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This year’s WrestleMania is quickly gearing up to be one of the most lackluster outings the WWE has seen since the days when Sid Viscious, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were headlining main events for Vince McMahon’s promotion. Unlike those days, it’s not that the WWE lacks star power these days; it’s a matter of uninspiring booking that would make even Donald Trump prefer a boat charter cruise to watching the annual four-hour pay per view event.

As things stand now, the top two titles are being booked like so: The Smackdown world title holder, Batista, will be facing off against the Undertaker, while the Raw title holder, John Cena, will be facing off against Shawn Michaels. It’s an example of WWE favoritism booking at its worst.

Batista has had an uninspiring second title run as champ and while he’s a younger, fresher face in the title mix, his opponent has been around for over 15 years and lacks any hint of freshness; the Undertaker’s schtick was old at least five years ago, and his vaunted “undefeated at WrestleMania” run isn’t a compelling enough storyline to really put butts in the seats anymore. I couldn’t care less than I do right now about the outcome.

Making matters worse is that Batista is over with the Smackdown crowd as a “face,” while ‘Taker will simply never be booed at this point in his career, no matter what he does. Far more interesting for the WWE title would be to add Smackdown’s two top heels into the mix for a Fatal Four-Way match for Smackdown’s world title. I’m speaking, of course, about Montel Vontavius Porter (MVP) and Mr. Kennedy. A four-way clash between Batista, Undertaker, MVP and Mr. Kennedy would be far more compelling.

Over on RAW, the same “face vs. face” dynamic holds solid. Shawn Michaels, like Taker, is a long-term vet who lacks freshness and is so established with the crowd he really won’t ever be meaningfully booed or hated, which means another match in which a face champion, John Cena, could be booed in favor of a veteran challenger who can’t get over as a heel anymore. A heel turn for Cena is a possibility, but would only hurt his star power at this point in his title reign.

Far better would have been to book Cena against a true monster heel, the physically impressive and imposing Great Khali, in a sort of Wrestlemania III flashback match to the classic Hogan-Andre match. This would allow for a lot of David vs. Goliath excitement, and if McMahon felt he owed Shawn Michaels a main event nod, he could serve as a “where do his loyalties lie” special referee to the match.

I could list the handful of other matches that, so far, seem ill-conceived, but what’s the point? If the two main event matches are already a bust, this year’s WrestleMania is destined to be, as well.

As recent broadcasts reveal, the WWE’s top four superstars are now clear. The only people considered “WrestleMania main event-worthy” are The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, John Cena and Batista. Arguably, only one of those superstars belongs in that elite group.

Heck, even though WWE claimed Undertaker could lay claim to ECW champion Bobby Lashley’s title just as easily as Cena’s or Batista’s, he wasn’t even featured in the big showdown on SmackDown last week. He finally showed up on Raw this week, but it was too little, too late. Despite ECW being more entertaining than SmackDown, WWE clearly doesn’t respect the promotion.

John Cena is unarguably WWE’s current top superstar and belongs in a WrestleMania main event. But the rest? Well, Batista doesn’t put butts in the seats and doesn’t really belong in that elite group, and if SmackDown wasn’t such a roster wasteland, he wouldn’t be there.

As for Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker, anyone who was main eventing back when Hulkamania was still running wild in the WWF ought not still be main eventing today. And it’s sad, since there are many younger superstars who would be better fits for a WrestleMania main event.

On the SmackDown side, Mr. Kennedy is very close to being ready, and nothing would help him peak better than a WrestleMania main event against Batista. Matt Hardy is also close to breaking through to main event status as a singles wrestler, after years and years of being a star tag-team player and having to make the adjustment to singles wrestling the last couple-three years.

The talent pool is even deeper on the Raw side of the pond. Both Edge and Randy orton are already ready to main event WrestleMania, and would make worthy adversaries for Cena. And if VKM really wanted to call back some memories of Hogan-Andre, he could easily toss The Great Khali against Cena un a man vs. monster type of storyline.

But for now, it seems, VKM can’t look past the stars of two decades ago, so it’ll be a retread of Undertaker and Shawn Michaels sharing main event stages with the current champs. And with ‘Taker having an undefeated record at WrestleMania, they may as well put his address plaque on Batista’s belt right now.

Uninspiring. Predictable. Too bad…

WWE’s broadcast slate reveals an interesting imbalance between their three main brands, at present. Currently, Vincent Kennedy McMahon’s company offers three marquee shows, the two-hour-plus RAW brand, which airs on USA; the two-hour Smackdown brand, which airs on The CW; and the one-hour ECW brand, which airs on SciFi.

One might expect, based on length of broadcast, that ECW would be the castoff brand, the least entertaining of the three. But that’s clearly not the case.

Right now, RAW is clearly WWE’s premier broadcast, featuring the top talent in the company. Any show that feature top star John Cena, as well as contenders like Triple H (now injured), Edge, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels, Shelton Benjamin, part-timer Mick Foley, and the company’s top divas is clearly in the lead. It’s also the show Vince shows up on most often, revealing the show’s top-billing status.

Yet Smackdown is not the second-best broadcast. Instead, the one-hour ECW has been consistently more entertaining of late, and not just because of “straight-edge extremist” C.M. Punk, a star in the making who is portrayed as such a nice guy, he probably hands out first communion gifts to fans.

No, ECW’s appeal comes from its racier storylines and a cast of wrestlers who, while they may not be suited to Raw or Smackdown, make for an entertaining hour of pro wrestling. Between vets like Rob Van Dam, Sabu, Tommy Dreamer and Sandman to up-and-comers like Elijah Burke, Bobby Lashley, Kevin Thorne, Matt Striker, Mike Knox and Shannon Moore, the edgier brand allows these stars-in-the-making to shine.

Frankly, it is Smackdown that feels more like the WWE’s talent dumping-ground. When their biggest stars are tired, worn-out vets like King Booker, Batista, Chris Benoit, Undertaker, Finlay and William Regal, you have a brand that’s in trouble. Their tag division is so weak, Paul London and Brian Kendrick, whose matches are pure “fast forward over ‘em on Tivo” affairs, have held the titles for nearly nine months. Boring!

Of course, Smackdown is not without hope; their two most promising superstars have the potential to be quite good; Mr. Kennedy and Montel Vontavious Porter are consistently entertaining heels. Yet legit superstars like Matt Hardy and Joey Mercury have to feel trapped their, separated from their respective tag team partners, Jeff Hardy and Johnny Nitro. Reunite those tag teams permanently on Smackdown and at least the tag division would be entertaining.