WWE Night of Champions 2011: Why Sunday May Be Mark Henry's Last Chance

There is no WWE Superstar under more pressure to deliver a strong showing at the Night of Champions pay-per-view event than "The World's Strongest Man," Mark Henry.

It is a strong statement, considering the fact that CM Punk has a very high-profile match with Triple H on the card, and Alberto Del Rio must look to rebound from a very pedestrian couple of months with a memorable WWE Championship match against John Cena. As much as Punk and Del Rio will be heavily scrutinized at the event, the pressure on Mark Henry to perform at a high level is much more intense.

At the age of 40, Mark Henry has had a very long career with World Wrestling Entertainment. He is behind only The Undertaker and Triple H in terms of longevity. He has had his ups and downs with the company and, on more than one occasion, had fans across the globe calling for his release.

But on September 18, 2011, Mark Henry will stand across the ring from Randy Orton, challenging for "The Viper's" World Heavyweight Championship on a world-wide stage—on arguably the strongest streak of his career.

If not for the buzz that was created with the mega-push of CM Punk starting in late-June, the summer of 2011 may very well have been remembered as the "Summer of Mark Henry." Since his arrival on Smackdown in April, Henry has dominated all of his competition and has returned to his 2008 ECW roots as the monstrous, dominating heel that he should have been from the get-go. Not only has Henry been booked strong for the last five months, he has also stepped up his in-ring work, showing a fire and motivation that had been missing since arriving on Raw and turning babyface.

His matches with The Big Show, Kane, and Sheamus have been better than any fan could have possibly asked for or expected. The storyline of his rise to dominance has been "Wrestling Booking 101"—simple and effective. Everything Henry has done since April has been spot-on, and has really led to the man formerly mocked as "Sexual Chocolate" to become one of the company's truly underrated performers.

This is why Mark Henry simply cannot afford a poor showing at Night of Champions.

A poor showing at this Sunday's event would be a catastrophic disappointment for Henry, his fans, and the creative team that has crafted a largely entertaining story leading into the show. The age of 40 brings with it longevity and experience, but it also greatly decreases the number of chances one has left to succeed. After spending 15 years on the WWE roster as an active competitor, it is almost a guarantee that Mark Henry will never again have the opportunity to reach up and grab that proverbial brass ring. Never before in his somewhat underrated career has he been closer to the World Heavyweight Championship, the biggest goal a sports-entertainer can possibly have.

A match with Randy Orton that fails to live up to the hype and build surrounding it will undoubtedly undo all of the stellar work Henry has done to this point and could, quite possibly, throw Smackdown's booking into disarray. It would also greatly disappoint the fans that have been watching Henry since his debut with the company in 1996—the fans that have waited for him to finally realize his potential and win his first major championship.

There is no current star who could see his career derailed with a poor showing more than Mark Henry at Night of Champions. After years of second and third chances, of stop-and-go pushes, of injuries and question marks regarding his true potential, this is Henry's one last chance. There will be no more.

While he may not leave Buffalo, New York with the World Heavyweight Championship, he will have to do everything possible to put in the performance of his career in hopes of earning another high-profile title opportunity in October. Failure to do so could spell the end of "The World's Strongest Man's" usefulness in WWE.