Henry's World

 Despite the fact that both worked for the WWE for decades, and are established and iconic characters in the company's lore, Kane and The Undertaker have both been involved in some of the worst storylines the creative team has ever come up with. With both taking center stage here late in 2002, you had to know some shite was coming, and WWE didn't disappoint. Undertaker's feud over the WWE title with Brock Lesnar now included accusations of an affair and a whole bunch of hullabaloo over a broken hand to the challenger, and whether or not he would be able to wear his cast into their second title match. It was dull and rather pointless, but at least Undertaker's character was human enough to get involved in some reality TV trash, with the added benefit that the audience was promised a Hell in a Cell match at the end. On the other hand, what Kane was subjected to was actively damaging, both to his character and to the company's reputation itself, which is quite an achie...

 The big hook coming into Unforgiven, at least according to the opening hype package, is the fact that WWE now has two world titles, with Eric Bischoff bringing back the Big Gold Belt for Raw. It's safe to say, though, that one brand has thus far gotten the far better end in the creative department for their world title, and it sure ain't the red one. Triple H was infamously just handed the World Heavyweight title, making it feel like a cheap prop rather than the most valuable piece of hardware in the company. Meanwhile on SmackDown, Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker were engaged in a deeply personal war, more than worthy of a pay-per-view main event. Undertaker's then-wife Sara was once again dragged back into the mix, as she was pregnant at the time, which Lesnar and Paul Heyman used to their advantage to play mind games, Heyman promising to take care of Sara, but not the couple's unborn child, in a brilliant piece of deranged heel work. In the midst of a very outlandis...

It's been over a week since I last posted here, which is unfortunate but it's not like extended breaks from posting are uncommon for me. This time, it was largely out of my hands. I don't think anyone in the US is unaware of this, but a large majority of southern states have just been run over by freezing cold and near endless snow. I'm not sure how much I mentioned this when it happened, but I moved to Oklahoma in late April/early May 2018, putting me right in the center of this winter storm. Fortunately, our house hasn't lost power yet like many have further south in Texas, but I've been busy with lots of tasks on the ranch where we live, bringing out tons of water and food for our horse and two mini donkeys. I've just been worrying about getting everyone through this more than anything else, and while I wanted to post here, I thought it would be easier to wait until the situation was closer to being resolved. Thankfully, we're approaching that point n...

 NXT takes over Universe Mode for the first time in Season 6, as the black and yellow brand presents a titanic collision over the NXT Championship, plus the first women's main event in Takeover history.  NXT Takeover: Rival Card Tyler Bate vs WALTER Though he may never show it, WALTER was thrilled with what he and Alexander Wolfe accomplished in Brooklyn, and along with Marcel Barthel, they have continued to run over everyone since becoming tag team champions. On the flip side, Tyler Bate and Trent Seven took a little while to recover from the end of their long title reign, with Tyler especially taking the loss hard, since he was the one who was pinned. After Wolfe and Barthel defended the titles against High Voltage, the team of Akira Tozawa and The Brian Kendrick, Bate and Seven returned for a brawl. On the go-home show, Tyler made a challenge, much to Trent's chagrin, as the "Big Strong Boi" wanted WALTER, one on one, to avenge his failure. Seven fervently tried to...

In many ways, Roman Reigns has defined Monday Night Raw since Universe Mode began. Through his time spent as a tag team champion with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose/Jon Moxley to his pursuit of the Universal Championship and feud with Moxley, he has always been a featured player on the red brand. Now, he gets another chance to it's defining star. He faces Aleister Black, who has also been one of Raw's most visible players. Black entered at Number 30 in the 2018 Royal Rumble , winning that match and going on to end Braun Strowman's Universal Championship reign, the first of three times he would claim Raw's top prize, including his recent Hell in a Cell win over "The Fiend". Two of Raw's biggest names meet tonight, with significant animosity already built up, in what could be a defining moment of Season 6.  Universe Mode Extreme Rules June 14th, 2020 Location: Washington, D.C. (Yes, I see the irony, the game picked it) Extreme Rules 2020 Theme Song- "Not...

Raw goes to the Extreme for their first brand exclusive pay-per-view of Season 6.  Extreme Rules 2020 Card Bobby Lashley vs Cedric Alexander- Tables Match "The Almighty" Bobby Lashley has had a quiet time on his Raw since his debut at this pay-per-view two years ago , barely appearing at all on pay-per-view since. To help him on his path to relevancy, Montel Vontavious Porter showed up with an offer. MVP claims to have a wealthy donor who has a "vested interest" in seeing Lashley succeed, and has paid Porter a significant sum to make sure it happens. Lashley was more than happy to take on MVP as his new manager and advisor, especially once Porter showed off the state-of-the-art gym he'd paid for in Los Angeles. MVP named their burgeoning group "The Hurt Business", but stated that one piece was missing. He wanted new Raw signee Cedric Alexander to join them, but Cedric refused the offer, stating that he intended to work his way to the top rather than ta...

 It's safe to say that it's been a long two years for Drew McIntyre. In 2018, McIntyre was a dominant force, reigning as WWE Champion for over 200 days, which included title retentions against the likes of Samoa Joe, Brock Lesnar, Rey Mysterio, Daniel Bryan, Sami Zayn and current WWE Champion, Robert Roode. Since then, McIntyre has mostly been embroiled in the tag team scene, before finally breaking back through as a single competitor in January of this year, winning his first Royal Rumble. But even that didn't get him back to his top level, as Johnny Gargano won the right to challenge Roode, leaving McIntyre on the sidelines come WrestleMania. Tonight, though, Drew is center stage once more. Standing in his way is Robert Roode, who has grown significantly as a wrestler throughout his title run. Almost two years ago, at Money in the Bank , Roode was humiliated in a one-sided thrashing of a title challenge. Who walks out of Backlash as WWE Champion?  Universe Mode Backlash M...

 SmackDown gets the honor of opening up Season 6 of Henry's Universe Mode, as the blue brand hosts Backlash. The brand has a new GM, as with Edge cleared to wrestle, former Raw, SmackDown and NXT Women's Champion Paige will take up the mantle in his place. She's booked eight matches for her first pay-per-view in charge, so there's plenty for us to unpack.  Backlash 2020 Card Chad Gable vs Mustafa Ali Both Raw and SmackDown will be featuring plenty of Money in the Bank qualifying matches over the next two months, with every wrestler galvanized to earn a chance to hold one of those two briefcases. This is the first, a clash of styles between a former amateur wrestler in Chad Gable and the high-flying Mustafa Ali. After Paige announced the match, the two men met face to face on the go-home show, where they both showed respect to the other's skill, though Gable did seem perturbed by the crowd cheering more for Ali than him.  The War Raiders(c) vs Demolition- SmackDown T...

 January was a more chaotic month than I anticipated going in, which could honestly mean a ton of different things, but I'm talking specifically about my blog. I started working on my "Dynasty by the Bay" series, which sunk thanks to my lack of interest in continuing to play games on Madden 12. Then I did a couple of AEW reviews, that was fun but didn't quite work for me, before I finally returned to my Universe Mode, and that was what stuck. Life never quite works out the way you expect it to, but hey, at least I'm having fun. What does that mean? Well, for starters, I'm in the process of fully updating my wiki in preparation for Season 6. No guarantees on when that work will be done, but in the meantime, you can check out the roster page to see the updated rosters for all three brands following the "Free Agency Window". It's a brand new idea on my part in an attempt to replace the outdated "WWE Draft" format. Essentially, every wrest...

For the fourth time in Henry's Universe Mode history, welcome to WrestleMania! Tonight, Johnny Gargano attempts to finally achieve his life-long dream as he challenges Robert Roode in the main event for the WWE Championship. Gargano put it all on the line against Royal Rumble winner Drew McIntyre, saving his wrestling career with a monumental victory. Will the man who personifies heart, determination and spirit finally win the big one?  Universe Mode WrestleMania IV April 5th, 2020 Location: East Rutherford, NJ WrestleMania IV Theme Song- "Born For This"- The Score The Revival(c) vs AJ Styles and Ricochet- Raw Tag Team Championship Match Rumors have swirled in recent days about the current Raw tag champs receiving lucrative contract offers from elsewhere in the pro wrestling world, though Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder have insisted that they remained focused on this title defense. That may be true, but they certainly got ran over in the early stages of this one. AJ and Ric...