Is it just me, or does it seem that ever since the draft lottery both RAW and SmackDown! World Champions seem overshadowed by other storylines and feuds" Now do not get wrong, both John Cena and Batista are currently getting plenty of air time for their respective programs as we head into SummerSlam, but there is no doubt they are being over shadowed. Cena is being overshadowed by Hogan and HBK, which really shouldn't be a big deal granting the stature of these two legends. However, this is the second straight PPV that Cena has participated in for RAW where he wasn't even part of RAW's main event. In Vengeance, everybody knew that Triple H and Batista III was the headliner. These consecutive PPVs, second fiddle roles for Cena, is hurting his reign as a Champion. His competition hasn't helped either since coming over to RAW. He was fed Jericho and Christian for Vengeance and now probably Jericho for Slam. I am big fans of both Jericho and Christian but they just haven't been booked as believable top heels. Jericho has been jobbing at all the PPVs for about a year straight, save for his win against, you guessed it, Christian. The fans can't forget this so it makes his threat to Cena seem very minimal. Instead of having Triple H-Batista III at Vengeance, it would have been better for Cena if he got to go over Triple H before his hiatus. Triple H will probably be coming back as a face with HBK, Angle, Jericho, and Edge flooding the heel side of things so Cena may not get the chance to go over the former # 1 heel. I think until Cena goes over the # 1 heel on RAW, his championship reign cannot be seen as a success. With that, who is the # 1 heel on RAW" Leading up to 'Slam any casual fan would tell you HBK, not Jericho. Cena is still popular and this reign thus far has not deterred from that but he's still along way to go before being considered the "man" on RAW. Look for Cena to lose the title in his next program to either top heel Angle or HBK, thus never quite establishing his first reign on RAW as a success.

On SmackDown!, Batista's reign has been overshadowed by the never-ending Guerrero-Mysterio feud or should I say soap opera. His current feud with JBL does not seem like SmackDown!'s main event for Slam and it should be. After the Great American Bash screwjob finish, Batista's feud with JBL should have dominated SmackDown! culminating with him going over JBL at Slam cleanly. I do think he will still go over at Slam but there seems to not be as much emphasis on this World title feud as there should be. At least on RAW, Cena is taking the backseat to a first time meeting of Hogan and HBK, two legends that probably deserve the spotlight for this encounter. For Batista, though, he is taking the backseat to a feud that has going on for five months since WrestleMania and one man has won every match. Also, neither Guerrero nor Mysterio can be viewed as main eventers as HBK and Hogan. Both Eddie and Rey have been booked as upper midcarders for quite some time; though with all Guerrero's losses he may have fallen further (remember when he was WWE Champion"). If Guerrero wasn't such a master on the mic, neither he nor Mysterio would be getting all this air time on SmackDown!. Like Cena, his competition hasn't done him any favors as well. Wait a minute; didn't I say earlier that Cena needs to go over the # 1 heel on RAW to establish him" Well, JBL is certainly Smackdown's # 1 heel, the only problem I would say he is probably their only main event heel. The WWE was at least trying to add to their Smackdown main event heels with the positioning of Hassan but bad luck took that away. Most fans wouldn't have bought Hassan as a credible main eventer anyway (at least not yet). He jobbed cleanly and quickly to Cena in his last RAW match so it is probably good that Slam match wasn't made. Randy Orton is the only other guy that comes to mind but hasn't had the chance to get established on SmackDown! yet because of his injury. In time he should become the # 1 heel though. JBL is clearly the # 1 heel, but like Triple H, the fans are tired of him. Unlike Triple H, however, many fans don't buy JBL as a # 1 guy. The man went straight from tag team competitor to World Champ. The only reason he is in his spot today is because he is good on the mic and SmackDown! didn't have too many others at the time that he became a main eventer. Remember, at this time Lesnar had left after Mania and Angle's injury prevented him from continuing his feud with Guerrero. JBL's jobbing to Batista at Slam will help Batista's reign on SmackDown! but won't cement it as a success. A clean victory at a SmackDown!-only PPV over someone like Brock Lesnar may do that however.

Let me know what you think.

by Adam Veltri ..