(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: Mark Henry vs. The Big Show – WWE Vengeance 2011

Mark Henry is an interesting example of a guy who gets better with age. Though long retired, there seems to be a renewed focus on his career, especially right now courtesy of the YouTube algorithm. One needn’t look far to find fans of his talking about his Hall of Pain gimmick, his salmon jacket, or that five-star fake retirement promo that made him into an overnight sensation. But on the flipside, Henry has some detractors – or at least, critics – who’ve argued that his fleeting moments of greatness can’t make up for over a decade of mediocrity and underperformance.

Still, there’s something special about Mark Henry. Not only does he still have the real sports acumen that gave him immense credibility as a performer, but he has also served as a good talent scout, at least for WWE. And when CM Punk mentioned all the ‘wisdom’ that existed in AEW’s veterans backstage he mentioned Henry by name. So with all that said, was Henry really that good once he was saddled with a proper gimmick?

The Story

Mark Henry spent the first fifteen years of his wrestling career amounting to precious little. That isn’t necessarily a knock on him; despite being built like an absolute unit and boasting legitimate strongman records and a laundry list of real records in multiple strength-based sports, it took a very long time for Henry to achieve anything positive. He signed a ten-year contract in 1996, back when such a thing was unheard of. His contract included special arrangement that allowed him to take him off to work on other strongman records without being interrupted by WWE’s brutal touring schedule. But despite training to become a wrestler, Henry was considered among company higher-ups to be an underachiever, which is something Henry referenced in one of his promos.

There was plenty of proof of this. He allegedly earned backstage heat early into his career which led to his on-screen humiliation via the Sexual Chocolate gimmick. He experienced start-stop pushes over the years and several of those big pushes ended when he suffered one injury or another (his SmackDown feud with Batista was a great example of this as both of those guys got injured at different points before they could have their big blowoff match). WWE’s writers tried to put him over as a monster by calling him “the Silverback” (in reference to the gorilla subspecies, take that for what you will). Then there was that brief period when he wore that bright red singlet that led to unflattering ‘Kool Aid Man’ comments.

Then after a few more years of bumming around in lower-card feuds and thrown-together teams, Henry was drafted to SmackDown in 2011 and immediately turned heel by attacking Christian and John Cena. Now on one hand, one could look at Henry’s rise to the top around this time and blame it on that brand’s shrinking star power at the time: aside from Randy Orton and possibly Christian, SmackDown had far fewer main-event-level draws. On the other hand, Henry’s turnaround was quick and emphatic. He went from being a happy-go-lucky, smiling gentle giant to a beast that tore through people left and right. This in turn led to Henry’s Hall of Pain gimmick, which is considered one of the highlights of his career.

Henry went on a warpath, destroying everything that moved like an old school wrestling monster heel. He bulldozed opponents one after another until he did the unthinkable and pinned Randy Orton clean to win the World Heavyweight Championship. After winning gold Henry continued his rampage until he crossed paths with the Big Show. Henry brought Show down more than once and at one point almost destroyed Show’s leg with a chair and with his own body (I’m pretty sure Henry’s own body and strength would be more damaging than a steel folding chair given how much raw power he actually has). In retaliation, Show knocked Henry out at one point with his WMD knockout punch.

And so the stage was set for WWE’s version of Godzilla versus King Kong, the unstoppable force meets the immovable object. Show was seething over Henry’s constant attacks and Henry vowed to add another inductee into the Hall of Pain. But who would win in the end?

The Match

This took place on October 23, 2011. It was rated ***1/4 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

This is for Henry’s World Heavyweight Championship. The bell rings and both men rush each other. Henry out-powers Big Show to break a lock-up and then powers him into a corner again. Show fights back with punches to send Henry to the floor. Henry stalls for a bit until Show biels him over the top rope. Show follows with a head-butt and a superkick which frustrates Henry to the point that he tries to leave with the belt. Show’s having none of this so he attacks Henry and shoves him back into the ring. But as Show re-enters the ring Henry clips Show’s knee.

Henry scoop slams Big Show with minimal effort and hits an elbow drop to that targeted leg. Henry follows with a knee smasher and a second elbow drop to the knee. Then Henry starts ~WORKING THE LEG~ with elbows and holds. It might seem absurd to see two hosses doing mat wrestling but it makes complete sense here because Henry wants to take Show’s power game out from under him. Show nearly reaches the ropes but Henry drags him to the middle of the ring and applies another leglock. Show escapes and goes for a scoop slam of his own but the weakness in his leg causes him to buckle with Henry on top of him. Henry ends up in a pinning predicament but only gets a two-count.

Henry tries twisting Show’s ankle but Show literally kicks out leading to a “Big Show” chant, which is something I haven’t heard on WWE programming since at least 2004. Both behemoths rush each other and go down on a double clothesline spot. They trade strikes until Show lands multiple head-butts and some short clotheslines. Big Show suddenly has no trouble with the leg and runs across the ring with a hip attack and a shoulderblock. Show succeeds with a scoop slam and a chokeslam but Henry kicks out at two. Show attempts his WMD knockout punch but Henry counters with a World’s Strongest Slam for two.

Frustrated, Henry goes to the top rope only for Show to cut him off and chokeslam him from up top for another close two-count. Then Big Show ascends the turnbuckle but Henry cuts him off and hits a superplex. AND THE RING COLLAPSES! Colossal pop from the crowd and the commentators! After several replays the ref is joined by a doctor and ultimately the match is called off since both men are unconscious and the ring is dead.

Match result: No contest after 13:00 due to imploding ring (Mark Henry is STILL the World Heavyweight Champion)

Post-match both guys are swarmed by more doctors, officials, and on-screen authority figures. The commentators’ voices turn serious as medical equipment is brought down, followed by a modified golf cart meant to carry someone as big as these two guys. Both guys remain largely immobile for minutes on end. Show is the first to move and he refuses help for a moment, which leads to loud and sustained applause. He is eventually carted out while Henry, who delivered that superplex (for two men that size we should call it something else…’ultraplex’ maybe?) struggles to stay on his feet and likewise refuses help. He slowly makes his way up the entrance ramp with some minor help as the segment ends.

Review

I went into this with low expectations given the fact that it was another WWE “giants” match but the match was actually solid. It wasn’t some kind of instant classic by any means but it still lived up to the hype as a titanic clash between two beasts. It was slow at times but not quite sluggish. Rather than just stand there trading blows nonsensically these two fought with an actual story as Henry tried chopping Show down to size by going after a known weakness. It wasn’t the most technically precise or smooth of matches but it was something different and it worked better than most people expected, though Show’s selling was inconsistent.

Then once both guys kicked out of each other’s finisher they had to come up with something even bigger and nothing really tops hitting the ring with so much force that it collapses. Though it wasn’t as iconic as the first ring implosion with Brock Lesnar it was still and exciting and logical way for the match to end. Both men had hit each other with everything they had and so Henry risked everything with a high-risk, high-impact super-move and hurt himself as much as he hurt his opponent. This gave both guys an out, justified a potential rematch, and gave the audience a satisfying conclusion to an otherwise alright big guy match.

The only knock against this match, though, was the annoying commentary. Michael Cole was at his worst here with inconsistent weight calls (as Meltzer noted, apparently Show gained 40 pounds in two minutes) due to the barking coming through his headset; Booker T spent most of the match saying variation of “oh my goodness” and Lawler was just…there. Though they tried to sell this as a big deal this three-man team got a bit distracting and over-the-top, to the point that they became detrimental to the match instead of adding to it.

Final Rating: ***

I think that with the proliferation of smaller and more acrobatic circus performers over the past few years, this was and still is a much-needed palette cleanser and a callback to a different time when less was more and wrestling was as much about the guys hitting the moves than the moves themselves. For all the talk of WWE’s camera work and the state of their production it’s easy to forget just how big these two men were.

With so many big guy matches over the decades either falling flat or ending up outright disappointing, this was as good it gets between two competitors with a combined weight of ~900 pounds.

Thanks for reading.