Mark Henry: He Needs to Be World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania 28

It’s real simple; Mark Henry needs to go into WrestleMania 28 as the defending World's Heavyweight Champion. Whether he walks away as champion or as the former champion, it does not matter.

What matters is that by being the defending champ, Henry gets a chance to say he defended the title at the big one, adding another chapter to his story and putting an exclamation mark on his career. In a career that has seen its ups and downs, the last few months have been the best Mark Henry has ever seen.

If this is to be his last big run, reward him for carrying the ball the way he has. Let him go out in style at WrestleMania 28.

Like him or not, Henry has surpassed expectations as champion. He has been mean, nasty and absolutely vicious, paving a pathway of destruction. He has inducted superstars into his Hall of Pain. He has successfully brought back the monster heel that everyone fears.

The Mark Henry experiment has proven a tremendous success. Henry has seen a revival that few of his caliber get. It makes you wonder why the experiment was never tried before.

Wait a minute. It has been tried before and rather successfully I might add. Going back to 2008 when Henry challenged and defeated both Kane and the Big Show at Night of Champions to become ECW Champion, we saw the nasty side of Henry then.

He not only lived up to his gimmick of being the World's Strongest Man, he took on a whole different persona, monster heel. Henry proved he could hang with Kane and Big Show, that he belonged in the main event.

He was meant to be champion after all. Although he didn't hold the belt very long, a lesson was learned throughout his title reign; don't underestimate the big man. What he lacked in wrestling skill, he more than made up for in other ways. He was more than capable of rising to the challenge then, like he is now.

For whatever reason, the experiment was put on hold in favor of facing and defeating Randy Orton on his Raw debut after being drafted. Instead of our monster pursuing the WWE heavyweight championship, all of a sudden we had a smiling Mark Henry teaming with MVP, forming a popular tag team.

Although they were popular, they never did win the tag team titles. Thank goodness someone had the good sense to bring back the monster Henry after the team was dissolved or else he would have been left floundering.

Henry has been champion since September, when he defeated Randy Orton. He has been one of the best reasons to watch SmackDown. Henry is doing such a great job, there is no need to take the belt away from him until WrestleMania 28 next year.

If he holds on to the belt he will have held it for eight months. Not bad at all for someone who has been an underachiever most of his career. Imagine if Henry had been given the opportunity to run with this gimmick in his prime rather than being treated like a laughing stock. History would be written. Sexual Chocolate would have never been a consideration.

When the time comes for him to drop the belt, it should be on a grand stage. This is it for Mark Henry. I think once he drops the title, there will not be a second championship run, certainly not at WrestleMania. There will be rematches for him to put over the next champ, but that's about it.

Rumor has it that Henry was considering retirement before winning the championship. It might still be a consideration considering he is in his forties and has sustained a number of injuries over the years. He may want to leave the business while he still can rather than being forced out.

If he does decide to retire, he deserves to go out in style. It benefits everyone all around, especially if he goes in looking strong and unstoppable. Whoever beats this monster will see their stock rise.

WWE has a younger, stronger champion they can hopefully mold into a bankable superstar. Henry looks good as he passes the torch on the way out, having his own WrestleMania moment. Think about it Vince; he deserves it.