A Luminous Future

A Luminous Future

Rewind the clock about seven years ago and we will all remember debuts of two of the WWE's current top stars for good and bad reasons. One had an incredible impact in John Cena's debut against Kurt Angle and one had a lackluster approach that being Randy Orton's backstage debut. It's pretty clear that these two are the measuring stick as to how to come into a company and make an impact to become all you can be. John Cena took the route of coming in with basically no gimmick and turning it into something huge that fans today still adore him for, that being the rapper gimmick. Orton was a little different when he got injured not too far into his WWE career but did align with the mega group, Evolution led by Triple H and Ric Flair. We go into 2009 and see that these two are most likely the company's and maybe the industry's most marketable names and it all happened in less than a decade. People look at guys like Edge, Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy, etc and see just how long it took them to win their first world title. After debuting in the WWE, Randy Orton won his first World Heavyweight Championship at the ripe age of twenty four just two years after his debut. Cena had to wait a little longer winning eight months after Orton at Wrestlemania 21. This begs the question who's next?

Over the past year we've seen the debuts, re-debuts, and upper card emergence of four prime, young WWE superstars. This is the future of the WWE and the future looks good.

John Morrison

We remember John Hennigan from Tough Enough III, co-winner along with Matt Cappotelli. From Blaze to Spade to finally a last name that stuck, Nitro. Johnny Nitro swept into the Smackdown tag team scene with Joey Mercury and took it by storm winning a total of 3 WWE Tag Team Titles as the tag team MNM managed by Melina. Nitro went off to Raw after being 'fired' from Smackdown and enjoyed instant success as a two time Intercontinental Champion. Nitro was riding high on Raw until the fatal Chris Benoit murder/suicide tragedy that brought up a new opportunity which Nitro seized upon. Shortly after this tragedy Nitro moved to the ECW brand and essentially took Benoit's place, winning the vacant ECW Championship. A little bit into his reign as ECW Champion Nitro made an interesting change in name that landed him what many say to be his rightful persona being dubbed John Morrison. The striking resemblance to Jim Morrison played a part in this renaming but to many revolutionized his career before it truly got started. Morrison's ECW Championship reign eventually led him to a tag team run with another former Tough Enough alum, reality show star The Miz. The two dominated the tag team ranks much like earlier in Morrison's career but this time it was only for one WWE Tag Team Championship reign, one that lasted two hundred and fifty days. As of now Morrison has held the World Tag Team Championships with Miz as well but not for nearly as long. Also Morrison is the longest reigning combined WWE Tag Team Champion in the titles' history with four reigns of five hundred and forty one days.

The Miz and Morrison tag team ended in the WWE's April draft sending Miz to Raw and Morrison to Smackdown where Morrison would find himself in a more comfortable role. Morrison took his spot on Smackdown as a babyface, where he could truly allow the fans to appreciate his unorthodox in ring style while not having to worry about his partnerships or allies. Finally Morrison was given a chance to shine and to shine he is, putting on amazing matches week in and week out. Whether it's winning championships or drawing early comparisons to the great Shawn Michaels, John Morrison is destined for greatness and some could only think that the main event isn't too far away.

Dolph Ziggler

Like many in professional wrestling the first gimmick or two are not the ones that lead to super stardom. Ask “The Ringmaster” Steve Austin or Rocky Maivia or “The Blueblood” Hunter Hearst Hemsley. This was the case for Dolph Ziggler when he debuted on Raw in 2006 as a member of the five man cheerleading stable called the Spirit Squad. The Spirit Squad run was memorable for one thing, the return of Degeneration-X and not a single member of the Spirit Squad. They were written out of Raw and Nic Nemeth was sent back to developmental. Nobody could have predicted a brash blond young man introducing himself over and over again would have success in the WWE but low and behold if you've got the talent to get over a gimmick you can be a star. Ziggler shocked people with types of offense they have never seen before in his re-debut match against Batista. Even in a loss Ziggler showed a lot of people he had huge potential that was untapped.

The draft to Friday Night Smackdown helped Ziggler just as much as it helped John Morrison in the way of giving him a true outlet to display his talents and even as a heel he has shown a deep connection with the fans. Ziggler is going out and putting on great matches on a consistent basis showing that he isn't a joke and maybe this gimmick really hit the spot. Dolph Ziggler is possibly the hottest superstar on the rise in the WWE today and if he keeps going at the rate he is than we could very well be seeing the name Ziggler for years to come.

Ted Dibiase Jr.

Legacy isn't just a stable name when you're talking about Ted Dibiase Jr. The son of the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase was bred for greatness and was given a primetime show to develop it on Monday Night Raw. Dibiase showed up on an edition of Monday Night Raw introduced by his father and making an impact in the tag team division claiming he would win the tag titles with a mystery partner. It turns out that mystery partner was apart of the current tag team champions and a second generation superstar himself in Cody Rhodes. The two would go on to hold the titles for a few months until their true 'destiny' came in the form of Randy Orton forming the stable Legacy. After a few weeks of looking for the right members and combinations it became clear that the trio of Orton, Rhodes, and Dibiase Jr. would fit the bill just right.

Many have seen Dibiase as the star of Legacy much like Randy Orton himself was the star of Evolution years ago. Even as far as recent editions of Raw have shown signs of Dibiase ready to make the turn against Orton and possibly propel himself into the main event scene. The sheer God given talent his genes have provided him may have been enough to get into the business and join such a storied group but will he have enough to take it a step further. Can Dibiase Jr. do what his father couldn't and win a World Wrestling Entertainment World Championship? Time will tell and the evolution of this superstar isn't so far off if you ask me.

Jack Swagger

Many times a great amateur wrestler makes their way into a WWE ring and shines, the story of Jack Swagger is no different. Being a two sport athlete in wrestling and football as well as attending the University of Oklahoma helped Swagger get noticed by Jim Ross who got him the job in the WWE. Like most Swagger went into developmental, perfected his craft and was ready to debut on the big stage. Swagger was sent to ECW and defined potential when he won the world championship only short of only five months of being there. Swagger, the Two Time All-American quickly made an impact as he defeated some of ECW's most tenured competitors including Tommy Dreamer, Finlay, and Matt Hardy.

Like most in this piece a move to Monday Night Raw looks to be the move of his professional career as it is giving him a bigger stage to show what he can do and the potential he hones can only bring him higher and higher. Swagger, like Morrison is a former World Champion just now arriving onto a prime time show ready to accomplish everything there is to and when you've got such a raw talent in the former of knowing the ins and outs of amateur competition, it's going to be hard to stop him.

A downfall to a company could be not making new stars and with the emergence of Total Non-Stop Action it begs the question are we going to see a repeat of the Monday Night Wars and if so who is in what position. The key difference between WCW and WWE a decade ago is the WWE's willingness to create new stars and let them shine under their own banner. With the four names listed above it is clear that making new stars is still the WWE's philosophy. Check back here five, ten years down the line and see just what these four men have done. I will personally guarantee that at least two of them will have held either the WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship if not all four.

Below is a chart on how fast it took John Cena and Randy Orton to win their first World or WWE Championship in relation to how long it would take these four to do it in order beat Cena and/or Orton.

*According to the superstar's first appearance on WWE Television under any persona

John Morrison

Cannot win a World Title faster than Randy Orton.
Cannot win a World Title faster than John Cena.

Dolph Ziggler

Cannot win a World Title faster than Randy Orton.
Has to win by December 1, 2009 to beat John Cena's record.

Ted Dibiase Jr.

Has to win by September 16, 2009 to beat Randy Orton's record.
Has to win by April 3, 2011 to beat John Cena's record.

***Note- April 3, 2009 is a Sunday which would mean a strong possibility of Wrestlemania 27 to be held on that date making Dibiase's win much like Cena's in the fact that it would be at a Wrestlemania and the length of time to win a World Title was exact to the day.

Jack Swagger

Has to win by December 30, 2009 to beat Randy Orton's record.
Has to win by July 30, 2011 to beat John Cena's record.