It's Never Too Late: Mark Henry's Hall of Pain (WWE, 2011)

It's Never Too Late:

Mark Henry's Hall of Pain

WWE, 2011-2013

For match reviews follow this link:
 http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2017/11/hall-of-pain-mark-henry-wwe-2011-2013.html

 

 

 

Before you read another word of this blog, you must watch the following video. Do not skip. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Watch what I consider the greatest pro wrestling promo of all time.

 

 Mark Henry Retirement Speech RAW June 17, 2013

 

 

Anybody who knows me knows I love pro wrestling. My brother has gone on record "There is no bigger fan of anything than you are Martin of pro wrestling." While, I do recognize there are bigger pro wrestling fans than even me. I love pro wrestling. There is no match ever that I would call perfect. Not Flair/Steamboat, not 6/3/94, not 6/9/95, not any match. That promo is perfect and it is the only perfect thing pro wrestling has ever produced. Mark Henry, you did pro wrestling proud, brutha.

 

 

Now Place to be Nation is running the Place To Be Nation Greatest Wrestler Ever in WWE project and I could no longer deny Mark Henry and his Hall of Pain! Since finding prowrestlingonly.com, I have been hearing of this amazing Mark Henry run in 2011, dubbed the Hall of Pain.  I was aware of it in real time. I remember loving the Sheamus Summerslam 2011 match, that was the first time I really took notice of Sheamus someone who I have come to love. I remember marking out with my brother via text the night after WrestleMania XVIII when Mark Henry, the God of Trash Talk, layed the verbal and physical smackdown on CM Punk. Still, I never got around to watching it because there is so much else to watch and at the end of the day, if I am being honest it was Mark Henry. You know Sexual Chocolate and then the oversized midcarder that sort of came and disappeared and did jobs. I am sorry, Mark, I did not know. Part of me always believed that's why I watched, but until you watched you don't understand how great this run is.   

 

What I came to find is perhaps the single greatest monster heel run in pro wrestling history. Mark Henry ruled pro wrestling in 2011 after 15 years of being treated like a joke.

 

It's never too late. Mark had been wrestling since 1996 that is 15 years without really ever sniffing the main event scene. Yes, having gone back and watched some of his 2006 stuff, you could see this as a possibility, but I don't think anyone thought it could be this great of a reality. I don't think anyone would believe he would be given the opportunity to go on quite a tear. It is really an amazing example of that if you work hard & prepare for the right opportunity when it comes along you can still make your dreams come true. This kid from Silsbee, TX makes you believe in that. If you told me or pretty much any pro wrestling fan that in 2010 when Mark Henry was teaming up with Yoshi Frickin Tatsu and doing jobs on a regular basis that he would go onto this Hall of Pain run they would have called you crazy. I that is the beauty of this run more than even its greatness is that it was unexpected and proves that it is never too late.

 

  

Mark Henry's run begins in an innocuous way. He is the victim of Big Show attack. Big Show had snapped due to something Alberto Del Rio did and he took his frustrations out on innocent Mark Henry. Before 2011, this would be nothing. Mark Henry would have done a job or two that would be it. Instead, Mark Henry was done being other people's victims. At Money in the Bank (July) 2011, he broke the Big Show's ankle after winning the match inducting his first victim into the Hall of Pain. From there Mark Henry would win his first and only World Heavyweight Championship in September of 2011 from Randy Orton and he would hold until December losing it to the man he injured, The Big Show.

 

What makes Mark Henry's run so special is threefold. The booking is incredible. He maims Big Show, Kane, Kozlov and Khali. He basically clears out all the other giants, super heavyweights and monsters of WWE. He is not picking on little dudes. He is going after the Redwoods and felling them. He is given a real honest to goodness push and so many times in WWE with their wishy-washy booking it hard to find them really get behind people. Then the capitalize on this by actually having him win the World Championship from Randy Orton. The cherry on top is they had an actual blood feud to go to. When Big Show makes his return and he doesn't just want the title, he is out for blood. The fact it is personal raises the stakes. I loved the ring breaking spot at Vengeance as the perfect way to put over this super heavyweight clash, but also awesome is that Big Show breaks Mark Henry's ankle at Survivor Series, he gets his receipt going into December when he finally wins. It is great old school pro wrestling booking between a avenging babyface and a monster heel. Then of course there is the super fun sidebar with little Daniel Bryan trying to fell big, bad Mark Henry.

 

On top of great booking, there were great promos. Mark Henry ain't flashy. He is credible and genuine, which is even more important. He makes you believe in every word he is saying. You already watched what I called the greatest promo of all time. When Mark Henry says he is gonna kick your ass or split your wig, you believe. The promo after he wins the World Championship is money. "I am not going to share this with any of you" because in his words we were all haters and doubters. I was a doubter, but I am a believer now. Watch that promo!

 

 

 

Finally, in-ring work, I don't think besides Vader there has ever been a monster this good at working on top. His offense during heat segments is incredible. It is at the pace he should be going, but it is always gripping and it is always interesting. It is impactful and it is brutal. You really believe that his opponent has no chance against this gargantuan man. He is athletic look at that crazy move he does to Sheamus where comes down with all his weight on Sheamus' neck up against the middle rope and then slides to the floor. That is badass. He is great at cutoffs. Those headbutts are amazing. He makes babyfaces earn their comebacks. Watch how he is frugal with his bumps. He will go down to one knee or weeble wobble before he bumps late in the match and then crowd is pumped because his opponent finally knocked him off his feet. He is respecting his own size. If he bumps all the time, it means nothing, by waiting until late the pop is that much sweeter. However, when he is wrestling the Big Show, he changes up his game. He bumps & feeds for Big Show because the Big Show has 8 inches and 50-100 lbs on him. So now he is the smaller guy (crazy to think about) and he is showcasing Big Show's size. That's great psychology. He had a great hard hitting match with Sheamus, I thought he had a Match of the Year Candidate with Randy Orton which showcases one of the best monster heel performances of all time, he had a great cage match with Daniel Bryan where David vs Goliath was on full display and him and Big Show had the best super heavyweight vs super heavyweight matches of all time.

 

He would go onto have that great match with CM Punk in 2012 that I mentioned and in 2013 he had the Retirement Speech and he got to work with John Cena. One thing I want to mention, but didn't do a review was in 2014, he had an amazing match with Rusev where he donned his Olympic patriotic colors and defended America against the Russian hero. He was awesome in it.

 

In 2011, Mark Henry made up for lost time. He had a lot of lost time to make up for. He did himself proud and earned the right to be considered not just one of the greatest pro wrestlers in WWE history but one of the greatest in all of pro wrestling history. Just follow Mark Henry's example, it is never too late.