I must say that the WWE is not much worth watching without the dead-man ;-) the kind of intensity that the dead-man brings to rivalries (regardless of whether they are title-rivalries or not), as he has been doing right since the 1990s (remember the priceless feuds with Mankind, Kane, Shawn Michaels, the Hell in a Cell introduction, the inferno matches, etc) and continues to do now (recent rivalries against Batista and Edge) - is something that no other superstar has or will ever be able to do - in my estimation, not even HHH.

I know he is healing injuries, and why wouldn't he be if he is given such a taxing schedule with matches left right and center all over the place against every kind of superstar and in every kind of stipulation (hell in a cell, casket, steel cage, elimination chamber, etc). And he would have to do them, because he still does better story-telling and puts better matches than anyone else does. Every match at Wrestlemania 25 was worth laughing at, except the Undertaker-Shawn Michaels match, which ought to teach every kid-fan a lesson as to what real wrestling is about. John Cena cannot ever equal Stone Cold Steve Austin and Randy Orton, as good as he is, can still not equal the Rock. And when the real back-bones (who have been the back-bones of this company for longer than anyone else) - the Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and HHH - retire, then what would happen? Who will save the WWE?

Anyway, so since the dead-man is still away, I will make my speculations about his return and plans for the next 1 year. He has not been in any personally intense rivalry after he got done with Big SLow (which was also not an intense rivalry as the ones with Batista and Edge), so I don't see him fighting in this year's Hell in a Cell (thank God, give the old man some rest and let the kids show what they have got - though it is not as much as the dead-man has got). I think this year's Hell in a Cell would be HHH vs Randy Orton as that seems to be the hottest rivalry of the year. I would love to see Randy come out on top in that one - he really needs the boost and is doing a good job for the business as champion. I think he deserved all the investment that the company has put into making him the top-star of this year - I had predicted his Rumble victory and his title victory at Backlash in my earlier blogs too, and I can estimate why it was done.

As for the dead-man, I think his next feud will be Chris Jericho. I remember Jericho mentioning a year back that he wanted to feud with Undertaker, and now that he is in Smackdown (which is effectively the Undertaker's brand), he has all the chance. Jericho is drawing a lot of heat as a heel (bad guy) right now and he is a good wrestler too, so he can put good matches with the dead-man, who can stand in the ring with superstars of any type and create good matches with them - be it the slow ones like Khali or the quicker ones like Shawn Michaels. Jericho had good confrontrations with Ricky Steamboat recently (man, can Steamboat wrestle!) and I think that he will soon start making claims as to how he has killed every legend in the WWE ever. How? Jericho will win the WHC championship belt soon and one fine day, he will be bragging in the ring about how he is the best ever and how he has put all legends to rest, starting with Ric Flair.... until the infamous church-bell tolls and enters the greatest legend of them all - the Phenom, the Undertaker! Jericho's look will sell it all. Undertaker will claim that he never lost the title which was stolen from him last year, and that should be enough to start this top-class rivalry.

I see them in a few non-title matches first which Undertaker will win, and in a few title-matches which Jericho will win (perhaps at Survivor series or Armageddon) through some kind of cheating or cheap-shots. Then the Undertaker will win the Royal Rumble next year once more (I can't think of anyone else who will win it as Batista/ Cena/ Orton - they all have won it recently and made the most of it - Undertaker was the only one who won it but couldn't make the most out of it because after winning the belt from Batista in 2007, he got injured and had to drop the title to Edge). Since the Undertaker was in a title match at last year's Wrestlemania also (with Edge), you would imagine that the WWE wants to give their best man a long title reign before he calls it quits. Nobody has earned it more (because he was very often not in title-feuds but still the most top-class feuds like the ones with Mankind and Kane), and after the Wrestlemania 25 match, I say make Undertaker and Shawn as the WHC and WWE champions for the next 1 year and show the kiddie Cenas and Kingstons and Mysterios how the title is held in style. Anyway, so coming back to my prediction, Undertaker wins next year's Rumble and then challenges Jericho to a spectacular match at Wrestlemania 26 - they will put up an awesome show which will end with a tombstone piledriver on Y2J (hopefully Undertaker's annual suicide-dive over-the-top-rope connects well this time and Jericho stands there instead of pulling a stupid cameraman who doesn't know where to stand to face the impact). And then starteth the reign of the dead-man.... for once, bring back the dark ages!