4 Ups And 4 Downs From Last Night’s WWE Raw (Oct 27)

Downs

4. World’s Strongest Heel Turn

WWE.com

This just as easily could have been an “up” for Raw. Both Mark Henry and Big Show have been floundering for months, only serving to be cannon fodder for Rusev on his apparent march to WrestleMania and a date with John Cena. Something needed to happen at with these two, and conventional wisdom said that Henry would turn on Show at HIAC and cost him his match against Rusev.

In what could have been an effort to outsmart the internet, WWE decided to have Rusev win clean (which in hindsight made the Bulgarian Brute look stronger) and then have Henry turn during a Tag Team Championship match… over a hard tag or two. Seriously. A couple slaps on the back from Big Show to tag into the match apparently set Henry off. Even JBL declared that this was a stupid reason to turn on his partner.

On the plus side, neither man was going anywhere, and if this leads to Mark Henry channeling what made him so great in 2011, then having a dominant heel could be a boon for WWE. On the other hand, it means that fans will have to suffer through a Big Show-Mark Henry feud first, so that makes this a thumbs down. For now.