WWE News: Mark Henry, Christian and the Temporary Death of the Youth Movement

Remember when the WrestleMania XXV main event fell flat on its face, and the lasting impression that WWE's fanbase was left with was how tired and repetitive WWE had grown? 

With Triple H and Randy Orton, in a match that has been done time and time again, closing WrestleMania XXV by failing to out-do quite possibly the greatest WWE match of all time between Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker, it became painfully obvious that it was time for a change—especially at the top.  

WWE answered aggressively with a youth movement that became effective almost immediately in 2009.  Vince McMahon and Co. trumpeted this youth movement at shareholder's meetings to give their gullible investors confidence in WWE's future business.  

Alberto Del Rio (who really isn't that young) and the Miz were specifically mentioned as two stars who would lead the charge in this hypothetical youth movement.  Today, they are the only two stars who seem to have survived the outright massacre of once promising talent dating back to pushes in 2009.

Perhaps WWE felt that their hands were tied with Del Rio and Miz since they mentioned them specifically, so they had to use them as tokens to appease the shareholders.   

Drew McIntyre (age 26) was thrust into the spotlight as the chosen one in 2009.  McIntyre would go on to capture the Intercontinental Championship from John Morrison (age 31) within months of making his debut.

McIntyre has since been a non-factor on RAW, and the last time he was seen on television he received a rather unceremonious super kick from Shawn Michaels (age 45) after amassing seconds of on-camera time. 

Sheamus (age 33) would splash onto the scene following WrestleMania XXV, as a take-no-prisoners monster who ran through the WWE roster a la Brock Lesnar, before shockingly beating John Cena for the WWE Championship at Tables, Ladders and Chairs in 2009.  

After two WWE Championship runs that almost never saw him win a match clean, Sheamus would be de-emphasized to the point of oblivion.  Sheamus' deceptively resurgent King of the Ring victory in 2010 turned out to mean nothing outside of an embarrassing addition to his wardrobe. 

Sheamus has since been drafted to SmackDown where he is still trying valiantly to shake off his precipitous decline after what seemed to be a meteoric rise in WWE. 

Kofi Kingston was also given a baton by virtue of a scintillating program with Randy Orton that saw him dive off of a balcony in Madison Square Garden at one point. It doesn't get any better than that, right? 

Right. 

If you're Kofi Kingston, it really didn't get any better than that as Kingston's feud with Orton ended the same way every rising star's feud with Orton seems to end—with the rising star inexplicably falling.  

Kingston is now right back where he started, feuding with Dolph Ziggler in a mid-card feud for a belt no different than the ones you can buy on WWEShop.com.

Speaking of Ziggler, did you know he is technically a former world champion?  He now wears the aforementioned toy that he and Kofi valiantly feud over, and is presently the worst grand slam winner in the history of WWE.  

It doesn't stop there.  The fates of Wade Barrett, who started out hot as the ringleader of the Nexus group in 2010 only to evaporate from the RAW main event, an injured John Morrison (so he doesn't count) and Ted DiBiase Jr. have also been sealed as the once promising superstars who all find themselves in the same position as many young pups did in early 2009—watching the old dogs carry the company.

Since it's still a hot topic, CM Punk (age 32) is on his way out of the company due in part to WWE's reverence toward veteran talent.  And there was your obligatory CM Punk reference. 

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has been guilty of leaning on his elder statesmen in times of peril.  With WWE's business trending downward, veterans such as Mark Henry, Christian and R-Truth have been pushed to the forefront, experiencing late career surges.  All the while, John Cena and Randy Orton, who have a combined 18 world championships between them, reign as the WWE and world champion respectively.

The main event at last month's WWE Capitol Punishment saw 10-time world champion John Cena defeat R-Truth (age 39), all while eight-time world champion Randy Orton defeated Christian (age 37). 

Resurgent former strongman Mark Henry (age 40) seems to be next in line for a world title shot with the way he's being booked. 

Talking about who should get pushed is old hat.  Especially on the internet.  There's a reason why some stars get pushed and others don't and, given WWE's success in the wrestling business, that reason is usually a good one.  Besides, it's Vince McMahon's company and he, and the WWE brass, can and should push whoever they feel deserves to represent their company in the best light. 

However, WWE seems to be developing an alarming trend by going back to emphasizing veteran talent at the expense of creating new stars.  With no definitive future stars ready to go, WWE is sure to run into a familiar problem of having their ever-so-fragile veteran bubble burst, only to be stuck with superstars who they treated as yesterday's news. 

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