WWE Hell in a Cell 2011: Why Mark Henry's Physique & a Cage Means He Must Win

Hell in a Cell is right around the corner and I believe the best match in it is this one.  

Orton and Henry have been thrilling in their buildup, and their intensity when they have a match is perfect for this kind of gimmick.

With that said, Mark Henry has to go over.

It's not so much because the company should go in a direction that keeps the belt off Orton, though that would be a good thing, but because a match is all about effective storytelling.

A match is all about making the fans suspend their disbelief. Like a movie or a TV show, it's all about the audience believing the character and what they are doing. That is what wrestling does.

Instead of calling it sports entertainment, it might be better to call it scripted sports combat. That is what wrestlers do, and that is what Orton and Henry will be engaging in on Sunday night.

The biggest components of Hell in a Cell are the cage and how it traps it's competitors, but there is another point. This has to do with wrestling, but it's in MMA.

In the UFC, fighters use wrestling to pin their opponents to the cage and either try to take them down or exhaust their opponent's energy. The fighters who can implement this strategy the best are usually the biggest and strongest guys.  

They are guys like Mark Henry.

Of course, the WWE is about showmanship more than it is about competition, but it doesn't hurt to have a little reality in there.

Having Henry push and slam Orton against the cage makes sense. After all, if you're the bigger guy and you're in their with a guy called the "apex predator" you probably don't want to give him distance.

It's where he could get his best work done, it would exhaust him less, and it would allow him to hit his finisher. It makes sense for Mark Henry to do this. It could still be entertaining, and it would use the cage to it's fullest. 

Henry also has been showing a certain dominance that only a monster heel can give off. He has shown the power and destructive ability to crush people and objects alike to get what he wants.  

In fact, some of his best moments in showcasing this ability have come in cage matches such as here and here.  

The WWE has shown him as a dominant character and used the cage to help influence it. It wouldn't make sense to stop that now by letting Orton beat him in a cell match.

Henry is a physically-imposing force that has been on a roll. Being stuck in a cage with him shouldn't put fear in Orton. It would in a lesser wrestler, but not Orton.

However, it should feel like Orton is scrambling to get his distance so that he can fight his fight.  

That isn't cowardice. It's tactics.

The WWE should make it feel like it's a fight in a telephone booth and that it favors Henry. If they do all of this then the match will be believable.

And isn't that what scripted sports combat is supposed to do?