BY WADE KELLER

If John Cena's apparent leg injury at tonight's WWE house show is serious enough to keep him out of actions weeks or even months or - gasp! - even past WrestleMania in four months, who could step up?

Fortunately for WWE, Triple H is on the verge of being ready to return to he could take on a heavier schedule.

Otherwise, the Wade Barrett storyline could be flipped where he rebels against C.M. Punk stealing his guys and an angle could turn him babyface. Or Sheamus could be turned instead.

Or Batista could be bribed into returning. Or Chris Jericho.

Or John Morrison gets protected and elevated in a major way in coming weeks.

There's not a lot of other viable options. Edge isn't a top-tier Raw babyface level character at this point. Rey Mysterio is needed on Smackdown, although rosters could be blended between now and WrestleMania enough where Rey could be a stop-gap from the standpoint of drawing kids.

Dark horses are Daniel Bryan, R-Truth, Big Show, Kofi Kingston, or... Chris Masters? Yeah, the dark horse list isn't particularly viable. WWE's depth isn't what it once was, but Triple H on the verge of returning and Randy Orton as a strong co-top-babyface gives WWE just enough depth to avoid any widespread panic, although any length of time Cena is out will be a blow to attendance, merchandise sales, TV ratings, and PPV buys.

The injury could turn out to be a minor ankle sprain or a knee injury that he could work through with a brace. So it's too early to go too far in creating an alternate plan.

Please Recommend or Like This Article on Twitter or Facebook

KELLER BLOG: Paul Heyman alliance with C.M. Punk - where does it go from here?

KELLER'S WWE SUMMERSLAM PPV BLOG: Results and analysis throughout the show including Lesnar vs. Triple H, Cena vs. Punk vs. Show

KELLER: C.M. Punk is not best utilized as a tweener, despite a recent reader poll; he should be all out heel

Comment on this Article Below