Batista injured....Wrestlemania plans out the door

Photo courtesy of World Wrestling Entertainment

This afternoon, I read a post on a message board that stated World Wrestling Entertainment [WWE] had been thrown a curve ball and that their plans for the upcoming Wrestlemania event were thrown out the window after learning that Dave Batista [pictured above] had suffered a torn hamstring.

At first, I dismissed the story as hogwash but after the elite section of PWInsider.com confirmed the story, I knew this was the real deal. According to an un-named source within the company, Batista is expected to miss several months and will being undergoing surgery shortly. In addition, the company had known about Batista working with an injury for a while as the hamstring began giving him problems during the most recent European tour and has since worsened.

On last week's episode of Raw, Randy Orton kicking Batista in the head after the match was the storyline reason for Batista's disappearance from the company and at this time, it is unknown whether the company will acknowledge the legitimate reason for Batista being absent or just put all the heat on Orton to make the crowd hate him more.

Word within the company is that as of today, they are not expecting Batista back until June at the earliest, with the worst case scenario being August, so all Wrestlemania plans involving him are out the door for now, which would have seen Batista taking on John Cena with the proper build up instead of the rush job done for Summerslam 2008.

Talk about taking it right on the chin. I have no idea what WWE should do after hearing this devastating news. No doubt that the Batista/Cena match would have had the crowd eating out of the palm of their hand and now, who does the company put Cena against that the fans haven't seen a dozen times?

The logical choice would be Orton but Orton and Cena have had countless matches against each other over the last year and were two-of-the-three participants in last year's triple-threat match for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 24.

The second choice would be Chris Jericho but Jericho and Cena have just main-evented or co-main evented the last two company pay-per-views, Survivor Series and Armageddon, battling each other for the World Heavyweight Championship so why would fans want to see another match between the two?

The only other options on Raw would be JBL, who has already faced Cena at a Wrestlemania event [Wrestlemania 21]; Shawn Michaels, who is rumored to face Undertaker [FINALLY] at Wrestlemania; there's CM Punk and Rey Mysterio if the company wants to be bold but both will most likely be in the Money in the Bank ladder match so their out.

The only big money match I could see with someone on the current roster to face Cena at the Silver Anniversary of Wrestlemania would be the current WWE Champion Jeff Hardy just because it would be something no one is expecting and would have people talking. You have both of the company's champions, both of whom ignite a reaction from the crowd from the time they come out, facing each other at the biggest event of the year in front of 70-to-80,000 people in what could be an undisputed championship match! What more could one ask for?

In reality though, my idea is pure fantasy and the safe bet is that Cena will either face Orton one-on-one or face Orton and Jericho in a triple-threat match. But still, doesn't that Cena/Hardy match idea kinda make you interested to see what would happen if that became the reality? I know I am.