In his syndicated column posted by SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE, longtime wrestling and sports columnist Alex Marvez wrote the following:

 

-- Mark Henry wins the ECW title: Backstage politics may have played a role in this decision. WWE suspended Michael Hayes, a wrestler-turned-scriptwriter, for reportedly directing a racial slur at Henry during a Wrestlemania 24 party in late March. There is the belief that WWE had Henry win a three-way bout against Glenn "Kane" Jacobs and Paul "Big Show" Wight for the ECW belt as appeasement.

 

Even if that is the case, Henry should still be proud of receiving his first title reign in a decade. Henry has shown significant improvement while persevering through 13 injury-plagued years in WWE.

 

-- Kofi Kingston wins the Intercontinental title: This is another title change that may stem from a feared backlash over the Hayes situation as well as the desire to create a new black superstar after last year's departure of Lane "Booker T" Huffman and Bobby Lashley.

 

Billed as being from Jamaica, the Ghana-born Kingston (Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah) was raised in Boston. He has wrestled professionally for three years and didn't debut on the ECW roster until last December. Kingston will need to show rapid in-ring improvement to keep credibility among fans after defeating Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental strap.

 

While TMZ has posted a story already questioning whether the Mark Henry title win had something to do with the Michael Hayes suspension for the racial remark (he made towards Henry) incident, Marvez is the 1st person to tie Kofi's title win to the Hayes controversy as well.

You can read the entire column, which looks at the ramifications of the 2008 WWE Draft, HERE .