I'm one of those WWE fans who starts hitting the DVR fast-forward as soon one guy is thrown from the ring and Michael's Cole's voice hits that certain inflection. In other words, it's really difficult to surprise or fool me because I understand the WWE formula. But last night, Mark Henry pulled it off.
Naturally, anytime WWE.com is promoting someone's "real" tweets, you have to be suspicious. But Henry retiring "for real" seemed like a possibility.
In retrospect, I should have seen it coming when John Cena was hanging around for too long. But give Henry all the credit in the world for selling that promo. HE WAS CRYING! The emotion seemed so real, I suspect Henry really is getting close to the end, and he was doing a promo from the heart. Either way, Henry cut what was, to me, the best WWE promo since "the pipe bomb". The whole time, I was thinking, "Man, Mark Henry used to suck, but I'm happy he had a great run at the end of his career, and this is a fitting sendoff." Then, "NO WAY!" Hook. Line. Sinker.
And what made it all the more interesting, was it seemed like the culmination of David Shoemaker's (aka The Masked Man) idea of The Reality Era in WWE. Twitter is ostensibly a "real" medium, one that exists outside the confines of WWE story lines. Sometimes this is true and sometimes, obviously, it isn't. Big E Langston's jokes on Twitter are clearly his, because WWE writers aren't that funny. Having the curtain pulled back slightly, via Twitter, shows us the "real" Big E. Or least the one he wants us to see. And at the same time, this intimacy and sometimes false sense of reality lures even the most jaded fans (like me) back into kayfabe. The con man must first earn his mark's trust.
Henry exploited a real situation (his on-going injuries and retirement talk) via a sometimes real/sometimes kayfabe medium (Twitter) and injected it into the WWE realm. And it was all executed brilliantly.
Now, this isn't the first time a WWE wrestler has trolled Twitter users for story-line purposes (Y2J's return comes to mind), but my question is, do you think this is a viable strategy? In other words, 99% of the time, have your wrestlers use social media, radio appearances, etc., to "pull back the curtain" and let people see "the real" Daniel Bryan? And then, 1% of the time, you pull something over on the fans using "real" media? As a fan, if that's what it takes to genuinely surprise me, I'm totally fine with it.
Your thoughts on this method? And did you love the promo as much as I did?
It was an awesome segment. It made me giddy with delight, so that's something special. I was watching it thinking "This is a really touching farewell promo, and the only thing that would make it better is if Henry's character gets tired of Cena's condescending support and turns on the motherfucker." And then HE DID. It was just perfectly timed and incredibly well executed.
As for the social media thing, I'm probably one of the least social media people on the interwebs and I still have no idea what the endgame of the whole Twitter/Facebook...thing...is, and I don't really know how to use them outside of bitching on Facebook and mirroring stuff on Twitter. I don't really follow anyone on Twitter outside of a few people, in the sense that I check Twitter maybe once a week and I have an app on my phone that tells me when someone directs a question to me there. So I'm clearly not the guy to give you a good answer on whether what they're doing is good/bad/indifferent/whatever, sorry.
I bought only because Mark's been so oft-injured as of late -- and his age-- that I thought he really was gonna hang it up.
ReplyDeleteBut turning on Cena reminded me why he's been the monster heel of monster heels the last few years. Should've seen it coming because THATS WHAT HE DO
no, his lil girl needs to be in on it and then pushed as the main heel diva
ReplyDeletethat would rule
I agree. Best promo since the pipe bomb.
ReplyDeleteI can't actually think of a better 'acted' promo ever. Maybe Cane Dewey but I can think of very few occasions where a wrestler has delivered his promo so well. And I don't mean like The Rock in terms of timing or wit, but delivering it with actual acting chops and emotion.
Henry really nailed it on Monday. Where the hell was he keeping this for the first 15 years of his career
Mark Henry beats the piss out of Cena at Money in the Bank, but Cena pulls out the win, like his win over Lesnar at Extreme Rules. Daniel Bryan wins Money in the Bank earlier in the night and cashes in the briefcase on Cena after Cena's victory over Henry, and wins the WWE title, setting up the Summerslam main event, Cena vs. Bryan.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as Henry came out, I thought Henry was going to say fuck retiring and just beat Cena senseless. As soon as Henry started showing his emotion he had me sold. Especially when he brought his kids into it, I thought Henry was getting a legit sendoff, and then BAM! He flattens Cena. Best promo since Punk's pipebomb, with ease. 2 1/2 years ago, if you told me that Mark Henry would have been interesting, I would have slapped you across the face. Damn how time(and correct booking...) can change things.
ReplyDeleteIf they want it face against face, then have Bryan win money in the bank, but refuse to take advantage of Cena after Cena's hard fought victory over Henry. Instead, he challenges Cena to put up his title against him at Summerslam.
ReplyDeleteI keep trying to tell yall people. Go back and watch the Mark Henry ECW title run with Tony Atlas...
ReplyDeleteMOtherfucker was over!!!!
He has been over since then.
the ONLY THING that would have made that speech better if the whole roster would have came out for the congrats and Cena did his thing, then WSS, and the whole roster just looks at him dumbfounded.
ReplyDeleteEven when he turned face and was hottubbing with Hornswaggle?
ReplyDeleteYep, for one week that was the best angle ever.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, having someone come out and retire with John Cena there, so that the vet can put over Cena and make Cena seem like the respectful face of the WWE is exactly what they would do. So while i saw it coming...I wouldn't have been surprised if it was a real retirement.
ReplyDeleteIt was kind of obvious considering he sent out an angry tweet over the retirement rumours, you don't act out like that only to just retire.
ReplyDeleteI completely fell for it as well, despite the weird looks Henry was giving when Cena let him hold the title. He just spoke for so long and seemed so genuine that I bought it all the way. Can't remember the last time I was surprised like that on Raw - one of the best Raw moments in ages
ReplyDeleteYeah I think Cena set something up by promising that whoever wins wont steal it off him he'll give a proper fight. So I'm guessing that leads to Daniel Bryan just outright using it for a one on one match to prove to himself and everyone that he deserves all the respect and that he is as good as he thinks he is. In retrospect the whole frustrated Daniel Bryan act is working perfectly because his fans certainly feel that frustration too.
ReplyDeleteI know they are completely different styles, but it kind of shows you how not only the WWE attitude audience has grown, but the nature of the entertainment business where Rocky's usual funny put downs aren't nearly as entertaining as something like Punk's rant or Henry's promo this week. I never thought I'd say this...but monday showed that Henry is better at promos than the Rock is right now. It's easy to yell out catchphrases and play the audience while threatening your opponent with promises of ass kicking, but to legitimately sell a retirement only to turn that into anger and deception is just masterclass stuff, Henry played with the emotions of the audience, had us in the palm of his hands then had us all eating out of it by the end. That's true promo work in 2013.
ReplyDeleteIf he ever wins that WWE title or not, i think when he eventually does retire and gets inducted into the HOF, that promo will be the moment that really tops his career in the annals of history. It's just masterclass stuff and I hope WWE realises how good it really was, because they can either bury it by underplaying it or make it something truly legendary outside of internet fans and reference how great it was.
ReplyDeleteEither way...the irony is that his faux retirement speech probably made Henry a bigger star than he ever was.
He should have kicked that stupid hat out of the ring too.
ReplyDeleteIt really shocks me how you guys fell for this. It was a great segment but I could tell it was a work when Cena was just hanging out for no reason. Then again, I can call most movie twists like a half hour early (looper last night), so I'm probably just way more intelligent than most of you.
ReplyDeleteThat was my thought. I'm so sick of that cheat...save it for the WHC, and let Bryan challenge Cena straight up.
ReplyDeleteHe's Mark Henry, not Black Brock Lesnar.
ReplyDeleteLaquisha Henry, daughter of future Hall of Famer Mark Henry gets repeated 1,000,000 tmes when she appears.
ReplyDeleteHe was over before that too when he was doing that thing where he would raise his arms and lower his arms.
ReplyDelete"No, not Mae Young, dummy."
ReplyDeleteYou mean have him do what he said he was going to do last time, although Summerslam instead of Wrestlemania?
ReplyDeleteThat was a wrestling promo, not a sports-entertainment promo. Huge difference.
ReplyDeleteThe tip-off came when Henry listed all his accomplishments, then pointed out that they were nothing compared to Cena's. Henry's character could never accept that.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure the crowd chanted "one more match" when they thought it was real, then "one more slam" after they realized it wasn't. Just great.
ReplyDeleteRe: social media, I see it as a real boon for the talent to get their characters over for free without much of the interference they'd encounter with TV. Zack Ryder is a prime example, as is Dean Ambrose for having a Twitter he never uses.
ReplyDeleteIt was supported by social media, it broke the barrier between heel and face, it referenced the performer's personal life... I'd call that a very good sports entertainment promo.
ReplyDeleteThat's fair; the use of all the social media tricks and whatnot was very well-done.
ReplyDeleteI see it as more of a wrestling promo because Mark made it so real. Sports entertainment winks at the unreality of wrestling ('this business', etc) while a good wrestling promo made it feel real. It might be recency bias, but Mark gave a promo on par with Dusty Rhodes' Hard Times, Sting getting kicked out of the Horsemen or Austin 3:16.
Topped by "I STILL GOT A LOT LEFT IN THE TANK!"
ReplyDeleteAnd it's a mighty big tank...
ReplyDeleteAn act which was blatantly stolen by Emma in NXT.
ReplyDeleteCraig Sager wants his jacket back
ReplyDeleteThat's okay. As George Washington once said "better a fool than a cunt."
ReplyDeleteThat was George Washington Carver.
ReplyDeleteSo it was. A typically foul-mouthed botanist.
ReplyDeleteWho puts cherries on cake?
ReplyDeleteI knew it was a strong possibility, but Henry sold it, man. He had me. Not ashamed at all. As for LOOPER, that wasn't really a twist. Pretty obvious once you realize he's searching for a kid.
ReplyDeleteTroll harder.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Henry should beat the hell out of Cena (just because) and when Cena is down and out, Bryan's music hits, and he comes out and deliberately does NOT cash in the case, instead challenging him for Summerslam just to out-Cena Cena. That would be a giant babyface move.
ReplyDeleteDouche harder.
ReplyDeleteWithout getting into spoilers, it's more than that.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that gave it away the most was JBL saying "This is the only title Henry hasn't won" when Cena gave him the WWE title for a second.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed it for the moment, laughed at how great Henry played to the crowd, and laughed heartily when he picked Cena up for the slam. Just great all around.
Cena being out there and the way that they were advertising the segment "Mark Henry Retirement" was the automatic dead give-away that it was a work. Didnt buy it for a second. Great segment though, Henry was SUPERB
ReplyDeletewhile her daddy's splittin' wigs, she could be givin' wet willies and purple nurples to the divas and yellin' 'thats what i do!'
ReplyDeleteSurely now Henry HAS to win the title... there's no point in him doing anything other than wrestling for the title
ReplyDeleteThat's brilliant.
ReplyDeleteThat's not really a fair statement. While Henry did a fantastic job Monday night, it's not like Rock had the same opportunity to play up a (very likely) retirement. His "storylines" the way they were during his return, there really wasn't much chance for Rock to get *that* serious. He had no real issue with Cena either time they squared off and the biggest issue with him and Punk was Punk cheapshotting him last year. Not exactly the makings of a hard-hitting emotional story.
ReplyDeleteI had the same idea. Have Bryan come out like he's going the cheap route, only to drop the challenge to prove he isn't the weak link. It goes well with what they're already doing.
ReplyDeleteI've said it before, but I think it's safe to say the majority of us saw it coming a mile away. Between the social media stuff and Cena hanging around, it was a little too on the nose obvious.
ReplyDeleteBut then Henry's speech was so heartfelt and real (which it likely was). He talked JUST long enough enough that, for me at least, it created just enough room for doubt that I was legitimately excited when he slammed that smiling chump.
The one problem I see now? Largely because of the speech and partly because we've grown to really like him over the last few years as a worker, he got CHEERED big time for that slam. He's supposed to be the heel in this equation. Of course, most people who face Cena these days are the default face even though he's SUPPOSED to be the face. But now we have to put up with WWE telling us what a heinous act it was when we all thought it was awesome.
I read Scott's rant before watching it on YouTube so I knew going in it was a work so I got to view it with different eyes. It was fucking awesome seeing Mark Henry work the crowd perfectly. I don't think there's a single thing he could've done better.
ReplyDeleteHenry should destroy Cena, but Cena keeps making Superman comebacks. Henry starts getting "injured" in the match, grabbing his quad and knee as it goes on, but he just doesn't give a shit. He keeps going after Cena even though it is tearing him apart.
ReplyDeleteThen he hits the WSS, but gets up in agony and hits it 3 or 4 more times screaming, "AINT GONNA BE NO SUPERMAN COMEBACK!"
Then he just collapses on him for the pin and the title, but he can't even stand. He swats off the refs, but Ron Simmons comes out to help him to the back. As he is about to go behind the curtain, he turns to the fans, holds up the belt and yells,
"THAT'S WAS I HAD TO DO!"
That would be magical
ReplyDeleteJesse Baker should take notes because THAT'S how you fantasy book.
ReplyDeleteAs far as social media goes, I'm starting to get into it, now. Though admittedly, I'm using it to create contacts and promote my work, especially my first book which came out in February (The City of Smoke & Mirrors; available on Amazon! Shameless plug, shameless plug).
ReplyDeleteAnd, at least to me, I think that's mostly what social media is good for: promoting. It's the best and quickest way for a writer or artist to keep in touch with their fans without much effort AND keep them informed on their latest work.
I am kind of shocked that fans chanted "One more match" to Henry. Have they watched a Mark Henry match?
ReplyDeleteOtherwise it's a great promo. Henry is basically doing a real retirement speech and then turns on Cena. He even got the tears going. Just fantastic
Maybe after he wins the title, he can develop a problem with The Shield or Wyatts or stables in general... leading to the return of NATION OF DOMINATION... Henry, Kofi, PTP, R Truth
ReplyDeleteON? Not sure. But chocolate cake with cherry filling is de-goddamn-licious.
ReplyDeleteThere was a twist in Looper? I haven't seen it in a while but I don't remember a twist.
ReplyDeleteDon't feed the trolls
ReplyDelete'Then again, I can call most movie twists like a half hour early (looper last night),'
ReplyDeletewell yeah when all you do is spend time on the couch eatin' cheetos and watchin movie after movie after movie you start to learn about 'em and recognize patterns.
nothin' to brag about, really
You must have me confused with your mother.
ReplyDeleteYour mother.
ReplyDeleteWell, probably more your grandmother.
My bad.
ReplyDeleteburn?
ReplyDeletenah, cause she eats pork rinds.
ReplyDeleteI figured the actual retirement tease tweet is what would be swerving us. Then we got to the promo. When he brought his kids up, I thought it was a lock that he was actually retiring.
ReplyDeleteIn a post-kayfabe world, people seem completely open to buying into Twitter feeds and TMZ leaks about celebrities. If it works for Hollywood agents to get interest in their client maybe it's a way to renew a small part of kayfabe.
ReplyDeleteI called the twist at the end of a Chubby Checker record once. (Self high five)
ReplyDeleteMark's been on an awesome run since 2010. This isn't 1999's Mark Henry.
ReplyDeleteThere's no way it gets booked that good.
ReplyDeleteDougie, you're a lot of things. But intelligent isn't one of them.
ReplyDeleteExcept you weren't supposed to believe Henry was in character.
ReplyDeleteGotta love how upset super-smarks get when they get worked.
ReplyDeleteI don't follow him on Twitter, but it was explained well enough for me and a bunch of my friends to fall for it.
ReplyDeleteI hope Mark has a million more matches. Have you watched a Mark Henry match?
ReplyDeleteHenry's matches are awesome to watch these days. What are you on?
ReplyDeleteThat's not what he does.
ReplyDeleteDavid Shoemaker is definitely in the Bill Simmons/Grantland/Malcolm Gladwell school of "conform the facts to your thesis"
ReplyDeleteThe moment would be destroyed by everyone looking to the back awaiting the arrival of the Money in the Bank winner.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the age of the worked-shoot match — how else would you describe Ziggler–Del Rio?
ReplyDeleteA wrestling match?
Those are not the same.
ReplyDeleteGood point... I suppose it was at that point that I realized he was in character.
ReplyDeleteEver since they started booking Henry like 1993 Vader, he's been great. "SOMEBODY GON' GET THEY ASS KICKED!" is one of my favorite themes of the past decade,too.
ReplyDeleteTrue. I don't follow him, but heard about the "retirement" through a dirt sheet.
ReplyDeleteWe should also give props to John Cena for his part in that segment. Not only does he give a really good promo that plays to his strong points without the cornball comedy, he also sets himself up as the boob by letting his guard down no less than 10 minutes after he promised to never do so.
ReplyDeleteNo one is upset.
ReplyDeleteBy a half hour early, he means he realized that Bruce Willis and JGL were the same person when he looked at the cover of the movie.
ReplyDeleteThat wasn't the twist, for the record.
Your mother jokes.
ReplyDeleteIt's like it's 1994 up in this hizouse.
LOL STFU YOU BOUGHT INTO IT.
ReplyDeleteThree replies in ten minutes! Looks like I got a super-smark in a tizzy!
ReplyDeleteDougie, you're a troll. No one who got "worked" by Mark's promo is upset about it. That's the point! To get sucked into what is going on. If you're to smart (not fucking likely) or jaded to "fall" for it, well good for you. But then stop watching, because you're missing the point of the show.
ReplyDeleteMark's speech reminded me a lot of Edge's. It was delivered flawlessly. The only problem was that they telegraphed the angle far too much in the content. It was still well executed but they might have caught a few more people by surprise if they hadn't hammered the foreshadowing so much.
ReplyDeleteSo funny that you thought it was real. Are you legit retarded? I would understand if you had downs or something. Autism?
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for everyone who "saw through Mark Henry's promo" or "knew it was a work the whole time." For starters, not everyone who is saying that is telling the truth (I'm looking at you, Dougie). But if you are, I just feel bad that you can't be entertained by what was done. Mark Henry did a great job of weaving real elements (twitter, tears) into the setup of a masterfully executed promo that had the crowd and most fans hanging on his every work. If you can't take yourself out of being a "smart fan" long enough to be captivated... stop watching. If you "know" everything is fake (and in CRZ's words, if it's on TV, it's probably a work) then you might as well watch Major Crimes or Family Guy reruns or whatever else is on TV Mondays from 8-11 because that's all "fake" too. But we all started out as fans of this genre who thought it was "real" and learned at some point it wasn't, but decided it was just as enjoybale with our peak behind the curtain. And anytime they blend the storylines with real emotions, like Henry's speech, or CM Punk's "Pipe Bomb" storyline, or the retirement storylines of Michaels & Flair, isn't that when wrestling is at it's best?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, good for all you smarty-smarks who didn't get fooled. I still like to believe there's a Santa Claus once in a while.
Henry/Cena 2013 could be like Sting/Vader in 92, except Vader won most of those matches... and I don't see that happeneing here.
ReplyDeleteSo, for the tl;dr crowd, the moral is...it's good to be stupid?
ReplyDeleteI'll just say this, if you can't take the heat, don't tickle the dragon.
ReplyDeleteDo you even understand what those words mean?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, what was the point of your post. I guarantee if all of us were here saying we saw it coming a mile away, you'd be bitching at us for "not living in the moment or enjoying the show".
ReplyDeleteHe thinks Autism is Stone Cold's last name.
ReplyDeleteHall of Fame is a bit of a stretch in my opinion.... he's been with the company since like 1996 but I don't think he won a championship until 2008 (he was "given" the European belt in 99). It's only the last few years he's evolved into legit performer. And I kinda have a feeling there were many times Vince regretted that long-term contract he signed the guy to in 1996.
ReplyDeleteThen again, this is the WWE Hall of Fame we're talking about... so who knows?
I'm right there with ya.
ReplyDeleteI'm convinced McMahon took that jacket to have an entire suit made for himself. We'll see it next week.
ReplyDeleteUm... filmed on a potato?
ReplyDeleteThis kind of storyline is actually a gateway to Twitter. People who enjoyed this can go back and discover that there really WAS a backstory here, and decide to follow it more.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to know how many new followers Mark got after that promo (doubtless someone in WWE already knows this...Twitter provides a level of immediate viewer feedback that people couldn't have dreamed about 20 years ago)
IT'S STILL REAL TO ME DAMMIT!
ReplyDeleteI read about the segment before watching it so I had a different lens. I saw things that definitely could be conceived as giveaways. 1) Cena staying. 2)Henry pointing out how much success Cena has had and that he has never been WWE champion. But given how well Mark performed I can easily see how people bought into it. He did an amazing job.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't surprised because Cena was hanging around the whole time, but Henry sold it so damn well I was able to actually buy into it, even knowing there's no way Cena wasn't getting leveled there considering there was no other honest reason he'd be hanging around otherwise.
ReplyDeleteNobody has ever thought to target an injured body part in a wrestling match. Undeniable proof of trolling!
ReplyDeleteI don't get how A = B. I was pretty sure it was a work the whole time, because it's not like Cena was this incredibly important person in Mark's career, so why exactly was he there (totally not having an opponent for the next PPV)? I still thought it was a tremendously entertaining promo and Henry did a fantastic job, obviously with some genuine emotion. Why does realizing it's a "work" somehow make the entire thing not entertaining? Are you suggesting wrestling is only entertaining when it's actually real and/or you 100% believe it's totally real? Do you think Bryan VS Rollins was stupid because they don't really hate each other in real life? I'm not being a dick, I don't get your argument. I thought Henry had a fantastic, emotional promo, sold it so well you could suspend your disbelief, but because it really made no sense for Cena to be there otherwise, I suspected he was going to take him out. Not sure how that somehow equals "I wasn't entertained".
ReplyDeleteThe ONLY thing that tipped me off was Henry's music interrupting Cenas segment, sure fire tell for an angle, and when Cena kept handing him the belt to hold up.
ReplyDeleteI thought Cena was hanging around simply to garner some sympathy and good will from the fans.
Not that it means much, but I was definitely one of those new followers after his promo.
ReplyDeleteIt's like Cloverfield!
ReplyDeleteYou can still enjoy a segment knowing its a work. I assume everything that makes it on to wwe television is a work, and was 99.99% sure that Henry's speech was a work but still enjoyed it because it was creatively planned and extremely well executed. Blending "real emotion" with a atoryline doesnt make something more or less of a work then anything else thats conpletely scripted...its just better in execution Take your condescending posts elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think that people are downvoting stupidity, because the alternative is not pretty.
ReplyDeleteJust so we are all clear, please downvote this if you think it's great to be stupid.
What's the point of your trolling me?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you had to find out that wrestling is predetermined. I won't tell you about unicorns.
ReplyDeleteNo he doesn't. It's Williams.
ReplyDeleteKane and The Undertaker aren't really brothers.
ReplyDeleteI remember Sting doing a series of interviews with JR after dropping the belt to Vader and they actually had a monitor with the match and Sting went over what he was thinking and how he tried everything but just couldn't get the job done. Something you NEVER see now but really got Sting over as a face to my young eyes.
ReplyDeleteNo but you should Dare to be Stupid.
ReplyDeleteIf you "knew" it was a work and were still entertained, that's totally cool. I'm just raging against the folks who think that they're so smart they can "never be fooled." And that somehow those of us who bought into the segment are idiots. I mean, no one in the live thread (that I saw) was posting "oh this whole thing is a work" while it was going on, it more seemed like everyone was buying the speech and when he killed Cena, we loved it! We were "worked" by the segment and if you can't let that happen to yourself, they why watch?
ReplyDeleteLike the last few years, everyone *KNEW* that Undertaker was winning his match, but there was always one or two false finishes in there that looked like he would lose (I'm specifically thinking about the superkick-pedigree nearfall in last year's HitC match). But lots of us STILL BOUGHT THE NEAR FALL even though we *knew* Undertaker was winning.
If you spend the whole night looking for the angle instead of getting sucked into the emotion, why bother? It would be like going to see Man of Steel with a friend and when you tell him you enjoyed it, he tells you "Well, you KNOW the flying was fake so how can you enjoy it?"
What is "stupid" about getting sucked into an angle?
ReplyDeleteWhat's condescending about my post, exactly? My point is that there's a few people here posting about how much smarter they are because they didn't buy into the angle. That's not "smart;" that's just not enjoying the product.
ReplyDeleteCartoons are just drawings!
ReplyDeleteCount me in as fooled and I've been watching wrestling for a loooong time.
ReplyDeleteHow is it that I can be indifferent to Mark Henry for 15 years and then find him to be one of the greatest heel performers I've seen? It doesn't usually work that way.
"That's what I DO" was the perfect ending to the segment. It was him telling the "puppet" fans--"I'm a heel, what did you think was going to happen?"
Ever since it was mentioned by someone here, I can't stop focusing on Mark's seeming lack of eyeballs.
I was totally fooled and it was awesome. Mark Henry made me forget all about Bryan vs. Cena. The dude is at his peak right now.
ReplyDeleteActually, it's Austin.
ReplyDeleteHe got it legally changed.
Thank you Captain Obvious.
ReplyDeletePerhaps some of us like to suspend belief when we watch shows.
And yet Punk was killing Rock in the promos ("your arms are too short to box with God" might not have been a line he came up with, but Punk KILLED Rock with it).
ReplyDeleteThe real problem is that the Rock might as well have put a stamp on the camera the way he was mailing it in.
Is that the one yo momma was sitting around?
ReplyDeleteBecause she's so fat, ya see.
Duh, they're half brothers. Dumbass.
ReplyDeleteOr by Cena immediately standing and smiling before Henry gets back up the ramp.
ReplyDeleteYou don't like cupcakes? https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cherry+on+the+cake&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari
ReplyDeleteYou can make that argument for practically anyone, though. I imagine Henry will probably be inducted someday, if for no other reason than that he's been a good company man.
ReplyDeleteYeah, worth remembering that Henry has been around for almost 17 years now. Vince might have regretted the deal he initially signed Mark to but he did resign him. Plus Henry has always been game to do whatever the WWE wanted him to do irrespective of how degrading it was.
ReplyDeleteCena BRAVELY OVERCOMES THE ODDStm and is lying in the ring, Ride of the Valkyries hits, WFC comes unglued, Daniel Bryan walks down to the ring, sets the briefcase down, asks for a mic, and squats next to Cena: "You probably think I'm here to cash this in and steal your title. I'm not, that's what a weak link would do. But I will be cashing in my Money in the Bank briefcase for Summerslam. It's just like I said three years ago, John, you are not better than me :patented Daniel Bryan kick to the head of John Cena, Daniel Bryan picks up the title and the briefcase and stands on the top turnbuckle chanting 'Yes' as we fade to black:"
ReplyDeleteThey're on an island with Elvis and Andy Kaufman.
ReplyDelete