Definitely Ken Kennedy and CM Punk.

Bingo. Those are the two guys who, come as they are, have the best shot, in my opinion.

John Cena will be the top heel in the WWE in a few years, in my opinion. Don't ask me why, I just see him being the "next Triple H". A lot of people have given that honour to Edge. I think Edge will ultimately end up on SmackDown!, or something, and Cena will be top heel on RAW.

As M-A-G said, it's not about who you push, as it is the opportunities you take. When Matt Hardy returned in 2005, the crowd was HOT for him. Then the WWE had him jobbed the fuck out at Summerslam, and even after Unforgiven (that Leg Drop off the cage was bittersweet revenge), they still managed to pussify him. I think the moment they went wrong with Matt Hardy was actually when he cut his first promo after returning. He thanked Vince for signing him back. He should have been all "Fuck you for firing me in the first place!" But ah well.

I can definitely see the MVP thing. I recently just decided to go back and look over the WrestleMania events participated in by the big dogs before they headlined. The magic number seemed to be 3. Sometimes it took more, but very rarely did it take less (save for Cena and Batista, but I'm not counting them, because the WWE had an itchy trigger finger). This is MVP's first WrestleMania. He's wrestling Chris fucking Benoit for the United States Title. Come next WrestleMania, he should be in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, or something. He might even get some kind of personlised grudge match. But when it comes time for WrestleMania 25...the guy will be "there", in my opinion. More than ready to take flight as the top guy.

A guy I see a lot of potential in, that never gets mentioned in these sorts of things is Joey Mercury. Johnny Nitro is on the rise, so I wouldn't count out Mercury, who can very easily be instantly zapped up to the level Nitro is (on account that they are even-levelled tag team partners). Mercury can talk, he can wrestle, he's got personality; what's more, he can let it out in the ring. I really think Joey Mercury could be the next Stone Cold Steve Austin. There is a bizarre quote people can use against me.

You do realise that the WWE probably scripts everything, and the guy hasn't had a real program since coming to the WWE, and that Shannon Moore getting in a few lines against CM Punk isn't going to make Punk a star?

Alienoid if I didnt love you I would use that Mercury/Austin line against you

:kiss:

I think I should specify: When I say "the next Austin" I don't really mean personality wise, per se. I just see MNM as kind of a "Hollywood Blondes" type tag team. I can very easily see Mercury becomming the singles star who at one stage was primarily a tag team guy, with no meaningful singles career in sight.

It's kind of bothered me that people haven't said Samoa Joe yet. Keep in mind he hasn't won his first World Championship yet (not counting the ROH World Title). I have a feeling TNA may be saving it to when they can go "Joe's finally done it!" and people will listen.

I don't see how you can deem CM Punk the next big thing, I mean I like him. But he's more likely to be the next big IWC rant topic. With a push he could be a star, but not a huge icon.

alienoid i am right there with you about mercury. i am a big mercury mark myself.

Are there similarities? In terms of size and the kind of cocky character he has, yeah there probably are. But he's a totally different wrestler. I've seen him work heel and face equally well, his mat wrestling is top notch, and he's still very, very young. He just needs time.

I don't see much room for upward growth for him in TNA

Neither do I. Doesn't mean he won't make it though. Jericho (ugh, using the comparison again) didn't have much upward mobility in WCW.

It's true, Shelley would benefit from some great timing and circumstance. Jericho was fortunate enough to make the jump from WCW to WWE at the right time during the right time period.

In TNA, theres not much of a chance he will move upward, and with the current status of WWE, his chances of jumping there and seeing the changed success that Jericho did are slim too. Just because of how things are and the lack of neccesity to push young, new, unconvential wrestlers.

I know you don't like using the comparison, I'm just using it for the purpose of this discussion and their situations.

Ken Kennedy, need I say more really. Fantastic on the mic, good in the ring (he improves week by week) and his feud with the Undertaker had some of the best promos of late 2006. When he bashed Taker's head in with the Silver microphone I marked the hell out big time. If handled correctly I think we may see Kennedy pick up a World championship after Summerslam (maybe No Mercy).

C M Punk, he needs to get the hell out of ECW and onto one of the main shows, and then he'll probably develop twice as fast.

MVP, in my opinion he has 'it'. I instantly liked him when he arrived on Smackdown. He can cut promos and he can wrestle. I hope he gets a lengthy US Title run this year.

The next big thing is the result of the taco dinner I just ate and is currently turning in my bowels

Kennedy has loads of potential. If booked in the right way he could be huge.

The Kennedy - Taker feud was very well booked. Kennedy got a decent rub off the feud and didn't lose his heat when he lost at Armageddon. He then preceded to lose all the momentum he gained from that Taker feud by jobbing to Dave and Bobby for a couple of weeks.

If Benoit only had a little bit more charisma, he could have been pushed like Bret Hart

Nah, I'm pretty sure the WWE does get guys to memorise scripts. They didn't do it for Austin/Rock, but it's something that's come in with the more modern WWE times.

Watching him in that Steel Cage Match against John Cena and Shawn Michaels; it's amazing all the little things Mercury does.

According to Mick Foley's new book, that came in around about the time he was Commissioner. Also, he says they even have run-through rehearsals for exactly how the promos will go nowadays.

Big names/trusty mic guys probably get a lot of artistic license, though, I expect.

Cena has mic skills but his promos sound so scripted.

They need to go to a little place Mick likes to call Promoland.