Mark Henry the invincible monster is no more

Hyperbole? Maybe a bit but remember we're always working within the context of any particular storyline.

When WWE made the decision to steal Brodus Clay's idea to give a guy a gimmick as a monster heel who doesn't sell for babyfaces and inducts everyone into his own personal Hall of Pain, they cast perennial mid-carder Mark Henry in that role and gave him the push of a lifetime.

It was almost odd, actually, how heavily he was promoted and the force with which he was thrust upon us. He's been pushed many times before, thanks to a gigantic contract, but never with a commitment quite like this year, to wit: he was allowed to cleanly pin Randy Orton to both win and defend the world heavyweight championship.

And he was even allowed to kick out of the RKO.

Henry's big run has been completely predicated on his looking utterly invincible. He knocked a few stars out with injuries (Big Show, Kane), and has generally squashed most of his opponents. Now, though, that run has come to an end.

An interesting note from the Wrestling Observer on how that is:

Mark Henry's being pinned on Tribute to the Troops last night was only his second pin fall loss on television or PPV since the end of May. So after all the protecting of him as an invincible monster, they broke the gimmick by having him lose to Zack Ryder and then get pinned in a meaningless trios match where nobody will ever talk about it again, and in both cases by guys who aren't even likely to do programs with him.

WWE has this habit of booking shows as if they are completely independent of the timeline they're currently working off in each storyline for the programs their running on Raw and Smackdown. The Tribute to the Troops show last night was a great example of this. A show like that is booked as vanilla as possible with all the babyfaces going over with very little resistance because the entire point of the event is to send everyone home happy.

That's all well and good but Henry was a part of a three-man tag team that included Alberto Del Rio, who was booked as the weakest champion in recent memory when he had the belt and is still a fairly weak challenger, and The Miz, who has quickly turned himself into the goofiest, least credible wrestler on the roster.

Why have Henry job when either one of those two could have?

The match with Zack Ryder was the more damaging of the two. He was selling an injured ankle at the time but the manner in which he lost, John Cena running out and hitting an AA before putting Ryder on top for the win, hurt his image. It would have been different if Cena came out and blasted his ankle with a chair, incapacitating him or something along those lines. But to just have him eat an AA and lay down for Zack Ryder, of all people?

Not a good look for a monster who is supposed to be invincible.

So, uh ... how long until he jobs to Sheamus?