10 Monster Pushes That WWE Totally Wasted

It took Mark Henry a long time to find his footing in WWE.

Signed in 1996, the former Olympian was made to endure the horrific Sexual Chocolate gimmick in his early days, and was sent back to developmental to sharpen his subpar skills on a number of different occasions. Furthermore, major injury problems have plagued him throughout his 20+ year WWE run, providing countless setbacks.

By 2011, however, Henry had finally clicked. The Hall Of Pain gimmick transformed him from an upper-midcard also-ran to one of WWE’s most fearsome competitors, and after injuring the likes of Big Show and Great Khali, he looked like the most dominant wrestler around. That September, Henry became World Heavyweight Champion 15 years after first debuting with WWE, cementing his status as one of the best monster heels the sport has seen in the past couple of decades.

A downturn was right around the corner, however. As champion, Henry lost three consecutive matches to Big Show in the run-up to their match at Vengeance, which ended in a no contest when the ring collapsed. He was continually portrayed as second-rate while working with Show, and eventually dropped the strap to him in a Chairs Match that December. Henry remained in the title picture for a while, but WWE had needlessly crushed his aura when the push still had plenty of mileage left, and his post retirement swerve loss to John Cena cemented his slide down the card.