Shawn Michaels needs surgery to repair his blown-out knee, wrestlingobserver.com has reported. Michaels still is expected to gut out his match against Randy Orton at the Judgment Day pay-per-view tonight. How much time he will miss will be determined by how much damage is found during the surgery.

I have no idea who was supposed to win tonight's match, but I'm guessing now that Orton will go over. If there is anything positive to come out of Michaels' injury, it's that perhaps Orton can become an impact player again. If done properly, Orton could draw a lot of heel heat by "injuring" and defeating Michaels.

Michaels will join an ever-growing list of WWE main event wrestlers on the shelf, including The Undertaker, Triple H, Mr. Kennedy, Rey Mysterio and King Booker. With Michaels out of the WWE title picture, it's anybody's guess as to who will be John Cena's next challenger -- assuming Cena retains the title tonight against The Great Khali.