TMZ questions whether the Michael Hayes incident led to Mark Henry's ECW Title win

TMZ.com questions whether WWE Smackdown lead writer Michael Hayes's racist remarks to Mark Henry during WrestleMania 24 weekend caused the company to book Henry to win the ECW Title at Sunday's Night of Champions pay-per-view.

"There's buzz around wrestling blogs that the 400 lb. wrestler that calls himself 'The World's Strongest Man' would never have been in line for a title if the racial controversy didn't exist," reads the story. "The company has only had three other African-American world champions in its entire history." To read the full item, which includes a link to the original story that TMZ credited to Prowrestling.net, click here. [Thanks to Dot Net reader Zachary Heath.]

Powell's POV: It's not just TMZ asking that question. There is widespread population behind the scenes in WWE, and it's skeptics will be quick to say that it's coincidence that the company is giving a big push to Kofi Kingston. By the way, does really consider the ECW Title a "World Title" these days?