In the past, guys like Benoit, Guerrero, Jericho, and Angle have typically been the ones most smarks liked to refer to as the MVP of the WWE. This is based mostly on the fact they provided consistently good and technical wrestling matches, made their opponents look good, and were entertaining.

Now all four of them, for better or for worse, are gone in one form or another. That leaves me with the question, who do you consider to be the MVP of the current WWE? Do you have one for each brand or someone who makes it up all together?

Right now, the obvious MVPs (to me) are:

Raw: John Cena. Say what you will about him, but the guy has been producing nothing short of high quality for months on end now. He managed to make me enjoy KHALI of all people. He is a successful main eventer and a driving force in Raw right now.

ECW: This spot is up for grabs. I would say CM Punk, but I want to wait and see how Johnny Nitro as ECW Champion pans out.

Smackdown: Edge. He was a driving force behind Raw's success for many months, and now he's bringing his stardom to Smackdown. He has stepped it up in the ring, surprising those who used to be harsh critics of his work. He's entertaining and rarely disappoints in the ring. Edge is money.

So what do the rest of you think?

RAW:

Cena: Like him or not (and I don't always), he's been one of the most consistently over performers on RAW. His style plays well against most anyone on the roster and he's not as bad in ring as a lot of people seem to think.

Umaga: He's injured now, but when he's on the top of his game he can be the most effective monster heel on the roster. And unlike The Great Khali, he can actually work a good match.

ECW:

CM Punk: He's over as all hell, a good worker, and he's made Mike Knoxx look good in the ring. That takes talent.

Elijah Burke: The real breakout star of the New Breed. He's one of the better workers in ECW, and probably one of the better in the WWE at the current time.

Johnny Nitro: I've always felt he was good. And he's even better now as a top level heel.

Smackdown!:

MVP: Obvious, yeah. But his work with that one guy made him a breakout star.

Finlay: The most consistent worker on any of the three shows. He can have a good match with almost anyone, and his style fits into almost any match.

Another good candidate for MVP on Smackdown has got to be Matt Hardy. The guy has been on an incredible roll of having great television matches against pretty much everyone. I just wish this would translate into big time ppv matches, etc.

Cena and Edge. I'm gonna say that these two will be the most consistant performers in the company for the next 5-10 years and grow into the top two workers as well, if they aren't already.

RAW: It's obviously Cena. He's carried the brand, even though he doesn't have to. There are plenty of undercard guys who could carry storylines that make the show interesting, but the whole show is built top to bottom around this guy, and he's done a good job with it. Even though I am absolutely tired of him, he's earned his pay.

I'd also include Edge, pre-draft. The dude is the kind of heel wrestling needs. He's not afraid to be a slime-bag, and I've grown to respect that.

Smackdown: Smackdown has had several MVP's this year. I'll start with the one who I think has made the biggest difference in the quality of the show this past year. JBL. God help me, as I think the dude's an ass. But he's singlehandedly done more to improve the show since becoming the color commentator than anyone else. He's the kind of color man wrestling needs right now. He's classic color commentating along the lines of Jesse Ventura. It's been so long since we've had that kind of commentator that we've nearly forgotten what it is like. Too many "puppy" comments, or too many inside jokes have ruined our commentary for years. I'm honestly thankful to have JBL in the booth to, get this, enhance the psychology of the match while still being JBL. Taz should take lessons.

As far as in ring goes, I'll say Finlay as well. The guy is fearless in making decent guys look good. The fact that he feuded with the Boogeyman and is still considered a bad ass is unbelievable.

I'll throw in a pre-draft choice for Smackdown as well, and that would be London & Kendrick. Those guys guaranteed at least one Holy $#!^ match per PPV, and that makes them MVP worthy in my book.

ECW: If you would have asked me months ago, I might have said Hardcore Holly. He gained my respect in that one match with RVD, something I wouldn't have thought possible before. But he's been sidelined and drafted, so we'll look at ECW's other two obvious choices: CM Punk and Elijah Burke.

Honestly, these two guys have the brand built around them, and they've proven that they can handle the pressure. If I had to pick just one, it would be Burke, as Punk lost a LOT of momentum when he "joined" the New Breed and then quickly turned out of it. If he hadn't tripped over the bad booking, I would have given it to Punk. Burke, on the other hand, hasn't had a single bump in his path. He's taken off thanks to his exposure. If he were on RAW or Smackdown, he would've had the mid-card title by now. I only hope for him that they don't suddenly forget about his character like they've done with Carlito and Shelton Benjamin.

Punk just isn't that great. His matches since he incorporated the "cool" new MMA/KENTA moveset have felt like awkward backyard "matches". He needs to drop the weak kicks and strikes and start working his matches like he did late in his ROH career. This will be quite the challenge considering he isn't surrounded by ROH type talent these days, but he SHOULD be able to handle it if he's as good as everyone thinks he is. Personally I think Burke is twice the worker that Punk is.