No Way Out Update: Del Rio Out, Ziggler In

Due to injury, a new match has been set for No Way Out, as Sheamus will now defend the World Championship against Dolph Ziggler inside a steel cage. Ziggler won the opportunity to face Sheamus on Monday Night RAW, defeating Intercontinental Champion Christian, The Great Khali, and tag team partner Jack Swagger in a 4-way elimination match, last eliminating Christian following a Zig Zag and the 3-count.

Ziggler takes Alberto Del Rio’s place in the upcoming pay-per-view main event, and looks to capitalize on the opportunity. Ziggler has had his main event push started and stopped repeatedly over the last couple of years, and it’s hard to say if this trend will continue. Although he is a former World Champion, he only won the belt via forfeit, and lost it 15 minutes later to Edge. Since then, he’s only had two major championship matches, against CM Punk at this Year’s Royal Rumble, and was one of five challengers in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match at the PPV of the same name.

Meanwhile, Alberto Del Rio’s future as a main eventer remains uncertain. Del Rio was pulled from his scheduled match with Sheamus at No Way Out after sustaining a concussion at last week’s Smackdown! tapings, when Sheamus banged his head off the metal WWE logo that is set up on the stage (despite WWE telling fans on RAW it was a result of a Brain Chop by Khali). As I’ve said before, WWE is not very sure about pushing Del Rio as a top-tier guy anymore, due to his recent string of injuries. Del Rio is being seen as less and less dependable to be counted on for big matches as a result of the injuries, and he may be kept out of the spotlight for a while once he is healthy enough to return.

In other No Way Out news, a stipulation has been added to the Big Show/John Cena cage match. Both John Laurinaitis and Vince McMahon will be at ringside, and if Show loses to Cena, Laurinaitis is fired. It has also been announced that Brodus Clay will take on David Otunga in a pre-show match available only on WWE.com, which will likely be a squash victory for Brodus.

Speaking of Laurinaitis, it appears that he is solely an on-air talent now, and has no position of authority backstage. Laurinaitis was the executive V.P. of talent relations for several years for WWE, but has now been demoted. It has been reported that Laurinaitis reports directly to Paul “Triple H” Levesque now, and has been doing so for a while.