The v2 wrestling brain of the year - fight 3 - round 1

Please vote for your favourite response to the question at hand. The judging will be open until Tuesday and further rounds will be published as and when.

To avoid bias, the contenders are not revealed.

The best wrestler still active today to have not won the top belt is….

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Contender 1

It's an interesting question and it could be answered many ways. If we go by the assumption that the top belt is the WWE Championship then really we should look at people that could realistically have taken a real shot with it. KENTA, Steen, the up and comers in NXT are too early in their careers in many respects to be discussed.

There are then five men currently active with the company that are showing the potential to be top men with the WWE. Cesaro, Ambrose, Reigns, Rollins and even Wyatt are all men who you would think will be considered in the future to take the title and really go with it. Reigns is the man being groomed, Rollins could be the next top heel, whilst Ambrose is a man on fire too.

The other two clearly hold an interest to the decision makers, but their inconsistent attention span means both are floundering slightly.

But the youth of today are not the men for this conversation.

So my choice is a man who really found his way long after where his "prime" should have been.

Mark Henry has shown himself as an extremely popular figure that can get the crowd against him as a monster heel, draw emotion with words and connect with the audience.

The Hall of Pain gimmick could have run the show. He was believable, intense, dominating and exciting. The titleholder for Smackdown was vastly more interesting than Raw. It may have been the last time Smackdown was truly relevant. To some extent, although on a lesser scale, there are echoes of his power then and Lesnar's now. He isn't that kind of incredible talent, but had they truly got behind it fully he could have run the show. His mannerisms are perfected, he knows how to be the best he can be.

We saw it again when he was rumoured to retire. He won the war for best promo of the year. It set him up perfectly. It wasn't a linguistic masterpiece, it was clever. It drew the crowd in then spat them out. He proved to not only be truly loved by the audience for his work in the past, but that he still had a lot left to give. He should have won that feud, taken the belt and gone on the rampage. The best technical wrestlers in the world may be high-flying and creative, but Henry is a legitimate physical threat. Have him beat Cena, beat Sheamus, beat Orton.

This wouldn't have been a charity reign. No belt for the sake of it, no thanks for all you've done, have a quick run with the title. This could have been the pathway to a great conquering.

So, sure, give it to Ambrose because he's the new darling. Or Rollins with his great moveset and transition to heel work. But they haven't proven they can run the show. Henry passed the auditions, he dealt with and got through the crap the WWE threw at him in the past.
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Contender 2

Mark Henry

But he won the World Heavyweight Championship, however, my interpretation of “the top belt” is either the WWE Championship or the WCW Championship. For the majority of its run as the World Heavyweight Championship, the Big Gold Belt has been a definite secondary title, not the top title.

To this end the undoubted best is the leader of the Hall of Pain, Mark Henry. Henry started with the WWE fresh from two Olympic games. Signed to a multi-year deal he was assigned some of the most ridiculous gimmicks of all time from Sexual Chocolate to Mae Young and the hand.

What makes Mark so good is that he has had so little to work with and achieved so much from the base of Sexual Chocolate. A few principle upper level heel runs around his strongman activities and towards the end of his career is the sole achievement for a man who could have been allowed to do so much more.

From the debut of the Hall of Pain gimmick it was a classical monster heel character, but importantly with the addition of Mark’s character and mic skills which propelled it from momentary interest to a long term main event run few others can sustain.

Unfortunately this ended prematurely with injury, a facet of WWE leaving it so late in the day to give him this opportunity. Due to its success, the WWE gave him a second shot at the top with a short programme against John Cena. This included one of the best heel promos ever where his false retirement speech totally convinced the crowd – a very difficult thing to do in the modern era and one that shows his skill in delivery and authenticity.

Ignoring the clichés of “good in the ring for a big man” Henry is able to tell a story, work with a range of other competitors and make the audience connect with, and care about, his feuds. Also, the success of Brock Lesnar recently shows how Henry could have been booked as the legitimate strongman a la lesnar after the Arnold Strongman. He was potentially revolutionary – if the WWE had realised what it had.

Most importantly he is an adept performer as both a heel and a face. As a heel he is menacing, domineering and authentic in what he says. As a face likeable with a style the crowd relates to, and a cool factor. After all, who wouldn’t want to be friends with one of the strongest men in the world?!

Overall, Henry is a hugely talented competitor who has been able to overcome career limiting storylines to play serious roles. He has succeeded with limited opportunities in headline storylines but is able to connect with the audience. In my opinion, had WWE given him the ball earlier he would not only have been WWE Champion, but potentially a very serious option to break the Undertaker’s Streak and could have drawn to the extent of Brock Lesnar if marketed similarly 10+ years ago.

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Vote for your favourite above and don't forget to vote in round one and two as well -

How can wrestling break the mainstream again? - https://www.606v2.com/t55539-the-v2-wrestling-brain-of-the-year-fight-one-round-1
Would Bray Wyatt defeating the streak have benefited WWE more in the long term? https://www.606v2.com/t55549-the-v2-wrestling-brain-of-the-year-fight-2-round-1

Still need entries from Y2James and Hero

Can I just say that this is the toughest round so far.

Its good to see they both went with the same person and gave very similar arguments.

Great round guys!

I'm happy to lose this one, the other guy has written well and made the right pick

Contender 2. Best 'fight' of the competition so far but number 2 is written slightly better and has a better flow.

Voted for contender 2 as well, as it stayed on point better. Mark Henry wouldn't have come into my thoughts for this topic, but both argued the case well and opened my eyes a bit.

I dont particularly agree with either point - I feel the WHC is still a big title, even if it was under the WWE title - but went with number 2. Felt it was better written and made they're point a bit more effectively.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:I'm happy to lose this one, the other guy has written well and made the right pick

We are in for a close one Dolphin!

Think it is brilliant that we came to the same (correct) conclusion

The winner of Round 1 by a 53% to 47% vote is Dolphin! Hard luck to Josh Sansom who leaves us at this stage of the competition.