After watching Smackdown last night, it still isn’t clear who Batista will face at WrestleMania XXIV on March 30. Assuming that Shawn Michaels will be wrestling Ric Flair, that leaves Batista and Chris Jericho as the two biggest stars without an opponent for WWE’s marquee show.

I have a feeling that Jericho will end up in the Money in the Bank ladder match, so that leaves only Batista, who I don’t see as a participant in the ladder match. Here are a few possible scenarios for “The Animal” at WrestleMania:

A triple-threat match vs. Edge and The Undertaker for the world heavyweight title: I have seen speculation about this on various Web sites and message boards, but I don’t think it’s happening. For one thing, I don’t see WWE having two triple-threat world titles matches on the same show. Also, unlike John Cena, who lost to Randy Orton at No Way Out on a cheap disqualification, Batista was pinned cleanly by The Undertaker in the elimination chamber match, and thus has no case that he deserves to be in the title match. Finally, Batista, Edge and Undertaker just had a tripe-threat match at Armageddon in December, so it’s already been done. All of the focus of the Smackdown main event at WrestleMania is on Edge and Undertaker.

Teaming with Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show and Shane McMahon: There was talk that the original idea for this angle was to have Mayweather and Rey Mysterio face Show and McMahon, but that had to be scrapped due to Mysterio suffering a torn biceps. As it stands now, Mayweather vs. Show is a one-on-one match, but that could change. If it ends up becoming a tag match, Batista would be a logical choice because he and Mysterio are close friends in the story line. Plus, it could lead to a post-WrestleMania program between Batista and Show.

Facing MVP: This probably is a long shot, but it’s the match I would most like to see Batista in at WrestleMania. These two have wrestled a couple times recently, with Batista winning both matches. On Smackdown last night, MVP got in a lot of offense before Batista finally prevailed. This reminds me somewhat of MVP’s program with Chris Benoit last year, when he lost to Benoit a few times before finally getting that elusive victory over him. MVP was taken a lot more seriously as a result of those matches. Working a high-profile program with Batista would be an even greater boost to MVP’s rising career. If MVP were to lay out Batista in the next couple of weeks, there could be a lot of interest in a match between them at WrestleMania.

MVP’s U.S. title probably wouldn’t be at stake, as it has been established that the U.S. and Intercontinental titles are beneath guys such as Batista, Undertaker, Triple H, Cena and Michaels. The wildcard in this is Matt Hardy. If Hardy is back for WrestleMania, MVP would be his logical opponent. However, if Hardy’s return was held off until after WrestleMania, and if MVP were to upset Batista, or even if he fell just short in a competitive match, it would make the Hardy-MVP program even more meaningful.

A few other thoughts on last night’s Smackdown:

I’m not sure it was wise to have an injured Mysterio wrestle again. Gutting it out for a short world title match on pay-per-view is one thing, but the match with Chavo Guerrero seemed unnecessary. It’s probably past the point of mattering, but the match also further buried the ECW title, as the ECW champion was pinned by a one-armed man.

The post-match attack by Big Show – in Mysterio’s home town – was effective at getting Show a lot of heel heat. Actually, I think it would have been safer for Mysterio if they had just down the beatdown instead of the match. It probably wasn’t a great idea for anyone to be grabbing on Mysterio’s injured arm, but it was obvious that Show was being cautious with it. …

Benjamin and Jimmy Wang Yang had a really good match. Benjamin executed the move of the night when he leaped onto the top rope and hit an overhead suplex on Yang, who landed more than halfway across the ring. Benjamin never ceases to impress me with his athleticism and agility. There’s still something missing in his delivery on the mic, but he definitely deserves a push. As for Yang, he probably never will wrestle in a pay-per-view main event, but he also is very talented and fun to watch. I think Yang should be moved to ECW, where he would instantly become a top contender for the title. …

It’s very strange to have the announce teams for all three WWE shows do the “serious voice” when talking about an angle involving Hornswoggle. He had been depicted as a cartoon character who lived under the ring, and now they are talking about him suffering from “swelling of the brain.” Speaking of which, I'm not so sure I'd be doing angles involving brain injuries at this time. Here’s a thought: When Hornswoggle was cornered in the cage on Raw Monday, why didn’t he just spray paint a black box on the mat and jump into it like he did that time when he “ran through” a wall in front of Carlito? …

It looks like the days of The Great Khali being treated as something special are over. He has now been pinned by Finlay and Kane in consecutive weeks. …

Theodore Long was flirting with Maryse. Didn’t he learn anything from the Kristal Marshall debacle?

Ring Posts: The Sun's Kevin Eck blogs about professional wrestling. E-mail Kevin.