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Torch Morning Poll 4/24: Shawn Michaels is due back to WWE in a few months. Who should he feud against on the Raw brand upon his return? We asked Torch readers on Friday to pick Shawn Michaels's future opponent when he returns to WWE after taking a sabbatical following the WrestleMania 25 match against The Undertaker.

Matt Hardy was the clear choice by Torch readers, as Hardy jumped out to a 35 percent margin about halfway through Friday before settling to a strong 25 percent total voting after 1,001 votes were cast on Sunday morning.

I'm not surprised by the pick. Matt is moving back to the Raw brand, which is where he first came back to WWE during the Edge/Lita fiasco-turned-TV-storyline. He has a chance to be more than a bit player to elevate another person. Edge finally became a star during that program with Matt, and now it's Matt's turn to become a star in his own right.

Working with the babyface Shawn Michaels would be a nice way to re-integrate Michaels into Raw storylines, as he would presumably be working with a hot heel in Matt Hardy. Hardy would benefit from working with one of the top stars in company history, which would represent instant credibility for Matt in the eyes of the fans.

I also think Torch readers want to see a fresh face in a main event feud. We've seen the likes of Cena, Edge, Jericho, Michaels, Hunter, and Orton in the top programs on the Raw brand for the better part of the last year.

You know Michaels is instant main event, and Hardy as a top heel working with Michaels would be a fresh feud that could give Raw viewers something new to sink their teeth into.

I'm not sure what kind of chemistry would be there between Michaels and Hardy, as they don't have much history. Michaels likes to work a faster pace and Hardy has developed a slow-it-down pace as a heel, partly because he's heel and partly because he's not exactly in the best physical condition.

Michaels, even in his mid-40s, would push Hardy in the ring. Hardy would certainly benefit and I believe fans would enjoy seeing a new program involving both of them. Torch readers certainly agree to the prospect of Michaels vs. Hardy.

Second place was Randy Orton's for a while during the poll voting, but The Brian Kendrick ended up with second place after 1,001 votes were cast. TBK was part of the "Trinity of the TWA" group - along with Lance Cade and Bryan Danielson - that came out of Shawn Michaels's wrestling school ten yeas ago.

WWE already tried the Michaels vs. Cade feud when Michaels was feuding against Chris Jericho, but that program crashed and burned. Cade wasn't positioned to succeed, he wasn't exactly great in the program, and then he was fired for a public health issue.

As a result, WWE might hesitate to pull the trigger on another Michaels vs. Student feud. WWE also might hesitate to put TBK in a main event program because they seemed to lose confidence in him on Smackdown after he was in a World Title match in the Championship Scramble program several months ago.

Again with the voting, though, Torch readers would like to see Michaels involved in something fresh. Michaels has feuded with wrestlers on an equal level such as Chris Jericho and The Undertaker for the past year. Perhaps it's time for him to use the remaining year or two of his career to work with a younger talent like Hardy of TBK to nudge either one to the main event position.

My personal pick, though, is Randy Orton. Orton was coming in second for most of the voting until TBK snuck into second place. Michaels vs. Orton could be your Summerslam PPV main event of Orton is the champion and Michaels returns before then to begin a program.

Orton is on top of his game and it seems like Michaels vs. Orton would be a fresh feud without too much history. It certainly wouldn't be the over-done and Orton vs. Triple H feud that has been done to death.

If WWE wants to re-visit history between these two, Orton became a main event star around this time five years ago when he defeated Mick Foley in a hardcore match. But at the Unforgiven PPV in Sept. 2003, Orton defeated Michaels in a singles match when Orton was part of Evolution.

More recently, there was a brief program two years ago with Team RKO (Orton & Edge) against Team DX (Michaels & Hunter), but the Michaels vs. Orton singles program hasn't been done in the past five years. It would seem like a fresh feud in 2009.

Poll Results at 1,001 votes on Sunday morning
Batista ... 4%
Big Show ... 5%
Randy Orton ... 12%
Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase ... 3%
John Cena ... 6%
Matt Hardy ... 25%
MVP ... 9%
Mr. Kennedy ... 5%
Kofi Kingston ... 2%
The Miz ... 5%
Triple H ... 9%
William Regal ... 3%
The Brian Kendrick ... 13%

Torch readers write back! How do you see the voting? Have additional thoughts on the poll results? Send in your feedback to pwtorch@gmail.com

Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.

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