At any given time, WWE superstars may be missing in action. Maybe they are recovering from an injury, maybe they are getting a creative reboot, maybe the talent is doing a different company project like a movie for WWE Films, or maybe there is a reason we are not aware of.
Sometimes talent has not been seen on television for some time and it is a head-scratcher. For me, that WWE talent in question is a former World Champion, Mark Henry.
On a recent episode of Table For 3, Henry announced that his career was winding down. Prior to this, Henry was seen in this year’s Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at Wrestlemania, in the 30-man Royal Rumble match, and in an enhancement match alongside Braun Strowman.
But remember the 2013 “retirement speech” Henry had given, in which slammed John Cena and declared he had “plenty left in the tank?” It was not only a memorable segment of Monday Night Raw, but a reminder that Henry is excellent on the mic and still capable of good in-ring work.
The question is if WWE is using Mark Henry efficiently within the twilight of his career. This writer says no. When Andre The Giant was winding down with WWF in the early 1990s, he was primarily used in house show battle royal matches. While that may not be the best use of someone like Henry, why not put him in a tag team? Or a managerial role? Or as the leader of some sort of stable? Heck, even a lumberjack match would be better than the minimal usage that the World’s Strongest Man has gotten in recent months.
Even if none of the above options were possible for Mark Henry, why not book a Farewell Tour or some sort of conclusive run? As a former main eventer for WWE, what would be the harm of putting Henry in a few six-man tag matches on house shows?
Now that he is running for office in Knoxville, Kane is facing a similar fate. The former main-eventer and champion did not get a farewell run. Undoubtedly Kane has bigger fish to fry when considering a political career, but someone who has been with the company for more than 20 years — without ever going to another company — surely deserves a proper send-off. We are talking about a future WWE Hall Of Famer without a doubt.
Around the same age as Kane and Mark Henry is Booker T. Booker also did not wrestle a proper farewell match for WWE, simply just telling people he was retired at one point, if I recall correctly. While every wrestler has their own expiration date, it leads one to ponder how much is left in the tank for Chris Jericho, Big Show, R-Truth and Goldust, as some of the active WWE roster’s longest-tenured talent.
Whether or not Mark Henry has one more Wrestlemania left in him, a long career like his deserves celebration. So thanks to the World’s Strongest Man for his dedication to sports entertainment.
— TheMarkHenry (@TheMarkHenry) July 28, 2017
