Last year, C.M. Punk was booked to capture one of the “big two” world titles in the WWE (sorry Matt Hardy). I wonder…will we see another young WWE superstar put in a situation like that this year?

There’s no sure answer, but I think there is one question we can debate: which young WWE star will have the best 2009?

Here are the candidates:

• John Morrison
• The Miz
• Evan Bourne
• Jack Swagger
• Brian Kendrick
• Kofi Kingston
• Cody Rhodes

What do these guys have in common? They are all under the age of 30. While we might consider guys like Shelton Benjamin, MVP and Mr. Kennedy young superstars, they are actually in their 30s.

The way I see it, the guys on the list above are the most likely candidates to have an outstanding 2009. But which one will get pushed the most?

If I had to guess, I’d say John Morrison, although Evan Bourne is a close second when he comes back from his injury–I could easily see either of them main-eventing a PPV in the later stages of 2009.

I wish WWE would pull the trigger on some of these guys like they did a few years ago with the New Year’s Revolution Elimination Chamber match; rememember when the match came down to Cena, Carlito and Chris Masters? That was a cool finish to the match, and I’d love to see a champion put in the position defending against one of these guys in 2009.

So let’s debate: which one of these guys will it be? Is there anyone under 30 I left off the list? You be the judge.

Episode number 146 of PWB’s Official Podcast is now online.

In this episode, I’m definitely feeling the holiday spirit–it’s my version of a holiday special. There’s a short story about Christmas and what wrestling means to kids, as well as my thoughts on the Road to Wrestlemania 25, and how Batista’s injury actually alters it for the better. I’ve also got my thoughts on the new Eddie Guerrero DVD, as well as what was good about wrestling in 2008.

Podcast Table of Contents:

• Intro and Plugs (1:00)
• A Wrestling Christmas Story (4:13)
• The Road to Wrestlemania 25 (12:35)
• Viva La Raza: The Legacy of Eddie Guerrero DVD (20:05)
• The Final Word: Wrestling in 2008 (24:56)

Happy Holidays to all!

Speculation for the past several months was that John Cena and Batista would face-off in a rematch from Summerslam at Wrestlemania 25.

Obviously, Batista’s hamstring injury changes all that. While Batista actually injured his hamstring on the WWE’s European tour, WWE.com tells a different, kayfabed story:

The recipient of Randy Orton’s infamously wicked punt to the skull on the Dec. 15 edition of Monday Night Raw, Batista was knocked out and put out of action indefinitely due to a head injury. While recuperating from the perfectly directed kick to the head, WWE.com has learned that during his recovery, The Animal has also elected to undergo surgery to repair a hamstring tear. Ironically, the hamstring was injured at SummerSlam, in the same match that World Heavyweight Champion John Cena was forced out of action with a neck injury. (Photos of Orton’s punt to Batista)

Also, Batista underwent a bone graft in his jaw this past Monday, after having two of his teeth successfully removed due to the punt from Randy Orton.

According to PW Insider, WWE is framing Batista’s hamstring injury as something that happened at Summerslam so they can rematch Batista and Cena at Summerslam 2009. In turn, this makes the first Cena-Batista match look like an epic encounter that injured both superstars.

With Batista looking to return around August, a Summerslam rematch makes perfect sense to the WWE.

If I were Batista, I’d ask for a different feud on his return–would the WWE really put him over Cena two years in a row? I think not.

Lex’s update: Source for this is PW Insider.

Turns out that WWE wasn’t bullshitting us about Batista’s injury, well kind of. Batista is legit injured but not from the kick to the head but from a torn hamstring he suffered in his match with Randy Orton last week. He will undergo surgery this week and is expected to be out of action for several months, with June being the earliest for a return and possibly as late as August. This will make things interesting for the next few months as it was rumored that the tentative plan for the Raw main event at Wrestlemania was Cena vs Batista.

-sideshowRaheem

Lex’s update: For all of you wanting to know where this came from, it’s off the Wrestlingfigs.com forums.

This reportedly came from the Wrestling Observer…

”
In a rather low unclassy move made earlier this week by a former employee of the WWE who was recently released, said person has mailed out the planned script that was to take place at WWE’s 25th anniversary of their Superbowl they call Wrestlemania to various “dirt sheet” websites such as ourselves, presumably giving away the storyline on The Undertaker. It is no secret to who is behind this mess, as former WWE producer Bruce Prichard, best known to WWF fans as “Brother Love”(ironically The Undertakers first manager) was released last week. The ten page script confirmed rumors of Undertakers opponent being Shawn Michaels. The story behind it will be that Shawn Michaels, along with Undertakers kayfabe brother Kane, has gotten word that Undertaker is planning on returning to Death Valley after Wrestlemania 25(Also confirming rumors of Undertakers 2009 retirement). Kane, feeling that this is his chance to prove himself to the Undertaker, as he has never defeated the Undertaker at Wrestlemania, takes it upon himself to insert himself into the match at Wrestlemania 25. On the other hand, Shawn Michaels who has no opponent for the show, insists that he is the one who should face The Deaman in his last match, citing Ric Flair as an example. This leads to a semi feud between Kane and Shawn Michaels over who gets to face ‘Taker at Wrestlemania.

This will eventually lead to a match between the two at No Way Out, with Shawn Michaels prevailing(by cheating, thus starting a small heel run) and facing The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 25. In the weeks leading into Wrestlemania 25, Kane will allign himself with Shawn Michaels after HBK convinces Kane that he is indeed the better man to “do the job” at Wrestlemania 25. HBK is set to take advantage of the fact that Kane is the closest thing to The Undertaker and will have Kane tell him of his weaknesses. The script also calls for Kane to play as a bodyguard for HBK, protecting him until Wrestlemania 25 and assisting him to his matches on RAW. Mind games will prevail in classic ‘Taker fashion; there is an angle on the March 30th edition of RAW(the last RAW before WM) scripted for Kane to be cremated alive, only to escape in mere seconds with HBK ditching him. The last two pages on the script is specifically for the match at Wrestlemania 25, with Undertaker prevailing, keeping his streak alive. The finish calls for HBK to viciously assault ‘Taker with a steel chair as the referee is laid out, taking advantage of the golden opportunity.

As the referee regains himself(Mike Chioda is scheduled to referee the match) he begins the traditional slow count that is stopped by Kane stepping down on his hands. Kane will then grap HBK and deliver his signature Chokeslam to him and drag his Brother unto him, keeping Undertakers streak alive. Page ten called for Paul Bearer to come out with the urn, announcing to Undertaker that it’s time to go back home. As ‘Taker regains himself, he will stand face to face with Kane, and do his signature pose, before vanishing into the air. The ending has alot of different scripts to it on the page, but this is the one we found more relevant. This will lead to a feud with Kane and HBK, leading to a Hell In A Cell match at Backlash, with that being HBK’s possible last match.

This is confirmation to the rumors that has been making the rounds on the net as of late. The storyline was to be produced by Bruce Prichard, Michael Hayes, and Vince Mcmahon. We are not to excited to see what action WWE may take against Prichard releasing scripts of planned shows and angles, but it was a very unclassy move made by him and his parties. We here at WON do not condone the actions of Prichard.

Source is Wrestling Observer News Letter”

In the inagural “Sunday Debate,” we had a great discussion on the greatest wrestler of all-time.

Since there’s no wrestling pay-per-view today, it’s time for another “Sunday Debate.” As we move toward 2009, I figured that there’s no better time to discuss the year that was 2008. So that brings me to today’s debate question: which wrestler had the best 2008?

Much like the last debate on the greatest wrestler of all-time, I think you have to factor in a variety of things, including match quality and level of entertainment. Read on to see my pick, and to discuss your own. (more…)

After another long hiatus The Rant has returned for an end of the year Christmas Special. On this episode we Jade, Jeyrod, Arron and myself discuss some of the bigger stories from the past few weeks including Jeff Hardy’s win at Armageddon, Snitsky’s firing, Joey Style’s KO of JBL and more. I also hand out my end of the year grades to TNA and WWE one company gets a D- and one company gets an B- I’ll let you guess which one gets what. And finally we look at some of our favorite stories from 2008 and discuss whether or not TNA will even make it to the end of 2009.

I’m posted a divshare link for now you can download the mp3 from here. Hopefully I will have a iTunes feed up sometime this weekend.

-sideshowRaheem