WWE Night of Champions 2011: Why a Mark Henry Title Win Makes Perfect Sense

Prior to the annual WWE draft, Mark Henry's long career was winding down. Having been a part of the WWE since 1996, Henry had had a great run in a difficult business. His character as a big, lovable face was growing stale, so he seemed primed to ride off into the sunset.

On the night of the WWE draft, however, Henry did something that would change the course of his career for the better. While teaming with John Cena, Henry turned on him and delivered a World's Strongest Slam. Henry was then drafted to SmackDown and has dominated during his tenure on Friday nights.

Henry has "injured" the likes of Big Show, Kane and Vladimir Kozlov since turning heel, and he also scored a big win over Sheamus at SummerSlam. Henry earned a shot at Randy Orton's World Heavyweight Championship after winning a No. 1 contender battle royal on SmackDown.

While I didn't initially think Henry would or should win the big gold belt, I have since changed my tune. Here are three reasons why.

Reward Henry for a Job Well Done

Mark Henry has been with the WWE for 15 years. I would never suggest handing somebody a prestigious title based solely on the fact that he has been around for a long time, but Henry's recent performance should earn him the title.

For much of his career, Henry has been a big baby face whose sole purpose was to squash lower-level heels and act as a stepping stone for more polished heels. He is far from good in the ring, but he has done his job effectively for his entire career. He was over as a face and now he is even more over as a heel.

The quality of Henry's matches hasn't exactly improved, but his character development has been fantastic. He is actually believable as a monster heel who poses a legitimate threat to Randy Orton, a wrestler who has probably lost five times at the most over the past year.

Even if the title reign is a short one, Henry deserves it as a nod to his great work over the past few months. Dolph Ziggler was given a similar type of reign early in the year, so there is no reason why Henry shouldn't get the belt for at least a little while.

Orton's Title Reign Is Played out

I have found Mark Henry to be boring for most of his career, but Randy Orton is as snore-inducing of a figure as there is in the WWE today. Essentially all of his matches end the same way; he honestly is beginning to get worse than John Cena in that regard.

There are rarely even moments in Orton's matches where he looks like he could possibly get beaten. He simply hits a power slam, an elevated DDT and an RKO, and then that's it. He did have plenty of good matches against Christian, but Christian was never made to look like a true threat to Orton.

In six matches, Christian won only one of them—and that was by disqualification. I think it is long past due to humanize "The Viper" a bit. It is understandable if the creative team thought that letting Christian beat Orton would make Orton look weak, but that excuse doesn't apply to Henry.

If Orton and Henry met in a dark alley, everyone would expect Henry to win. If wrestling was 100 percent real, then everyone would expect Henry to win.

Having Orton lose to a 400-pound monster like Henry would do nothing to hurt Orton and it would allow him to enter a fresh storyline without the title tying him down. 

Strike While the Iron Is Hot

The most obvious reason to give Mark Henry the World Heavyweight Championship is so a great opportunity doesn't pass the WWE by. Henry has never been a bigger threat and has never been more over in his entire career, so if he is ever going to be a champion, it's now or never.

The WWE has gone to great lengths to build up Henry over the past few months and put him over fellow monsters like Big Show and Kane. They even allowed him to beat Sheamus after Sheamus turned face. Having Orton bury him at Night of Champions would erase all of that work and render it completely useless.

A loss would simply make Henry an also-ran who couldn't beat Orton. Those types of superstars are a dime a dozen. If Henry loses, who would Orton have left to feud with? Cody Rhodes is an option, but he's tied up with the Intercontinental Championship right now. Wade Barrett would also be a possibility, but he has been misused as of late.

If Henry wins the title, a number of new feud possibilities will open up. It would allow wrestlers like Sheamus and Daniel Bryan to get involved in the title picture. Even though Henry may not be an ideal champion, he is something different, and with Orton monopolizing the title picture, I think most wrestling fans just want a change.