Reported by Ben Hagen of WrestleView.com
On Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 12:16 PM EST

I watched an entire episode of Smackdown last Friday for the first time in a while (I’m kicking myself for missing Benoit / Finlay last week). Although I enjoyed Fit Finlay dominating Bobbie Lashley into a good match, the connection between the three heavyweight heels of Smackdown, that is, JBL, Mark Henry, and the Great Khali, is what struck me the most. Let me elaborate. A couple weeks ago, Mark Henry defeated Rey Mysterio in a semi-competitive match-up after interfering in his title match with Kurt Angle the previous week (which leads nicely into an Angle / Henry encounter at Judgment Day). Last week, the Great Khali defeated Rey Mysterio in a controversial one-sided match-up. Heading into a match with the Undertaker, what better way to make him look dominant than against the current World Champion? Coming up soon, Bradshaw will get his shot in a match that should be more competitive than the Khali affair, but one that I assume he will still dominate. So it seems that our World Heavyweight Champion is the thread sewing these three heavies together in a web of associative domination. Doesn’t it all fit together quite nicely?

But what is this column about really? It isn’t a review of Smackdown. It isn’t necessarily a proper “prediction" column for what will occur at Judgment Day. It isn’t necessarily a rabid defense of the three heavyweights’ abilities (though to an extent, it is a defensive treatise on issues dealing with all three individuals). So in short, this column, in a sense, is curious about what Smackdown can gain from these three biggies. It is an essay curious to explore what they’ve achieved thus far and where WWE can potentially take them. I don’t intend to make fun of them. I don’t intend to rip them apart or degrade McMahon for booking them on his show. Let’s face it. Arguably the three major match-ups at the upcoming pay-per-view involve these three. Sadly, there is not much pity-party fans can do about it. So, at best, what can we expect? Rather than assuming the worst, let’s take a look at The Great Khali, Mark Henry, and JBL individually and see if I have anything to really say about them. Let’s see . . .

The Great Khali vs. Rey Mysterio

In talking with some of my friends who keep track of wrestling, there seems to be an outcry (to some extent at least) against just how dominant the Great Khali was against Rey Mysterio. After the amazing visual of seeing Mysterio (a full two feet shorter it seems than Vince’s newest giant) standing toe-to-toe with the beast, we weren’t really witness to much of anything special. Khali tossed Mysterio around, no sold a springboard dropkick, choked Mysterio out for a bit, dropped him to the mat with a thud, stood on his face, and scored the very easy pinfall. I’ll admit that I was surprised and disappointed initially at Mysterio’s 0% offense and the complete ease with which Khali defeated the World Champion. But I’m not so sure that those who are upset about it have much of a right to be. Let’s take a look at some problems fans might have with this booking decisions:

(i) Mysterio is our World Champion. Having him go down in defeat so easily tarnishes his credibility as champion and, potentially discredits the World Heavyweight Championship itself.

The logic here is one founded on a misguided respect of the World Heavyweight Title and what sort of person should be world champion. Rey Mysterio, because of his size, will never be an “ace" champion the likes of Batista. It isn’t a black-and-white matter. Mysterio isn’t magically turned into someone entirely different just because he holds the World Heavyweight Championship. If he is 5’2" tall, he remains that size. He doesn’t necessarily have a magical aura surrounding him that allows him to “hulk up" as Hogan did. He’s always been a wrestler having to fight from the bottom up. Even against other cruiserweights Mysterio has been the underdog. He’s an “underdog" champion. It is impossible to play that up too much because that is entirely the role Mysterio must play. It is who he is despite what title he’s holding. There will always be a “luck" element to Mysterio’s victories despite the quality of his skill.


(ii) WWE has made Mysterio look credible against men his size quite often: Big Show, Undertaker, Kane, Mark Henry, etc. What’s the deal?


Yet Mysterio has never faced someone like Khali. The Big Show might out weigh Khali, but he’s been shown to be much more vulnerable to offensive attacks than the new guy. Undertaker, Kane, and Mark Henry are all much smaller than him. Khali laid out Taker with just a few strikes after no selling a big haymaker. Seriously, is it that strange for Khali to dominate a guy two feet smaller than him? Mysterio’s springboard dropkick looked like it hit a brick wall. Khali didn’t even really have to no sell it because it just flat out looked ineffective. If anything, Mysterio’s fear is what defeated him. He could have rolled away, used defensive maneuvering. But he didn’t. And he paid the price.

Mark Henry: Waste of Space?

Apparently he’s injured some folks? I don’t keep up too well on WWE news and what not, but it has been brought to my attention that the injuries that Henry may have had a hand in were not entirely his fault (or his fault at all?). The ultimate question, however, is this: how much do I really care? As much as I care about wrestlers (and God knows I do), they know the risks behind getting in the ring. I’ve seen wrestlers far more careless than Henry, and I’ve seen wrestlers potentially more careful. This is a dangerous business, folks. So, to his detractors, get off your high horses, back down to earth, and actually watch him in the ring. Maybe you’ll see something you may have missed before. What does Henry do well? We could all do well to think about that for a minute rather than dismiss the question with an immature, “Nothing." If you feel a need to say that, get over yourself. Do you realize you’re being a snob about something that, in the long run, doesn’t truly matter?

“But Ben," one might wonder, “what brings this on? Haven’t you been one of the biggest detractors of Vince’s fascination with big wrestlers?" Indeed I have. However, I’ve come to a point where I have to recognize that the heavyweights that give Vince a hard-on aren’t necessarily the garbage wrestlers we have made them out to be. Remember A-Train (Albert)? I remember I used to give this guy so much garbage online. I wanted him gone so badly, and I was ecstatic when I read that WWE released him. I just recently watched a match of his in New Japan Pro Wrestling where he defeated Yuji Nagata. My thoughts? After watching, I have to say that A-Train (called Giant Bernard over there) is a tremendous talent that Vince would be lucky to have back. I hope that doesn’t happen, however. Bernard’s promo after his victory revealed a man tremendously proud to be touring Japan and becoming one of the greatest American monster performers over there since Dr. Death Steve Williams and Stan Hansen. But I digress. Back to Mr. Henry. What does he do well?

(i) Increased promo ability. Henry is not a guy who needs a mouth piece any more. His promos, though kept simple, have had a positive effect on me when I’ve actually bothered to watch.

(ii) Selling for smaller opponents. Being a thick guy like Henry makes it hard to believe that small opponents could even hurt this guy. Not the case. Watch his matches with Mysterio as he sells the little guy’s offense. He doesn’t overdo it. He doesn’t ignore it. It is spot on. If someone could get ahold of their matches together this year, I would be very, very grateful to have a copy.

(iii) Strength. This one is obvious. But it is still here. Put in the ring with an opponent intent on making him look strong (although he is), Henry can be down right scary. Though he often comes across as awkward, sometimes slow, he always comes across as he should: one strong mother.

(iv) Improved. Let’s face it, Mark Henry is better than he was. He’s certainly no Chris Benoit, but he’s improved over the years. With smart booking against wrestlers that work well with him, I think he could offer a lot to Smackdown. There certainly are some options. Does he work well as a wrestler on his own? Should he be part of a stable that incorporates him as a sort of enforcer? These are questions well worth asking and answering. As for his squash this past week, I remember it being quite a bit more enjoyable than his squashes just a few years ago on RAW.

JBL: Next World Heavyweight Champion?

JBL’s opening promo on Smackdown was absolutely brutal, that is, absolutely viciously dickheaded. I question whether he took it a bit too far (as in “someday they’ll have to change the venue for fear of snipers" too far), but other than that he was earning himself some major heel heat to open the show. It is so great to know that a guy who had a bit of trouble getting over as a heel has finally managed to do so through hard work in the ring and flat out great mic work over the past two years. The connection JBL made between Guerrero, Benoit, and Mysterio in his promo, that is, JBL’s part in taking the “three amigos" (though Benoit doesn’t have Mexican heritage) down seemed on the money; I had never thought about it before (though you’d think that Benoit would be a little more vocal in this feud if there was any sort of real connection). Either way, Mysterio running down and getting in some low blows in order to pound away on his future challenger worked really well. I’m hoping the crowd doesn’t turn against Mysterio at Judgment Day as they often have in other venues. I’m glad his hometown responded usefully.

Unlike Henry and Khali, there aren’t too many detractors of our next potential World Heavyweight Champion (he will win the title at Judgment Day for my money) any more it seems. Though there are still those who under appreciate his abilities, for the most part it seems a lot of people have jumped on the Bradshaw bandwagon. But should he be the champion of Smackdown? Let’s see:

(1) An underdog champion can only exist for so long. JBL is a great opponent for Mysterio to drop the title to as he is versatile in all sorts of different feuds. He is credible enough to put Mysterio down cleanly and can realistically make the title change dramatically interesting. If they manage to pull off a Mysterio win at Judgment Day, I believe JBL will still take it at some point a la his Guerrero victory at the Great American Bash in 2004. Isn’t paralleling history great?

(2) JBL has been pretty much carrying the show’s main event feuds on the microphone for a long time. He’s upped the ante with this recent feud with Mysterio and has turned his character into an evolved version of the conservative asshole that Guerrero had to fend off in 2005. His recent win over Benoit for the United States championship only adds fuel to the fire and gives him more ammo to spout his heel-ish antics. He’s been beautiful on commentary as well, actually adding points rather than just being Mysterio’s antagonist.

(3) He needs to stay in the main event scene. Mysterio does not. With Angle potentially too hurt to stick around and Batista not coming back for a bit, JBL is a perfect man to stick the World Title around to feud with various individuals. He can shoulder Smackdown’s main event scene for the long term.

So . . .

with that said, I must go back to my water closet. Reserve your judgments for Judgment Day. Let’s see how things pan out. Enjoy yourselves . . . think . . . consider . . .