| This may sound a little crazy, and I'm the last person to mark out for him, but I think that Mr. America aka Hulk Hogan should win the belt. Why?
One, it fits with his gimmick. If he's going to keep this whole angle going, the US belt should be around the waist of Mr. America, right? Plus, if they decide to kill the Mr. America gimmick, Vince can't just fire the US Champion, right? OK, maybe he can, but then another tournament could always be held. Smackdown tourneys = good.
Two, while there are much more deserving up-and-coming (and under the age of 50) guys on Smackdown, putting the belt around the waist of one of the biggest names of all time makes the belt that much more valuable. Sure, Matt Hardy and John Cena are ready for a singles championship push. But, that doesn't mean that they're ready to re-establish a championship that has been on hiatus for almost 2 years. They did that with Christian winning the I-C belt on Raw and, as much as I like him, his winning the I-C belt hasn't resulted in any kind of lustre surrounding the belt (sure, booking has a hand in that, but he isn't a "big name"). I think that if they wanted Booker T to chase after the belt, putting it on Chris Jericho or another former top champion would have made it mean more than putting it on Christian, who has never been a main eventer.
And finally, I think that putting it on one of Smackdown's top workers is way too predictable. We wouldn't be surprised if a Chris Benoit, an Eddie Guerrero, or a John Cena won the belt - we'd expect it. I say shake things up and give us the unexpected. |