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Last night's WWE Backlash PPV was about injury angles and title changes. Barring the super-human booking of Triple H after taking The Punt last night, Hunter should be off TV for several weeks. John Cena should also be off TV - at least for one episode of Raw - after taking The Spotlight Chokeslam from Big Show.

Assuming that Hunter and Cena are shifted out of the spotlight - no pun intended - to make room for newer Raw brand acquisitions via the Draft, WWE opens up several opportunities for other stars to step up.

U.S. champion MVP was off the PPV card, but a program against William Regal could make for a strong undercard match on a future PPV.

Matt Hardy lost at Backlash PPV, but he's a candidate to step into a main event program on Raw. The Miz and The Brian Kendrick could benefit from more TV time. Same with the tag champs, Primo & Carlito.

Temporarily removing Cena and Hunter from the equation, and assuming Shawn Michaels is on sabbatical for another two months, the Raw brand stacks up:

Top Babyfaces: (1) Batista, (2) U.S. champion MVP, (3) Kofi Kingston, (4) Primo & Carlito.

In other words, not that strong in the "hero" department without the Big Three of Cena, Hunter, and Michaels. I don't expect Cena to miss much TV time before setting up a program with Big Show for the next PPV.

Looking at the top heels, the Raw brand is healthy and balanced in this department.

Top Heels: (1) WWE champion Randy Orton, (2) Big Show, (3) Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase, (4) Matt Hardy, (5) William Regal, (6) The Miz, (7) The Brian Kendrick.

WWE could go a totally different direction with feuds, but based on this line-up, I see feuds of Orton vs. Batista, Cena vs. Big Show, Cody & Ted vs. Primo & Carlito, and MVP vs. Regal, Miz, Kendrick, or Hardy for the U.S. Title.

As for last night's Backlash PPV, I'll break down "What's Next" from the matches.

Jack Swagger vs. Christian - What's Next: Jack Swagger will get his ECW Title re-match either on TV before Judgment Day or at Judgment Day, which is only three weeks away. If Swagger gets his TV re-match and loses, then we can probably expect ECW to be off the Judgment Day PPV or a quick set-up for Christian vs. Kozlov.

I don't think WWE would jump so quickly into a PPV match between Christian and Kozlov, perhaps waiting until the Extreme Rules PPV at the beginning of June, but it's inevitable the Christian vs. Kozlov feud is happening on Tuesday nights.

Chris Jericho vs. Ricky Steamboat - What's Next: WWE squeezed three matches out of Ricky Steamboat, including a very strong PPV singles match. Steamboat will most likely drift off TV and appear from time-to-time to break up a fight along with the other agents.

As for Chris Jericho, he won't challenge for a major title on Smackdown considering Edge is the champion. There's a program with The Undertaker that's just waiting to happen, but WWE might want to hold that one off until Summerslam while Jericho gets his feet wet on Smackdown feuding with Jeff Hardy or another top tier babyface.

C.M. Punk vs. Kane - What's Next: The feud shifts from Raw to Smackdown with the competitors seemingly Even Steven based on having singles victories over each other in the past three weeks. Punk doesn't have much momentum after losing on PPV, but he already hinted that he would cash in his Money in the Bank opportunity at the Judgment Day PPV since the event is in his hometown of Chicago.

It seems like a waste for WWE to go that route, though. WWE would need a quick re-building effort behind Punk on the Smackdown brand while setting up a program against Edge simultaneously. I think it's best for WWE to hold off on Punk cashing in the MITB briefcase until he's been re-built on the Smackdown brand to where a World Title match against Edge would actually mean something.

As for Kane, he had the last word on Punk, which showed WWE is confident in him right now. Kane on the Smackdown brand feels funny, but there's the program against The Undertaker they could always grab out of the toolbox. Rey Mysterio wasn't on the PPV last night, but Rey's back on Smackdown and WWE loves to re-visit that David vs. Goliath storyline as often as possible.

Hardy vs. Hardy - What's Next: Matt Hardy lost momentum on the PPV last night, but if WWE doesn't draw attention to his loss and simply re-starts him on Raw as a top tier heel, then he should be fine. Matt vs. MVP for the U.S. Title sounds old and if we're going with the idea that Hunter, Michaels, and Cena are off TV until Cena picks up a feud against Big Show, then Hardy is left with few options to face credible babyfaces on Raw. It will be interesting to see how WWE utilizes Matt on Raw to build him up for a bigger feud down the line.

Jeff is re-positioned as one of the top babyfaces on Smackdown. I doubt they would return to the Jeff vs. Edge storyline that we just saw a few months ago, so I would like to see Jeff vs. Jericho on Smackdown before Jericho picks up an inevitable program with The Undertaker. Jericho would have plenty of material for a feud against Jeff and they could put together some very strong TV and PPV matches.

Khali Kiss Cam fall-out - What's Next: More b.s. with Santino/Santina/Beth Phoenix that ran its course several months ago. Santino is entertaining on his own and WWE's "experiment" to make Beth seem more "personable" to the WWE audience is tired. Just let her wrestle and take the Divas Title from Maryse for a strong heel run.

Team McMahon vs. Team Orton - What's Next: Batista will most-likely "avenge" Triple H's WWE Title loss by challenging Orton for the title at Judgment Day, unless they go a tag team route. Orton is the hottest character in the company right with his vile mean streak and Final Word over Hunter last night.

As for Cody & Ted, I see them challenging for the tag titles to build a nice program against Carlito & Primo. There aren't too many tag teams left in WWE, so that seems to be the only real possibility for a tag title feud unless WWE sticks together some singles wrestlers like Matt Hardy & Kendrick to challenge for the titles.

Shane McMahon drifts away, presumably, while Triple H is off TV for several weeks to sell Orton's Punt and allow the Orton vs. Batista feud to flesh itself out without Hunter's shadow looming over the proceedings.

John Cena vs. Edge - What's Next: The interesting factor in this is Vickie Guerrero. Vickie is on Raw, Edge is on Smackdown with the World Title. Perhaps WWE simply ignores this husband/wife relationship for the sake of the Brand Split, but that will be a story to follow on TV.

Cena will pick up a feud against Big Show when he returns from TV in one week or a few weeks unless he is completely written off storylines for his next WWE movie. That movie isn't scheduled until the summer, though, so WWE will probably get another two or three PPV matches out of Cena before he takes time off or shifts to a limited schedule.

As for Edge, the new World champ will be on Smackdown to feud against Jeff Hardy (not likely), The Undertaker (not likely), Rey Mysterio (maybe), C.M. Punk (if WWE pulls the trigger for the Chicago PPV), Great Khali (please, no) or a new babyface.

Edge's World Title feud will be interesting to follow, as Smackdown has a chance to start completely fresh with a completely new feud on top involving one of the other top performers in the company next to Randy Orton.

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