What Do You Guys Think Of Mark Henry's "Burial?"

[Martin Gabriel]

You can't blame them entirely if he's injury prone, but it does suck that they'll still remain so high on Orton after he had two injuries within a short period of time. It's not as if Henry can't be compared to Orton as a draw either, it was Henry, not Orton, who was drawing big toward the end of 2011. They least they could do is give Henry a stronger out-of-the-ring role. He'd seriously make an awesome commentator or enforcer for another wrestler. Hell, they could do something similar to what they did with Austin Aries in ROH, where he exaggerates an inability to compete in favor of managing talent. That way he could still jump into the ring when necessary while helping other wrestlers.

 

[justinsayne]

I think you need to brush up on your wrestling terminology, what's happening to Henry right now is hardly a burial. He's out with an injury. Everything they're doing with him right now is simply part of a storyline to keep him fresh in the minds of the fans while he's unable to get in the ring.

 

[OneTooManyPunts]

He is far from being buried. While he certainly isn't on the type of roll his character was on a few months ago, he is doing something a lot of talent do, but never get credit for this time of year...serving as Wrestlemania enhancement talent. It is obvious he isn't getting a marquee match at WM..(maybe in the GM vs GM Match), and there are RUMORS, that he is in a contract dispute, but he is by no means being buried.

Who knows...Henry, Miz, Ziggler, the guys that aren't getting any WM attention, and seem to be jobbing on a weekly basis, this could all be the start of something for them at WM we never saw coming

 

[CM Steel]

I think you tripp'in man.

Mark Henry is NOT being buried in the WWE. Mark Henry had his long over due run in the main event with & without a world championship. He has to climb the ladder all over again like Kane did last year and look where he's at right now. And more than likely this will be Mark Henry's run with a world title in the WWE.

I just replied because I thought that the title of the thread was wayyy off.

 

[Martin Gabriel]

I think you need to brush up on your wrestling terminology, what's happening to Henry right now is hardly a burial. He's out with an injury. Everything they're doing with him right now is simply part of a storyline to keep him fresh in the minds of the fans while he's unable to get in the ring.

It isn't a matter of semantics, rather an opinion of whether he's being buried or not. It looks like he's being buried to me because he's jobbed in under a minute a few times recently. I also can't see what storyline you've possibly derived from the current landscape of WWE that includes Mark Henry in a positive way. Hopefully he at least gets to participate in the RAW vs. SmackDown match to settle the General Manager dispute, but until his involvement in that angle manifests on television, there's been nothing to indicate that he's part of any particular storyline nor that they're doing anything to keep him "fresh in the minds of the fans." To do that while he can't wrestle would mean letting him get some actual promo time to remind fans about his character, not having him set off Teddy Long by prodding him with a finger only to get Brogue Kicked into an indefinite (and poorly played out) suspension.

Also, while rumors are just that, there are plenty of precedents to show how such rumors have been accurate of actual conditions backstage. It wouldn't surprise me if the reports are true and authorities are low on him for his injuries, whereas he's upset with his role in the company. That would mean his current position on television could become something more long-term (thus a burial) until his eventual release. Nothing's certain, but there's no reason to suggest any of us are in the wrong when we're only going off secondhand knowledge that, even if true, could be overturned as opinions backstage change and negotiations are reached.

 

[drobs85]

I think you need to brush up on your wrestling terminology, what's happening to Henry right now is hardly a burial. He's out with an injury. Everything they're doing with him right now is simply part of a storyline to keep him fresh in the minds of the fans while he's unable to get in the ring.

t

To the other poster, Henry has actually been injury free for a longtime before now. Back to the highlighted statement, the problem with your statement is he has been in the ring, right off the top of my head he has lost to Sheamus and Big Show twice recently. Two people he ironically dominated in 2011. Compared to his rather surprising good run, as of now it's a burial and a joke.

 

[Twocenter]

He's not getting buried... it's called time off due to an injury.

Close the thread, done here.

Time off, huh? You call it a time off even though he has been wrestling most of the times? REALLY? This is SPAM!

Now onto OP, I don't think this is burial. This is just to make him relevant in our eyes. He's been having a couple of issues so he cannot compete as he can. The only reason he's been used as a scapegoat is because he is injured and this is a de-push for that. Not burial.

 

[XXJJ]

It was a once in a career type run for Mark Henry. Everything just lined up perfectly. Orton put him over in a major way. That really helped his credibility and made him look legit. Especially after all these years of being a joke.

Usually once these monster heel finally lose most of them tend to lose a lot of their momentum.

Henry got hurt which fucked up the end of the title reign. It probably would of been some one like Sheamus to finally beat him.

He is not getting burried. But he wont be as dominant anymore. I doubt he will recapture what he had. Probably just be a good midcarder that occasionally enters the title picture.

Henry is old and they got younger guys like Brodus Clay or Skip Sheffield that could play similiar characters.

 

[Azane]

Jobbing while injured is a way to keep relevant, while not having physically intense matches.

Henry has a build where he just needs to walk around and fall down and it makes for an "impressive" victory. We've seen how they can build him up as a monster, when he's healed up it won't take much to build him back up, but for now, quick short jobbing matches are probably not agitating the injury that much.

Just from his tenure and his reign fresh in our minds, I don't see it being hard for him to play w/ the main event scene for a little longer, and another run with the title is still a possibility, if not a super likely one.

 

[Cats Pajamas]

Greetings babyfaces & heels from the Spring-has-sprung Northeast. It seems as though Henry has little reason to smile these days as he's taken Brogue Kicks and WMDs in the chicklets fairly regularly as of late. If you've read anything from me lately, you know I was blown away by Big Show versus Mark Henry last week. In my opinion, it was one helluva slobberknocker!

Do I think Vince McMahon has an axe to grind with the World's Strongest Man? How the hell should I know? However, before I "Gordon Ramses" the Eccentric Billionaire, I'd take into account that McMahon is not a dumbass. He spent a fair portion of last year building Henry as the "monster heel" we all knew he could be (and God dammit did Mark step up!) so now I'd have to wonder why he'd "job him out" to established superstars rather than have him put over one of the young guns who could use it?

With Mania right around the corner, I wouldn't dare venture a guess on if he's being buried. I’ve stated before that around WrestleMania certain top-class guys have to do what they have to do to help hype the guys on the card. Either way, McMahon and Henry are two guys I'd never want to have induct me into any "Clubs" or "Halls". Until next time don't forget to sing a little song, do a little dance, dream a little dream and as always, best regards wrestling fans.

You found the secret message! "U Can't C Me" - John Cena (or can you see me...?)

 

[Aeon Mathix]

Not sure what the deal is with Henry, although Vince's philosophy with his superstars is "make sure they look like crap on the way out so no one remembers anything that they did". I never did like Mark Henry. At all. But to say he stepped his game up last summer would be an understatement. He definitely has much more years and experiece under his belt than probably 80 percent of the current roster, being apart of the attitude era and all.

It's a shame someone as loyal as Henry is getting this treatment because of an injury to him while he was champion. I do not recall Cena or Batista or Edge paying repercussions when they got injured during their world title runs. Maybe not the best example but whatever. Not to mention all the ridiculous gimmicks Henry had to put up with throughout his career (I don't need to mention these), and he finally gets to be a monster and just hits it out of the park. Now it's like his title reign last year didn't even exist. He is just an afterthought.

But hey that's Vince's logic at times. If someone is actually getting over on a weekly basis we should stop that immediately.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Last year, the rumor mill had it that Mark Henry was embarking on the final year of his career, that he would be retiring in 2012. To that end, we read the company was thinking of giving him one more run to cap off a so-so career.

Okay, so they did it and it turned out a lot better than most folks thought it would. The thing is, all talk of retirement was now missing; if anything, we were reading about more plans for Mark's future.

So, how do you measure it? Did his push turn out so much to his liking that he decided to put off retirement......or did the company start planning around him again? Or did they realize Mark is always one injury away from an extended stay on the inactive list and not to be counted on for long periods of time?

Personally, I think the company was extremely lucky to have Mark's push go as long as it did before he broke down again. Now, he's saddled with injuries again and there's talk he doesn't like to work hurt and Vince McMahon is unhappy about it.

Perhaps the company is ready to go back to the plan of last year in which Mark Henry retires after having had a glorious final run. In the meantime, though, wanting him to work while hurt is hardly burying him. Having him get pinned by people who weigh 200 pounds less than him is closer to burying, no? That's the way it used to be.....but no longer.

At any rate, if it turns out to be his last year, I say: Good for you, Mark. You showed 'em you still had the goods to make it happen one more time.

 

[kokoBawesome]

I'm not going to officially declare this as being "buried," but losing to the Big Show after a single knockout punch in a short match doesn't make him look like the beast the dominated Smackdown this fall. Seriously it took the big show five matches before he could finally oneup the worlds strongest man, epic battles the destroyed rings, and now hes a one punch chump?

I really don't understand the logic of, Mark Henry is too injured to be worlds champ, but lets have him feud with Daniel Bryan for the title every single week anyway in shit matches... If he could walk to the ring and get embarresed, why couldn't he walk to the ring and hit a worlds strongest slam? HE CAN! so why can't he have the belt anymore? I love daniel bryan, but i dont get the logic.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Henry has been having some issues that've limited what he's been able to do since just after the TLC ppv. Initially, at least based on what I've read, it seemed that Henry's injuries were going to be severe, to the point in which he might not even make it to WM. So, choices had to be made and the direction to go was chosen.

In that time, it seems that Henry's issues aren't what they were once feared to have been, but the direction the WWE made under the assumption that he was severely injured have worked out. They put the WHC on Daniel Bryan and Bryan is one of the most over heels on SD! right now. His mic work has improved a lot, he seems to be much more comfortable in his current character, his feuds have been interesting and his matches have been great for the most part. Just because Henry isn't hurt as badly as it was initially feared doesn't mean that WWE was going to or should just drop a storyline with a wrestler that's obviously working.

A depush isn't necessarily a burial. As I aluded to earlier, choices were made to go forward with different angles & feuds after Henry was injured. Sheamus & Big Show are two very over babyfaces right now and both of them have big title matches coming up at the biggest wrestling show of the year. Henry is a guy that's been dominating SD! really since last summer, so faces gaining wins over someone like that gives faces momentum heading into their big title matches and make the viewer think that the face has a very good chance of winning his title at the big dance.

In wrestling matches, you've got to have winners & losers sometimes. Someone is going to be elevated in the match at the expense of another. There's no way around that and it has to happen, especially when these matches feature wrestlers that are going to have big matches at a big, upcoming show. Losing a couple of matches here and there doesn't mean someone is being buried.

Also, the bit about comparing Orton & Henry reminds me of something. Even if Henry were being buried, it's not realistic to compare him with Orton. Randy Orton is someone that's been delivering for WWE time and time again virtually the entire time he's been on the roster. The first 14.5 years of Henry's career in WWE were about as far in the opposite direction from Orton's career as possible. I know we'd all like to live in a world where there are no special favorites and nobody gets special treatment, but that's not how it is. If Orton gets special treatment in some situations, it's because he's earned it. He's been a bigger star and made lots more money for WWE than Mark Henry. That's not just wrestling, that's life.