Poor Mark Henry. He has spent so many years in the WWE and you would think he would have a long list of accomplishments. But sadly, Superstars with far less experience than Mark Henry have accomplished a lot more. Think about it…what is Mark Henry best known for? He had a Wrestlemania match with the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 22. That's a cool achievement and not that many superstars can say they were one of Taker's Wrestlemania victims. Too bad it was a mediocre match. I think the WWE made it a casket match just to make it more interesting. So it was a great honor for Mark Henry but it was not a match people talk about when discussing the Undertaker's greatest Wrestlemania matches. Mark Henry is known for being a member of the Nation of Domination. Unfortunately, the Nation of Domination is pretty much a forgotten WWE stable right now. Just look at The Rock's birthday party episode on RAW. At one point during that RAW, former Nation member Farooq (now known as Ron Simmons) shows up at The Rock's party. The Rock is a former Nation member and former leader of The Nation after Farooq was kicked out of the Nation. When we see Farooq, he only says, "Damn!" and there is no other interaction between him and The Rock. It seems the WWE does not want us to remember the Nation of Domination. Mark Henry's affiliation with The Nation did little for his career just like X-Pac's involvement with DX never got him a World Championship feud. What else can I say about Mark Henry's accomplishments? After all that time in the WWE, he must have won a lot of gold during his career. After doing some research, I found out Mark Henry is probably one of the least decorated veteran Superstars in WWE history. Mark Henry has had just two title reigns: one as the European Champion and one as the ECW Champion. Being a former ECW Champion does not mean much as all. It is a championship that doesn't exist anymore and even when it did exist, it had less value than the Intercontinental Championship and probably the United States Championship as well. At least Mark Henry was European Champion. It's another championship that doesn't exist anymore but it has been held by a bunch of important WWE Superstars like Shawn Michaels, the British Bulldog, Owen Hart, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam, and Kurt Angle. However, I did some research on his European Championship reign and what I found was comical. Mark Henry never won the title in a match. Look at WWE.com's official explanation for Mark Henry's European Championship reign:
"Much like Triple H and Mideon before him, Mark Henry had a pretty easy road to the European Championship. He didn't even have to face anybody to become champion. Instead, Henry helped Jeff Jarrett defeat D'Lo Brown for both the Intercontinental and European Championships at SummerSlam 1999. The next night on RAW, Jarrett rewarded Henry with the European Championship."
Ouch….it's always better to win a championship after a match instead of it being awarded to you. When Christian won the World Heavyweight Championship, he won it in a match. It's not like Edge just gave him the championship because he is his best friend; Edge made Christian earn the championship. What's worse for Mark Henry's championship reign is that it lasted only 34 days and he dropped the championship to mid-card legend D'Lo Brown. At least Christian dropped his title to Randy Orton who is an established star. Mark Henry's title reign was so short that Shane McMahon and Al Show have held the European Championship longer than Mark Henry. So let's recap: Mark Henry is best known for a mediocre Wrestlemania match with the Undertaker, being a member of a stable that the WWE doesn't want people to remember, and for holding two championships that no longer exist. And I haven't even mentioned what Mark Henry is really best known for. Mark Henry was with the WWE during the Attitude Era and the Attitude Era had a lot of controversial moments. Mark Henry was involved in one of them. Mark Henry got into a relationship with Mae Young. Eventually Mae Young got pregnant and was carrying Mark Henry's child. When it was time for Mae Young to deliver the baby, Mae Young gave birth to a hand. So that is what Mark Henry may be best known for when he is gone from the WWE. I can only imagine the conversation between WWE fans when Mark Henry dies:
WWE fan #1: Hey did you hear that Mark Henry died?
WWE fan #2: Who?
WWE fan #1: You know…Sexual Chocolate. The World's Strongest Man.
WWE fan #2: I don't remember who he was.
WWE fan #1: He was the guy who knocked up Mae Young and became the father of a hand.
WWE fan #2: Oh…now I remember!
Mark Henry's achievements in the WWE are so embarrassing. He'd be a first ballot inductee in the WWE Hall of Shame. Everyone was upset at how Christian was treated but let's take a look at what Christian has accomplished in the WWE besides winning the World Heavyweight Championship. Christian is a nine-time Tag Team Champion and won seven of his tag team titles with Edge, a three-time Intercontinental Champion, and he has also won the ECW Championship, European Championship, Hardcore Championship, and Light Heavyweight Championship. Christian is the 23rd Triple Crown Champion and after winning the World Heavyweight Champion, he is only the 11th Grand Slam Champion. Christian is one of the most decorated Superstars in WWE history. His career compared to Mark Henry's career makes all of the recent complaints about Christian's title reign seem silly.
It's time to book the events leading up to Mark Henry's title match. I am NOT booking how Mark Henry would win the World Heavyweight Championship. A Mark Henry title reign is not going to increase ratings and it would be an even worse decision now that he is a heel after getting drafted to Smackdown. Mark Henry does deserve a nice push and having him compete for the World Heavyweight Championship should be a big deal for him. It's better than jobbing to up-and-coming Superstars like Cody Rhodes. And I'm not talking about masked Cody Rhodes. I'm talking about Randy Orton's personal assistant Cody Rhodes. So what's the best way for Mark Henry to get a title shot? He can finally win a Royal Rumble match but that would mean he would have a main event match at Wrestlemania and no one wants to see that. The best option is for Mark Henry to start a feud with Randy Orton for a title match at Capitol Punishment, the new WWE pay-per-view in June. A Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton match is not going to sound like an interesting PPV match so the storyline going into the match needs to be good.
Mark Henry's road to Capitol Punishment begins on the Smackdown after the Over the Limit PPV. Randy Orton is in the ring and he is still the World Heavyweight Champion. Orton says he came to Smackdown at the right time. The biggest threats to take his title are now drafted to RAW (Rey Mysterio, Big Show, Alberto Del Rio), retired (Edge), or injured (Undertaker). Orton says he expects to be the World Heavyweight Champion for a long time. Mark Henry comes out to the ring and says he should be the next Superstar to challenge Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship. Mark Henry says he has beaten Orton before and shows Orton video of Mark Henry beating Orton in a gauntlet match during the June 29, 2009 episode of RAW. Mark Henry points out that even though he was the third opponent for Orton that night, Orton's first opponent was easy (Evan Bourne) and his second opponent (Jack Swagger) purposely got himself counted out. Orton replies that the match was almost two years ago and Orton has proven he is better than Mark Henry since then. If Mark Henry wants a title match, he will have to earn it. Mark Henry says that he thinks Orton is scared to face him because Orton knows Mark Henry is capable of beating him. Orton replies that he wants an opponent who would be a challenge for him and does not want to defend his championship against unworthy opponents. Orton again says that Mark Henry needs to earn his opportunity for a title match and leaves the ring.
Later that night, Randy Orton is facing Sheamus in a non-title match. Mark Henry interferes in the match and starts attacking Randy Orton. Mark Henry leaves the ring to get the steel ring steps and tosses the steel steps into the ring. He hits Orton with the steel steps several times. Finally, Mark Henry places the steel steps down and he hits Randy Orton with the World's Strongest Slam right onto the steel steps! Mark Henry then steals Orton's World Heavyweight Championship and leaves the ring.
Next week on Smackdown, Mark Henry is in the ring with the World Heavyweight Championship. He says that since Randy Orton would not give him a title match, Mark Henry created his own championship opportunity. After the beat down he gave Orton, Mark Henry says he decided he has earned the World Heavyweight Championship. According to Mark Henry, he now owns the championship and if Orton wants it back, he will have to defeat Mark Henry in a match at Capitol Punishment. Randy Orton comes out and says he is tired of hearing Mark Henry tell everyone that he is better than Orton. Randy Orton says he will accept Mark Henry's offer so he can shut him up for good.
There is four weeks in-between Over the Limit and Capitol Punishment. During the last two weeks before the PPV, I would have Mark Henry cutting promos about how badly he beat Orton after the Sheamus-Orton match and have him repeatedly show video clips of the beat down. With Mark Henry constantly portraying himself in a strong way and making Orton look weak, it hopefully would make fans so angry at Mark Henry that they would want to see the match just to see Orton beat the crap out of Mark Henry. I would have Mark Henry lose cleanly to Orton at the pay-per-view but it would be interesting to see a PPV match-up we have never seen before instead of a match we have seen many times like another Orton vs. Sheamus title match. Mark Henry may never be World Champion but he deserves to be in one more important PPV match before he retires.
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