And The Oscar for Best Performance Goes To....

[The Dragon Saga]

Mark Henry as "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry in "That's What I Do."

What a performance. There are actors being paid to give performances half of what Henry gave tonight on Raw. Kristen Stewart couldn't act her way into a good review for Snowhite and the Huntsman, Mark Henry had every fan hooked, lined and sunk to the bottom of the ocean convinced he was going to retire but at the last second drove John Cena into the mat with a World's Strongest Slam.

He was crying, mentioned his kids, brought up everything he'd done and then turned around and let everyone know he wanted the one thing hes yet to have - the WWE Championship. No doubt he and Cena will have a great match at Money In The Bank, but I think we can all praise Mark Henry's performance tonight during what is a great moment in the history of Raw. Sure, it was done by Flair, but I'll say it - Henry's performance was twice what Ric's was, and I'm a big fan of Ric Flair. It took years for fans to truly appreciate Henry and after tonight's show he is made for eternity. Great stuff from the Sexual Chocolate.

What did you think of Henry's "retirement" segment? Were you fooled or are you Mystic Meg, undoubtable and impervious to WWE's charms because their "predictable" and all that other crap? Leave your thoughts below.

 

[dbc]

I wanted to believe it, I really tried hard to but the likelihood that it could just be a work was always at the forefront of my mind. Honestly it'd be cool if he actually retired right now and that would be what he's remembered for. WSS to Cena just as a parting shot as if to say "you or anyone could have dropped the WWE belt to me once in all these years, yeah I know I would never be WWE champ for long but I at least deserved to carry it once!" Of course that is highly unlikely and at MIB it likely will be Cena vs Henry.

 

[byrnside]

I have been hoping for a Henry/Cena feud since Cena won the title at 'Mania. Henry has been one of, if not the best heel in WWE, up there with the likes of C.M. Punk for some time. Tonight when he came out to the ring in the middle of Cena's promo, I thought for sure he was going to challenge for the title and the retirement stuff today was all mis-speculation. It wasn't until he got well into his own promo and thanking the fans and his family, etc. that I thought, "well, maybe he actually is retiring." Once Cena came back into the ring I was repeatedly praying aloud for Henry to attack him. I was so moved by Henry's performance I kept thinking, "well, if he's done, he's had a good run." When he finally slammed Cena, I marked out like crazy. Such an awesome job by Mark Henry. Who would've known 15 years ago?

 

[Xemmy]

I had the great misfortune of hearing about it before I saw it. Even so, it was some of the best acting I've ever seen from a wrestler. The tears were real. He fed off the fans. And it maybe because he is coming towards his end. But regardless of the reason, when those tears started falling, and he let it drag long enough, he had everyone in the palm of his hand. Best fake retirement ever. When he hit the World's Strongest Slam, it was the biggest pop of the night. I didn't expect it to be that good. It was an incredible moment. Beyond what many are capable of. It made me want to see him win the big one. It made me want to see the match. And it made me appreciate Mark Henry.

 

[MFR0mack]

Like Steve Austin and others have said, I saw it coming a mile away... to an extent.

A sudden, out-of-the-blue retirement isn't normal and when Henry began making his cryptic tweets, I suspected either it was a work or he had a lowkey, nagging injury shortening his career much like Edge's. His tweets today seeking for certain celebrities to view Raw tonight had me thinking the former, as did him interrupting John Cena -- but by the time he put his boots down, hit the ring, told his story and let the tears flow, I was utterly convinced he was truly retiring. The performance was top-notch for sure, and hopefully amounts to something come Money In The Bank. Henry as a heel just has so many more options of people to work with than Cena does when it comes to being champion. Punk, Jericho & Bryan come to mind immediately, all mostly fresh match-ups that we haven't seen (or seen often, unlike Cena vs. the world).

Really, I think tonight will mean nothing if they don't go with Henry at MitB. Great performance or not, it will all be for naught if he doesn't walk away with the WWE championship. Henry has really stepped up his game right now, I feel he could do big things with a run with the title. Doesn't have to be Punk-length, maybe a month or two & have him drop it at Summerslam or the PPV after. But it should be done.

 

[Tyhump87]

I had a feeling that he was "up to something" but the more I watched, the more I was convinced that it was real. I was actually getting sad towards the end and then BOOM! World's Strongest Slam! I don't think I laughed as hard as I did in a long time while watching Henry all up in Cena's face. They got me. Great job by Mark Henry!

 

[BLeonard]

Hopefully, this makes sense... The reason I didn't buy that he was retiring is because of all of the talk about him retiring.

The tweets and where they were going to commercial with the "Mark Henry Retiring?" graphic throughout RAW just made me think "They never really do what they SAY in wrestling." In short, they hyped it as a retirement too much for me to believe that he was actually retiring.

Now, had Henry posted a single tweet, saying "I have an announcement on RAW tonight," I think that would have been more effective, because you don't know what the announcement is... That, combined with his sell job of retiring (which he did do a very convincing job of) would have made it seem all the more real, at least to me.

Again, it doesn't take away from the job Henry did selling the angle, as again, I felt he did very well. I just feel that, when trying to sell something in wrestling, announcing the obvious multiple times usually means that whatever is being announced won't end up happening.

Jim Ross' tweet didn't help, either... "I know nothing of any retirement plans. Stay tuned for facts," for whatever reason, gave me the thought that something was up.

Again, I think it was executed well, for the most part and seems to be angle and story that fans are interested in seeing. But, sometimes, before having the story unfold, less is more, especially on the social media outlets and on the in-show graphics.

Again, hope that makes sense.

-Bill

 

[FreezeIzGAWD]

Nope didnt buy it a minute.... Until he sold it sooooooo well... I still couldnt get too much behind it though because the only person who came out was Cena and most times at retirements it is the locker room. That being said I TOLD Y'ALL.... Check my PORTFOLIO! I have said for years to give MARK his shot... When you guys were calling him a slow, boring, injury prone bum who COULDN'T GO because of his lack of Cardio... I WAS SAYIN GIVE HIM A SHOT.... When y'all were praising the MIZ & were screaming he was the FUTURE SAVIOR OF THE WWE I was sayin GIVE MARK A CHANCE..... I have stood by the fact that MARK WAS THE MOST MISUSED GUY IN WWE HISTORY....I mean this guy was getting pinned CLEANLY bu Rey Misterio..... HE IS THE WORLD'S STRONGEST MAN & HE WAS GETTING PINNED WEEKLY CLEAN.... I hated it... But now they need to do what I have begged for... THEY NEED TO PULL THE TRIGGER AND LET MARK BE MARK.... The time is NOW.... THE STRONGEST WWE CHAMPION EVER.... MARK HENRY..... That's what HE DO!!!!

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

It's funny how so many people still have so little faith in Mark Henry. It's okay, once upon a time, I sat in the same boat.

He's been great for a couple of years now. Not just good, he's been great. I don't care about match quality, or flippies, or any of that shit, and neither does the general audience. It's about character. It's about mic work. That's what keeps people coming back Monday night after Monday night, and Mark Henry is the best heel in the business right now.

I bought into it. It was tough to buy into, given how I had read it wasn't real earlier in the day, but he sold me. That's what he does.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It was an amazing job by Mark Henry. Honestly, it might be the best display of acting I've ever seen out of a pro wrestler. Every fan in the audience believed it last night and, frankly, I did too once I saw that Henry had tears in his eyes and tears streaming down his face. You could also plainly hear the hitch in Henry's voice as he was speaking. Personally, I'm not buying into anyone saying they saw this coming, not with the performance Henry gave last night.

When his "retirement" announcement was announced on commentary, I did think that there was something else going on. When I saw him backstage in his suit, I figured that someone would come out to interrupt him or maybe goad him into not "retiring", but the emotion Henry displayed during his speech completely threw me. Frankly, I didn't think Henry had it in him and it ultimately just made me wonder why WWE wasn't pushing Henry the way they have been for the past few years a decade or so ago. When Henry quickly turned the hug into a World's Strongest Slam, I jumped outta my seat.

Henry was so good that, frankly, I don't mind that it's going to be him against Cena at MITB now rather than Bryan. When Bryan announced last night during his talk with Kane that he "needed to win the WWE Championship", that was confirmation to me that he'll be in the title scene at some point over the next several months.

 

[Sid Schmid]

With Cena being at ringside I had it in the back of my mind that something would happen but when I saw the tears I genuinely believed he was retiring.

One thought that crossed my mind with both Henry and Cena out there was
Ryback coming out, maybe setting up a triple threat match for the title at MITB. I was glad this didn't happen because Cena would probably beat two 'unstoppable' monsters and that is too unrealistic

 

[Airehk]

In retrospect, sure I should have seen this coming — but I didn't.

Henry put on a great performance. I rememeber watching him and thinking "damn, if more of the locker room just kept it real like this, wrestling would be just that much more gripping". He was cutting jokes about his Salmon coloured jacket or when he was mentioning his family, he gave a shout out saying: No, not Mae Young. He was being a real man, someone anyone can relate to because he wasn't fake. Then suddenly he so impeccably tuned that hug to his World Strongest Slam.

Sure he switched to his monster self, but if he can keep some personality true and real like he did last night, he should hold that belt. They teased it with the reason being he never held it before, he surely proved he can talk on the mic, he's big, intimidating, naturally and believably strong — not just muscle bound.

Mark Henry better go places this summer.

 

[Mustang Sally]

It was terrific. Sure, we smelled a rat from the beginning, but once Mark was standing in the ring, I kept going back and forth (yeah, he is.....no, he isn't). Seeing John Cena standing there made me sure it was a trick because why on Earth would he be the only one present at Mark Henry's retirement announcement?..... yet when he handed his title belt to Mark and let him pose with it, I turned 180 degrees and believed.

Okay, so I'm a fool, but I'll tell you what: the day I stop allowing myself to suspend disbelief and letting pro wrestling fool me completely is the day I'll stop watching. I'm sorry for those of you who "hate" the current product and think they never bring us anything new. Personally, I love waiting for the surprises and plot twists they create; there's always something coming at us. Just when you think you've got it all figured out......they throw us another curve.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

People like Jack Hammer and others make me laugh. So anyone who didn't buy the retirement bit is lying? Why? Because you were stupid enough to fall for it? I admit Henry did a great job of acting. But, as others have mentioned, the way they hyped it and talked about it was a huge red flag. Yeah, I know, you believed it until you saw tears. Good for you! That was a great job by Mark Henry if he swerved a lot of doubters. BUT, he didn't swerve everyone. If Jack Hammer feels fooled by being taken for a ride, sucks to be you. Don't point the finger at people with better brains and a clearer vision of the big picture.

Now, I will admit that Mark Henry retiring or not was meaningless to me. He has NEVER put one ass in a seat, sold one ticket or PPV or been anything most people looked forward to seeing. Yes, he had fans..but I believe "The Rebel" Dick Slater sold some t-shirts too...so calm down. I agree that being with the company for almost 20 years alone could merit an in-ring retirement like what was teased on Raw last night. But, this guy lifts right out of WWE. The fans last night were a joke. "One more match!" ??? Why!? Because he was so spectacular in the ring all these years that you need one more 5-star performance? If you've seen one Mark Henry match, you've seen most of them. "Thank you Henry" ??? These are the same people who take a piss during his matches and have never really gotten behind him. All of a sudden there are tears in their eyes because he is retiring?

I swear wrestling fans are such puppets. To the few of you who appreciate this form of entertainment for what it is, I say good for you and continue to enjoy it. I still watch a segment or two of Raw when I'm home and watch WrestleMania and the Rumble each year. But, for all you wrestling is life losers, admit you fell for it and move on. Just because you were fooled doesn't mean everyone was. And I can't think of a more insignificant person to retire and cause such a debate over. Have fun rooting for....well, I will wait for Vince and Co. to tell you who to root for--puppets.

 

[boywithbluehanger]

The World's Strongest Puppeteer pulled our strings yet again. I always knew Henry was good but I don't think any of us knew he was that good. He sold his retirement speech so well that you have to believe he actually tapped into his true feelings about his career in order to pull that off. I was going through mixed emotions as he spoke because on one hand I didn't want him to retire but on the other, I liked how classy he was about it all. Towards the end of the speech, I felt too proud of him to believe this was a rouse and found myself accepting "the truth" that this was the last we'd see of Mark Henry.

When he converted the hug to Cena into a World's Strongest Slam, I laughed at myself for being played like a fool and at the same time wanted someone to slap the hell out of Henry for trolling us all! A well-played, textbook, heelish, move. When his commemorative DVD/Bluray comes out years later, this will definitely be a highlighted portion of it. From the crowd, he evoked emotions of regret, pride, happiness, and then embarrassment. Everyone with a Thank You Henry sign stuck their heads into the sand after that one. And the arena who chanted for him 30 seconds earlier, had to respect that they got got.

 

[RedRegan1005]

When Henry made the comment about not having the success that John had I saw it coming from that point on.

BUT, I will say this. Whether you saw it coming or not it was an awesome segment. If you didn't see it coming you were shocked. If you did then you spent the segment in anticipation waiting for the world strongest slam. Also Henry played his part perfectly so like i said, whether you saw it coming or not the segment was entertaining as hell.

 

[teddygreen17]

Henry put on a great performance. I remember watching him and thinking "damn, if more of the locker room just kept it real like this, wrestling would be just that much more gripping". He was cutting jokes about his Salmon colored jacket or when he was mentioning his family, he gave a shout out saying: No, not Mae Young.

Yeah man, he had me going...People have to look at this correctly. Yeah, there were signs of this being a swerve but that is not the big issue. Henry's acting is the big issue. Let's be honest 3 years ago when he was a face, we all wanted him to be a Big Show (disappear). But since the Hall of Pain gimmick dude has been on fire. We dont care that he wrestles for 20 min, all we car about is at the end of a 12 minute dissection, he completely destroys someone. He is the best power heel in the company. Lets be honest, he is what Ryback will never be. They completely wasted Henry's talent for years...you can't tell me that he got this good in the last couple of years. But I agree that he should win in at MITB and then drop it after a couple of months or so. Let Bryan win it and let Cena chase Bryan. Listen, i think WWE wants Henry to go into the HOF and they know he is at the end of his career. We all have been begging for Henry to be completely unleashed and hopefully he stays injury-free enough to do it. I mean Cena has pretty much beaten everyone, liven it up a bit. This I think has more to do with a a lack of power heels.

 

[cam1126]

Great job by Henry but also a great job from Cena pretending he really brought it. To me, that is what helped..that Cena seemed so emotionally involved also. I know Cena bashers will throw hate but they are idiots anyways so....

 

[Magic Mark]

I completely fell for it. The tweets, the tears, everything. Henry did an amazing job last night. Let's just hope he wins the title at MITB, the man deserves it. He has been given shitty gimmicks, shitty promos, and just about everything else. He is a legit threat to Cena, and if he beats him at MITB, it will be quite a shocker.

 

[dbc]

People like Jack Hammer and others make me laugh. So anyone who didn't buy the retirement bit is lying? Why? Because you were stupid enough to fall for it? I admit Henry did a great job of acting. But, as others have mentioned, the way they hyped it and talked about it was a huge red flag. Yeah, I know, you believed it until you saw tears. Good for you! That was a great job by Mark Henry if he swerved a lot of doubters. BUT, he didn't swerve everyone. If Jack Hammer feels fooled by being taken for a ride, sucks to be you. Don't point the finger at people with better brains and a clearer vision of the big picture.

Now, I will admit that Mark Henry retiring or not was meaningless to me. He has NEVER put one ass in a seat, sold one ticket or PPV or been anything most people looked forward to seeing. Yes, he had fans..but I believe "The Rebel" Dick Slater sold some t-shirts too...so calm down. I agree that being with the company for almost 20 years alone could merit an in-ring retirement like what was teased on Raw last night. But, this guy lifts right out of WWE. The fans last night were a joke. "One more match!" ??? Why!? Because he was so spectacular in the ring all these years that you need one more 5-star performance? If you've seen one Mark Henry match, you've seen most of them. "Thank you Henry" ??? These are the same people who take a piss during his matches and have never really gotten behind him. All of a sudden there are tears in their eyes because he is retiring?

I swear wrestling fans are such puppets. To the few of you who appreciate this form of entertainment for what it is, I say good for you and continue to enjoy it. I still watch a segment or two of Raw when I'm home and watch WrestleMania and the Rumble each year. But, for all you wrestling is life losers, admit you fell for it and move on. Just because you were fooled doesn't mean everyone was. And I can't think of a more insignificant person to retire and cause such a debate over. Have fun rooting for....well, I will wait for Vince and Co. to tell you who to root for--puppets.

What dribble. Keep placating yourself with posts like this because anyone reading this nonsense on this board won't do it for you. We're all puppets huh? I implore you to revisit the Raw episode after Wrestlemania this year. I can proudly say my hometown fan base in East Rutherford, NJ were anything but puppets. Admittedly a lot of folks were from overseas but don't automatically assume that is all the people who were there or that the international folks were the majority. My hometown audience proved they will not be Vince's and WWE's puppets and that the WWE fans have the power to do whatever they damn well please to the WWE storylines. The folks in Izod Center showed the world that the WWE fans can become the puppeteers if they so choose. Check what currently is changing with various superstars & their storylines for proof and it was all because of that episode of Raw.

 

[Duderino]

That was a great moment in wrestling. That segment was one of the only parts of Raw I watched last night, because it was on during the Stanley Cup intermission (GO BRUINS!).I was watching the hockey game with some friends, half of whom watch wrestling, half of whom do not. People who don't even know who Mark Henry is watched, hanging on his every word. And when he hit the world's strongest slam on Cena, they marked out HARD! Needless to say so did the guys who followed wrestling


Here's some scenarios for Cena vs. Henry at MitB:

There's a chance Mark wins the title at MitB, so that Daniel Bryan can win the briefcase and have a good David vs. Goliath victory that doesn't involve Bryan turning heel. In this sense, Henry will be a transitional champion but with a solid story line that lots of fans can get behind.

Ideally I'd like to see Henry beat Cena at Money in the Bank and retain the title until Night of Champions or Hell in a Cell where he beats Daniel Bryan clean in a regular championship match. Then Daniel Bryan cashes in his MitB contract and the match restarts with Bryan beating Henry. No matter what, Henry deserves a run as WWE champion after sticking by the company for so long...

or

They'll screw Henry by having him lose clean to Cena. Hit Cena with the Worlds Strongest Slam and have Bryan come out and cash-in his newly won MitB briefcase (people were complaining that Ziggler waited too long) because God forbid there be a black WWE champion.

or

Henry beats Cena, Bryan cashes in to beat Henry.

I think that Daniel Bryan will win the MitB contract and announce his match before he cashes in so he doesn't appear weak cashing it in on somebody who's already had the tar beat out of them.

 

[Nikeo]

Haven't seen Raw but there's one thing going on on this thread that kinda annoys me.

By the sounds of it Henry's performance was amazing and it's great to see someone with a long history in the WWE really begin to make it big.

However, if there's a great moment, it's because of the talent. If there's a terrible moment/segment it's because of WWE creative.

You have to applaud the WWE, this is the best usage of social media to further a storyline that I've seen (though, admittedly, I'm a very casual WWE fan at this stage). While over-using it would diminish its' effectiveness I do hope we see both companies using twitter in this fashion on occassion.

While what I've seen of Henry over the last year or two has shown that he is a very talented individual, I'm not disputing that, this is another bone of contention I have with the IWC. When a character "clicks" with a performer and starts to work people start going "they should have done this years ago." They did. Look back at when Henry debuted his current look in about '05/'06. He worked with Batista and Angle for the World title and pinned a then champion Mysterio in a non-title match. He was given a WM match with 'Taker FFS.

The character wasn't a whole lot different to what it is now. Henry has been given chance, after change, after chance to get over. This is not a case of "why didn't they push him like this years ago!"....they did, it didn't work.

I'm not trying to take away from what Henry has achieved, I'm saying the Mark Henry of the last year or two is not the performer he was years ago.....he's become much, much better.

EDIT: To the people claiming the title should go on Bryan in the next month or two.....you're just completely wrong. Rushing a moment is what kills a moment. An up-and-coming "hot" babyface needs to take the fans on a proverbial journey and chase the title for a good few months. Bryan should be given a Jeff Hardy circa 2008/9 push, there's no way he shoud beat Henry OR Cena for the title at the next PPV or two.

If they've enough fuel to keep him interesting feuds, they should stretch Bryan winning the title out and have him win the Rumble. That's how you cement a main-event face, by making the fans crave him winning the big one, throwing the belt on him at the earliest convinient time is NOT how you do it.

 

[wrestlingfan]

This was a great segment. It had me emotionally attatched. Even though Mark Henry was never on the level of say a Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin, you could tell he was still happy to live his dream, considering not everyone gets to travel the world and perform in front of thousands for 200+ days. And than he slammed Cena. Not only did that surprise me but it brought him back to the heel Mark we all love, with the built up animosity he most likely had for Cena.

Only thing is, I don't know how this feud will work, when the audience was chanting Mark's name.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

What dribble. Keep placating yourself with posts like this because anyone reading this nonsense on this board won't do it for you. We're all puppets huh? I implore you to revisit the Raw episode after Wrestlemania this year. I can proudly say my hometown fan base in East Rutherford, NJ were anything but puppets. Admittedly a lot of folks were from overseas but don't automatically assume that is all the people who were there or that the international folks were the majority. My hometown audience proved they will not be Vince's and WWE's puppets and that the WWE fans have the power to do whatever they damn well please to the WWE storylines. The folks in Izod Center showed the world that the WWE fans can become the puppeteers if they so choose. Check what currently is changing with various superstars & their storylines for proof and it was all because of that episode of Raw.

Ok, so what I got from that is...

Raw was in your hometown.
You weren't there that night.
You realize a big moment happened near your home.
You are trying to somehow make yourself part of it by saying "my hometown" over and over.

Now that you've implored me, I will go back to ONE NIGHT..after the biggest show of the year...with an audience full of--sorry for the letdown--non-NJ people. Your argument was nothing. You're just one of those people who try to become part of something they had nothing to do with. "Hear about that murder last week?" "Yeah, my ex girlfriend's cousin used to work at the supermarket down the road from the crime scene. Really makes you think!" Get over yourself. I was at the Triple H return in MSG in 2002 and have never mentioned it until now. It was a night where the crowd still gets tons of credit. Do I brag? No. I was one voice in the middle of thousands. I have a better leg to stand on than you and I don't use it. You were a punk who couldn't afford a Raw ticket to join your apparent hometown world changers! What a goof...

 

[closet_fan]

I was waiting for it to happen. What sold me was Henry coming out after Cena was already in the ring. They should have given Henry the spotlight ala Edge and then had Cena come out to "pay his respects." Yeah it still would have given the impression of a Henry heel turn, but at least it wouldn't have been as obvious.