition, but Jindrak himself holds no grudges against Levesque, who now effectively runs the on-screen product there, for any call to McMahon to pull him from Evolution.
He added: “Triple H, I think, was the final guy who said: ‘he’s out.’
“I can honestly say he was right, but whoever made the decision to take me out of it was correct in doing so.
“It was tough to handle, tough to grasp. What could have been a multi-million dollar position turned into having a mediocre run in WWE.”
What the future holds for Jindrak remains to be seen, but it’s clearly hard not to wonder what might have been.
