03 OCTOBER 2007

-John Cena is no longer WWE Champion. Cena suffered a (legitimate) torn pectoral muscle Monday night in a match against Ken Kennedy. Cena, who was rushed into surgery last night, will be out for anywhere from six months to a year. This is the same injury that kept Dave Batista out of action for the same time period (Batista recovered in about 9 months), and Undertaker, whose injury was less severe, and as such only missed about 4 months. This ends Cena's 13-month run as WWE Champion, the longest such streak since John Bradshaw Layfield held the title for 10 months in 2004/2005. Cena's run still stands far behind the longest runs with the title; Bob Backlund held the title for over 5 years between 1978 and 1983, and Bruno Sammartino, the second-ever recognized WWE Champion, held it for 8 years, spanning 1963 to 1971.

-The vacant WWE Championship will be contested at No Mercy, the likeliest of combatants being Randy Orton. WWE is being very tight-lipped about other Superstars who may be involved in the match, but there are whispers of.....




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The return of Chris Jericho. The blue and white video that has been shown in recent weeks on RAW indicates a return of a former Superstar, and in recent weeks, signs have been in the crowd saying "Save Us Y2J". The word "SAVIOUR" appears in the video several times. Also, from WWE.com: "And no speculation over the future WWE Champion would be complete without whisperings of a dark horse, a long shot so unexpected that their mere presence would send the crowd and any opponent back on their heels."

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-Other names that have been thrown around for the WWE Championship match are: Triple H, Umaga, I.C. champion Jeff Hardy, Batista, The Great Khali, C.M. Punk, Big Daddy V (Viscera's new gimmick), or Mr. McMahon himself.

-Batista and The Great Khali will compete at No Mercy in the second-ever Punjabi Prison Match. The Undertaker defeated Khali in the inaugural match, which places the combatants in a ring surrounded by a 15-foot high AND a 20-foot high cage made of bamboo poles, with barbed wire and spikes at the top to prevent escape. Not to play the spoiler, but...

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Batista is going to win this match. The reason he is going to win the match is because WWE is looking to pick back up with the Batista/Undertaker title feud which got stalled when Undertaker injured his pectoral muscle in May.

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-For perhaps the first time since the days of Alundra Blaze and Leilani Kei, the Women's division has no less than five viable candidates for its championship. Current champion Candice Michelle, who has infinitely improved her actual wrestling ability (as she is molded to take over for retired Trish Stratus), defends her title this Sunday at No Mercy against Beth Phoenix. However, Mickie James, Victoria, and former champion Melina are all potential title threats in the future.

That sucks about Cena, but about time he is no longer champion. He was champ for far too long. It really does suck that he's injured though.

The injury is unfortunate. If you watch the match, the injury occurred when Cena went for an arm-drag takeover early in the match. His arm was in an awkward position and since his shoulder and upper arm are so muscular, all of the stress went directly to his pec muscle, detaching it from his chest. Of course, WWE is smart enough to play it off as though Orton injured him on the RKO on the announce table.