Matt O’Brien maintains the Wrestleview.com poll every two weeks
Our most recent Wrestleview poll asked, “Who will be the next breakout star to win the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship?” The results are officially in as:
Christian 14% (572 votes)
Drew McIntyre 7% (261 votes)
John Morrison 9% (368 votes)
The Miz 43% (1,703 votes)
R-Truth 2% (92 votes)
Wade Barrett 19% (753 votes)
Other 5% (218 votes)
Total votes: 3,967
Looking back just one year ago, WWE fans grew more and more frustrated with little to no start elevation within the roster. John Cena, Randy Orton, and Triple H were the only headliners for the entire 2009 pay per view year on the Raw roster. Smackdown proved to be a different creature, but only for a few short months during the Jeff Hardy-CM Punk feud. What a difference one year makes.
At the end of 2009 Sheamus was the WWE Champion. A few months later, Jack Swagger was World Champion. The progress continued with the creation of Nexus. In the span of just a few months, there were eight new main event players to the roster. Granted, most of Nexus will not remain so once the program ends. Nevertheless, WWE has done a spectacular job in restructuring its main event scene. While the Smackdown side has not necessarily seen as many new faces, the shakeup to the title picture with Rey Mysterio retuning after a three year absence to the main event as well as the rejuvenated Big Show, and the reemergence of Kane as a monster. With a renovated title scene, one must ask who is next.
Christian has become a crowd favorite for the next rising star. In this poll he came in third place with 14% of the votes. He has been a strong mid-card talent since 2001, with the exception of his few years in TNA. Since his return to WWE fans have wondered when he will finally get a chance as a headliner. Many are now asking if he ever will be. What those individuals must keep in mind is that many had all but given up hope that Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero would ever be champions after years of mid-card roaming. There is still hope for Captain Charisma.
Since his arrival in WWE Drew McIntyre has been hated because of his “chosen one” aura. For some reason it seemed like he was destined to main event someday even though he just doesn’t seem to have “it.” The Rock was once one of those types of talent. Will Drew breakout? 7% of our voters thought so.
John Morrison came in with 9% of the votes. Morrison’s star seems to be fading now that he is on the Raw mid-card. Many still see a young Shawn Michaels in him. He has an impressive move set that awes his fans.
R-Truth was once a TNA champion but has not been able to get higher than the U.S. Championship in WWE. With only 2% of the votes from Wrestleview readers he comes in at last place.
If this poll had been posted earlier in the summer, Wade Barrett may have swept the votes. But with Sheamus now WWE Champion and Barrett focused more on Cena, as well as his title shot having been put on hold, he fell short. He still headlined Summerslam and is now booked in the main event for Night of Champions. Make no mistake about it, Barrett is a legitimate WWE main event wrestler. With his ongoing battle with Cena escalating every week, a big one-on-one match is on the way. Perhaps the WWE Title will be on the line.
The winner of the poll came in with an awesome 43% of the votes. In 2009 Miz was a guy who showed promise only to fall in a brief program with John Cena. We should have realized it then that it was not the need for Miz. He could not be buried. He worked his way to the United States Championship and was a favorite in the Royal Rumble. He had a brief but spectacular program with Bret Hart and went on to win one of the Money in the Bank briefcases in July. Even though he did not wrestle at Summerslam, he was still one of the highlights of the show. With his MITB briefcase at his side, his unpredictability made him the favorite in this poll. At anytime he could become a champion. There is no doubt about it, Miz will be a champion someday. It is only a matter of time.
Be sure to check out Wrestleview’s latest poll asking who will walk out of Night of Champions with the WWE Championship.
Matt O’Brien
Columnist, Wrestleview.com
mattman5436@yahoo.com