Mark Henry: An Appreciation

Best in the world?
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Right now, Mark Henry is perhaps the most fearsome wrestler across any promotion. He's mean, destructive and ornery. He attacks anyone, whether it's someone his own size or larger like The Big Show or someone defenseless like a random sound tech. He's humorless and bitter when he speaks. There is nothing that I, as a fan, should like about this guy, at least in a kayfabe sense (even if in the objective sense, I'm compelled to praise him for his excellent work). Yet, I can't help but be drawn to root for the guy.

There are two reasons for this. The first is a wholly in-storyline reason, or at least one that is based on his work in the realm of the WWE Universe (God, I feel dirty for typing that term). As you probably figured out by now, I don't really root for guys based on whether they're "good" or "bad". I like good wrestlers, good performers, guys who do their jobs exceedingly well. For a longer time than his current push has been in play, Henry has been good, sometimes great. So while this comes not as a shock to me, the current level at which he's performing is enough to stand back in awe and say, "Yeah, Mark Henry may be the best guy in any company". That's huge.

Every time he's on camera, it's must see TV. Whether he's gruffly barking about who's going to be the next induction into his Hall of Pain or giving out World's Strongest Slams through the table while astonished fans mouth "OH NO HE DIDN'T!", I get goosebumps whenever he comes out from the back. His matches, which have always been good, have skipped up a level to the point where you know you're going to get a great one even against someone who might have been iffy against him in the past like Kane. To bring it all home, Henry, more so than Alberto del Rio, CM Punk, John Cena, Randy Orton or anyone else, is probably the most fully actualized character in WWE right now. That's not trivial at all.

The second reason requires an understanding of the career that Henry has had. If the World's Strongest Man had gotten this kind of monster push right out of the gate (assuming everything else constant, which, considering that his maturity may be giving him more of an edge now, might not be exactly true), he'd be part of the firmament by a longshot. We would all be talking about him with deference like he was Andre the Giant or The Undertaker. Instead, they kept jerking him around. During the Attitude Era, he was a walking punchline, a guy who was more remembered for his sexual perversions rather than what he could do as a character. The final insult came when he sired a hand with Mae Young. Over the next decade, the attention paid to him would often come and go, with thinly veiled racial insults coming as part of the deal. Right before his most current push began, he, along with a crowd that Vince McMahon felt was too small, was the subject of a rib that sent him on a tirade that almost caused him to quit the company.

So, to see him get his time in the sun is rewarding, at least for fans who know this kind of thing. He's proof that it's not too late to make an impact, no matter who you are. Of course, cynicism would dictate that he'll be dropping the belt right back to Orton at Hell in a Cell (ESPECIALLY if del Rio regains the WWE Championship, because, you know, GOD FORBID WWE HAVE ONE OF ITS MAIN TITLES NOT ON EITHER CENA OR ORTON... oops, sorry, did I have caps lock on for that?). Still, he's got a reign and he's got a lot of heat behind him. He's been allowed to become one of the best things going in WWE. That has to count for something.

So, with all that said, I'm really happy for Mark Henry, and even though WWE doesn't want me to root for him? I'm in the World's Strongest Corner from here until the indefinite future. Henry is the goods, and he's a guy who deserves everything he's gotten in the last few months.