If you had a torn pec in the pool, you won!

I was going to talk about my ambivalence towards Raw a bit, but I didn't have much to say about it, other than a rare Val Venis sighting, a token lascivious comments about Maria and Candice, something about London's awesome, holy shit worthy running shooting star plancha and Ken Kennedy's auspiciously quick job to Cena, there wasn't much to say. Everything was moving just as efficiently on the pay-per-view treadmill as always.

Until this happened, that is.And so at least half the fanbase is happy, although I have to imagine the rabid Cena haters will feel a little cheated that he's just vacating the belt instead of doing a job for someone. He'll be out six months; that's the current assessment, at least. That puts his return in April, which would likely rule out a Wrestlemania match, the first time that's happened since his rookie year, when all he did was rap at a cardboard cut out of Jay Z. He's been in title matches ever since.

The WWE can't be happy with this; the guy's been a workhorse, he sells merch (although will likely not change; it's not like people stopped buying Stone Cold stuff when he was out for an extended period of time), and they've been booking their flagship show around him for two years now. It also pushes HHH in to the number 1 face slot by default, and if you remember the last time he was the top face on a show, you can see how that poses a problem. This does open the door for someone like Lashley or Hardy to step up, but neither one is that much of an appealing replacement, at least to me; of course, I happened to not entirely hate Cena, and respect his work ethic and the fact that he could have solid matches with anyone. I wouldn't call myself a fan, but I at least sort of liked the guy. That said, after a cumulative 2+years with the guy on top, it is nice to get a considerable breather, even if that's likely to come in the form of the Chinlock Kid or the King of Nepotism.

At any rate, Sunday's show has become more interesting than it was, and I was already planning on watching it (although they were kind of tenuous plans, and ironically enough, wanting to see the presumptive blow off between Orton and Cena was a big part of that). It's kind of sad that one of the only things that can generate interest in the rote, staid modern day WWE is freak injuries are among the few things that can generate excitement, but hey, you gotta take what you can get. Vince will be announcing their plans for the title match on ECW in about a minute. HHH vs. Orton, or something involving them at the very least, seems very likely. Other than Jeff Hardy, who doesn't have any plans on Sunday, come to think of it, there aren't any considerably over faces to throw out there, unless Lashley's ready to come back, and even then, you'd think they'd like to build up his big title shot (although they just tossed he and Cena out there on a traditionally dead PPV, so who knows?). I'm leaving Jericho out of my prognostications, because we're not entirely sure he's meant to be returning at all, much less at No Mercy, and again, I'd think they'd rather keep the build up going (like they've done with everyone else who's made a comeback) than just toss him out there for a hastily put together replacement match. I doubt they're moving anyone from Smackdown either; Mysterio and Undertaker are too integral to the show, Edge isn't due back for a month, and beyond them, there's Finlay, Kane, and a lot of undercard guys, none of whom are trun main event guys or even close to it. Everyone on ECW is a big fish in a small pond at best.Putting the belt on Orton and having HHH, Lashley, and anyone else they feel like elevating chase him 'til Wrestlemania seems like the best course of action. I've long thought they should give him a big run with the belt; not because I'm a fan of his, but because I think it's the only way they'll know if he's worth putting up with the next time he shits in a diva's gym bag, trashes a hotel room, or smokes a joint backstage, and treat him accordingly. I imagine the only reason he's received this huge push is that they don't want all the work they put in to him go to waste, but you know, they need to piss or get off the pot with him eventually, if for no other reason than that Kennedy is probably primed to take his spot as the guy they push to the brink of being a top heel but pull back on at the last minute.

Of course, knowing his history, he'll probably be all set to win the title before pissing someone off backstage and they'll have him job to Hornswoggle or something as punishment. So stay tuned, folks; even if Vince announces his presence in the main event, he may still screw it up again! That's another thing that generates excitement; we wouldn't have had Batista and Rey's title runs without it!