The monasteries were vastly wealthy, having acquired lands from bequests over centuries. By liquidating them, Henry took the land and hence the income generated.

remove catholic influence

I think it would be more accurate to say: remove Roman influence.

why so many Abbeys and Monasteries were left in ruins and their cultural manuscripts and artifacts burnt or destroyed.

• Repudiation. The same reason that the ISIS destroys cultural artifacts. The same reason Bolsheviks air-brushed people out of pictures.
• I think most of the mindless iconclastic destruction was perpetrated by protestant fanatics; not Henry's orders

Couldn't he have just removed the Catholics Monks and replaced them with Protestant Monks?

Protestants don't really have monks.

• Monks pursue the so-called "counsels of perfection."
• That is, they try to please God by what they do: Pray, go to Mass, deny themselves, etc.
• To protestants, all that is works: Trying to manipulate God using sacraments, good behavior, etc.

consolidate power

By giving monastery land to his allies, Henry made a return to Rome almost impossible.

• The protestant fanatics got to act out their repudiation of Rome.
• If monasteries destroyed, what is there to give back to Rome if England changes its mind?
• Newly enriched land owners sure don't want to give anything back

The book you didn't know you want to read is Eamon Duffy's The Stripping of the Altars, specifically the last section which deals with the Tudors.

You're right to point out that there is a substantial difference between rejecting the Roman Catholic Church, but largely keeping the religion in-tact (which is usually how Henry's rejection of Catholicism is described), and the outright destruction of the monasteries and religious art (which extended to the Parish church).

Henry's most obvious motive, of course, was for the crown to absorb the wealth of the church. Secondarily, the church had a great deal of political power (backed by its wealth, but also by the societal influence of its institutions). By dissolving the monasteries, Henry was able to break up some of that political clout. Note that many of his important advisers were clergymen, such as Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cranmer -- by breaking up the political clout of the church, Henry made those advisers more reliant on the crown and less reliant on their positions and personal power bases. If he had installed protestant clergy into those roles, he would have simply replaced one power network into another.

Finally, the destruction of artworks (which was carried out mostly under Edward and Elizabeth, not Henry) enabled the Tudors to create a cultural break between Catholicism and (their) contemporary Protestant, English culture. Edward's suppression was not particularly thorough, and their was a resurgence of Catholic lay practice under Mary. Ultimately, under Elizabeth, Catholic Europe became, to a certain extent, exoticized.

Were their manuscripts and artifacts destroyed in Henry VIII's time? Weren't they simply looted, like taking the precious metal and stones of Thomas Becket's tomb?

"Left in ruins": a history of Shrewsbury Abbey says "The western part of the church was preserved as the parish church of Holy Cross and the remaining buildings were either adapted to secular uses or pulled down. Considerable portions of the conventual buildings were still standing in 1743 but most have since been demolished. ... Only the nave, side aisles, porch, and west tower were preserved as the parochial church of the Holy Cross, and after the removal of the lead even this part suffered decay, so that the roof fell in." That's the impression I've gotten elsewhere: the abbey buildings might not be useful for other purposes, so they might well be looted for materials and the rest simply left to decay like an abandoned barn.

Monasteries were often very wealthy due to the land they owned and collected rent from as well as rights they had been granted. The abbey at Bury St Edmunds for instance collected ~ £400 anually in the late 12th centuey which weren't a small amount. ~ £200 were assigned to the monks and ~ £200 to the abbot. When abbot Hugh died in 1180 those ~ £200 were collected by the "owner" of the abbey King Henry II and it was therefore in his interest to delay the selection of a new abbot for a while so he coukd keep collecting the money.

Therefore by dissolving these monasteries the king himself could collect taxes that would otherwise go directly to the monasteries as well as get more direct control of the areas that before were under their control.

I myself don't know enough about tudor England to go any deeper into the subject, however if you have any questions about what I covered feel free to ask.