WWE: Henry vs Orton and Matches We Can't Wait to See

As a ferocious Mark Henry thundered to the ring in the aftermath of the Orton vs. Christian cage match and viciously took out an exhausted Orton, leaving him lying down to close out the show, one thing was abundantly clear: Smackdown's main event scene had just changed drastically.

WWE signed Mark Henry to a big-money contract several years ago, based mainly on Henry's real life success in weightlifting (Henry participated in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Spain and placed highly). Since then, the monster athlete has struggled to justify his huge salary because he's never delivered in the ring, lacks charisma and personality and has struggled to get over with the masses.

Indeed, rumour was, the dreadful Mae Young storyline in 1999 was devised by WWE management as a way to get Henry to quit out of embarrassment. If that was the case, it failed miserably: Henry enthusiastically threw himself in the Mae Young storyline and, unlike everyone else that had to watch this atrocity, seemed to be enjoying himself.

Henry has had a lot of start-stop pushes over the years. It seems whenever the main event scene on Raw or Smackdown is thin, Henry is called in from mid-card and presented as a challenger for whoever the champion is at the time.

This has had mixed results over the years. He battled Kurt Angle at the Royal Rumble in an achingly dull match. His later feud with The Undertaker was also dire, and absolutely nobody bought Henry's claim that he would finally be the one to end Undertaker's streak in a casket match at the Wrestlemania 22 event (of course he fell to "The Deadman" in one of the worst matches on the show.)

He fared slightly better during his stints as ECW champion in 2007, partly with the help of wrestling legend Tony Atlas who served as his manager throughout this time.

Regardless, whatever happened, the result was always the same: Henry was sent back to the mid-card after his brief foray into the main events.

Considering the immense talent of the younger wrestlers in WWE who were also competing for main event pushes at the time, this probably wasn't unfair. While Henry can shine as the terrifying monster who destroys everything in sight, he is still an extremely flawed performer, and fans would be naïve to expect the upcoming Orton vs. Henry bout to have anything close to the in-ring quality of the Orton/Christian series.

But Henry has improved as a wrestler over the years, as his ECW run illustrates, and certainly the brave babyface Randy Orton battling the behemoth will be a spectacle to watch, if nothing else. It's also something new, at a time when fans have grown bored of seeing the same old main events over and over again and are salivating for new matches, a Mark Henry main event run provides something refreshing.

Indeed, as an intimidating, trash-talking Goliath, Henry may have found the perfect role in WWE, and this may be the first time in his near 15-year run that WWE writers have truly utilised Henry to the best of his abilities.

If his stay on top is going to be permanent (and with the state of Smackdown’s flagging main event scene these days, it very well may be) there are plenty of new matches for him, especially with Smackdown guys now coming over to Raw, per Triple H's decree last week. Perhaps he could battle John Morrison (who has been struggling to find a good opponent since his return from neck surgery last month) or turn babyface and fight Cody Rhodes (their vastly different personalities would make for an interesting contrast).

This program may also greatly aid Orton's ability to play the babyface role.

Many have suggested that Orton has not been fully comfortable playing a good guy and has struggled in the role. Indeed, in the matches with Christian, 'The Viper' was often greeted with a decidedly mixed reaction by fans (most notably at Money in the Bank, where he was booed out of the building until he viciously RKO'd Christian twice on the Spanish announcer's table). But facing the undisputed heel, Henry will virtually guarantee there are no more split crowds or mixed reactions from fans for which the announcers have to cover.

Summarily, it's an interesting time for the Smackdown brand, which has often been relegated to playing second-fiddle to WWE's flagship show, Raw. The upcoming Mark Henry/Randy Orton bout is a new match for a main event scene that has often been accused of being stale. Assuming Henry stays on top, there could be the potential for many fresh feuds.

It'll be interesting for fans to see the matches offered up from the blue brand in the upcoming months