In part three, we looked at Mark Henry during the Attitude Era as well as his adventures in WWE developmental. Now we look at the period when things all fell in place as Mark Henry reaches his potential.
Take the Path of Destruction For Five Blocks, the Hall of Pain Is On The Right
WWE would finally get things right in the second half of the 2000s when Mark Henry returned after his last OVW run. At the end of 2005, he returned as a heel and was in better shape than before. He also showed improvement in-ring seeming to have finally got the grasp of what he should be doing in the ring.
However, he wasn’t a master of psychology as he claimed. The first glimmer that he was on the right path was later in 2006 when he booked as a monster heel. This was the creative team finally doing what it should’ve done ten years earlier. He wasn’t as athletic as Vader but Mark Henry could’ve been The Mastodon that Vince wanted Vader to be initially.
Hell, they could’ve given him tapes of Vader, Earthquake, Dump Matsumoto, and Aja Kong and told him to watch those several times and debuted him in 1997 or 1998. As the saying goes, “Better late than never” but damn.
Also, it’s no surprise this period came as his contract was up. After this push was over, he was in and out of feuds but got some big ones including a program with The Undertaker. His ECW run added onto a good run during the 2000s when he was ECW Champion.
The former champion once again fell into a period of having feuds that got him brushes with the World Heavyweight title and big matches. It wouldn’t be until 2011 when he landed a big one in the World title during the Hall of Pain run. Again, this is what WWE should’ve done with him years earlier.
Was Mark Henry A Master of Psychology?
After losing the belt later in the year, it was the usual WWE story where he was often in the mix as a floating main eventer instead of a concrete one where his spot wasn’t in danger. Outside of that incredible false retirement where he attacked Cena, most of his later career was spent working with younger guys in feuds.
Currently in retirement, Mark Henry works as a producer—which is where his grasp of psychology comes in. I’d say he has definitely mastered big man wrestling psychology. It took a while for him to do it or for WWE to actually allow him to show what he knows but he’s mastered it. That’s grounds to be a road agent.
It really makes you wonder how his career would’ve gone if WWE had its own developmental territory in place from the start. Perhaps it was guys like Mark Henry, Shawn Stasiak, and Tiger Ali Singh that showed the company that this was necessary. Or at least that it was important to establish relationships with smaller promotions to serve this purpose.
SUBSCRIBE NOW: Get The Overtimer’s Hottest Stories, Breaking News and Special Features in your email, CLICK HERE!
