WWE News: Crazy Backstage Story on Brodus Clay Creating Mark Henry's Gimmick

The WWE has been promoting the upcoming return of Brodus Clay for a while now, but every time it looks like it’s going to happen, something comes up that causes it to get pushed back. 

At the rate things are going now, it doesn’t look like Clay will ever debut, and I’m sure that has a lot to do with the creative team and their inability to decide what they want to do with him. 

Well, as it turns out, Clay actually came up with a storyline for himself upon his return, but it was apparently given to another superstar who’s been wreaking havoc on the WWE. 

From the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via WrestleNewz.com): 

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An interesting story regarding Brodus Clay is that when he finished shooting a movie for WWE Studios earlier this year and asked what WWE creative had planned for him, officials said they had no idea and suggested he come up with an idea for himself. Brodus came up with the idea of being a monster heel that doesn’t sell for the babyfaces, then beats them up and inducts them into his personal “House of Pain”, similar to World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry. Brodus reportedly was told that it was a great idea. 

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Wow. The creative team really pulled off a robbery here, huh? 

I’m sure that things like this happen all the time in the wrestling business, but that’s got to be rough for Clay. Here this guy is coming up with a unique gimmick, then the WWE gives it to someone else. And it’s gotten over in a huge way. 

What a tough break for a guy whose debut keeps getting delayed, likely as an indirect result of his own gimmick being given to a different wrestler.

I like what Henry’s done with his character and the “Hall of Pain,” but I think it would have been just as good of a fit—if not a better one—for Clay, who I think is a better all-around talent than Henry. Not to mention that Henry is an aging veteran who’s closer to the end of his career than he is the beginning, while Clay is someone who could really help the WWE long-term. 

We’ll never know if Clay would have been as big a star as Henry’s been this year, but I still think the WWE would have been wise to at least try to see if Clay could have gotten over with a creative gimmick that he came up with.