Tuesday, APRIL 28 – 11:18 AM (CT)

-I have two personal notes before I dive into the wrestling aspect of this blog. First of all, today is my Grandmother's birthday. She passed away on Christmas Day 2007 and would have been 87 years old today. Secondly, thank you to everyone who sent along get well wishes stemming from my accident. I feel fortunate that a concussion was the worst of my injuries. If you listened to the WWE Backlash post show audio with Jason and I, you know I was much more coherent than my infamous "cold medicine" episode of Dot Net Weekly.

-Sunday's Backlash pay-per-view produced matches and finishes that many felt should have taken place at WrestleMania 25. Most notably, Triple H and John Cena lost their matches (and their championships). On top of that, they were both taken out of the arena on stretchers. I would never wish for someone to get injured, but the "Goodbye song" chants directed at Triple H should have woken up the brass in WWE.

Triple H is a valuable member of the roster. However, while he does deserve his spot on the card, he could be used so much more effectively than he is. It is amazing that in a world where kayfabe is all but dead, wrestlers still "need" wins more than other wrestlers do. Randy Orton has been one of the three best heels in the business (Chris Jericho and Edge being the other two) and he needed to win at WrestleMania. Of course, he lost.

I cannot pinpoint exactly when it happened, but Triple H and John Cena do not need to win in order to keep their main event standing with the audience. A victory (and the post match footage) for Orton at WrestleMania would have been priceless (no pun intended). Instead, the fans took a shit all over the finish that saw Triple H retain the WWE Championship. Granted, Orton looks pretty damn strong right now and honestly, I don't know who to credit for that, so I'll say Orton himself, but nonetheless, he would have benefited very much from a WrestleMania victory.

Case in point: Triple H lost the title at WrestleMania XX, 21, and lost championship matches as a challenger at 22 and XXIV. Despite these losses, Triple H is still the top guy, or one of them, in the company. If it makes sense, I would not mind seeing him win the championship, but it did not make any sense this time around. If WWE is reluctant to turn one of their biggest stars into the star, what hope do the upper mid card guys have?

I was curious to see if someone would emerge as a potential new top guy last night and frankly, two people stepped up. MVP and Ted DiBiase are two stars that many people feel could be (or should be) main eventing. Granted, they gave away a MVP vs. Randy Orton match that served as a backdrop for Shane McMahon, but the important factor remains that MVP was involved in the opening promo segment, and he had a match with Orton. That is progress right there.

DiBiase stepped up as the guy who wants to take out MVP. That is solid booking. For weeks, Jason and I both have been wondering when DiBiase and Cody Rhodes were going to develop personalities of their own as opposed to simply being Orton's minions. A feud between MVP and DiBiase will hopefully lead to a pay-per-view match and television main event. Said program should elevate both guys.

Vince McMahon has said on more than one occasion that the fans dictate what the creative team does. While that has been true in the past (Batista, instead of Randy Orton, vs. Triple H at WrestleMania 21), lately, that statement could not be further from the truth. I do not want to see Cena and/or Triple H disappear forever. They both belong in high profile positions, however, they can keep their spots while elevating others to a similar level. That is the progression that has been the staple of wrestling as far back as it goes. Current stars make new stars. Well, the current stars need to start doing so and perhaps Sunday night was the beginning. Stay tuned.

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