The Many Faces Of Mark Henry - Ranked From Worst To Best
5. The Mid-Career Slump
The Thuggin’ & Buggin’ spell had elevated Mark Henry somewhat, but he did little of interest afterwards. His first port of call after returning to television was the World Heavyweight Championship, but he accidentally forced the champion, Batista, into vacating after injuring him during a house show match. Henry then competed in a battle royal for the vacant belt, but was finally eliminated by Kurt Angle, the eventual winner.
Henry continued chasing the gold, but he never came close to capturing it. He feuded with The Undertaker in the run-up to WrestleMania 22, and while the idea of Henry ending The Deadman’s streak was initially discussed, Mark was dealt a sound defeat. The feud went over incredibly poorly, but WWE, in all their wisdom, decided to revive it the following year.
The former Olympian would become an excellent heel later in his career, and his original “path of destruction” here helped path the way for the Hall Of Pain. Unfortunately, Henry was nothing more than a clumsy, green wrestler at this point, and he failed to convince the audience of his viability as a major player. Aside from sections of The Undertaker feud, nothing about this period of Henry’s career was objectively terrible, but he had very little spark as a performer, and struggled to get over.