Actually, I think that they were planning on Rey winning the title at WM22 before Eddie's death anyhow, and that Eddie was supposed to be the WHC in the Triple Threat. If you think about it, it makes some sense.
Rey v. Eddie feud was supposed to build future tension for this feud. Now, think back to Eddie's alliance with Batista. Remember all of the foreshadowing that Eddie was gonna screw Batista over to get the belt? Yeah. The reason he didn't do it at No Mercy was to get Randy Orton involved, hence him being the third in a Triple Threat.
Now, fast forward to when Eddie died, the night he was supposed to win the WHC. We all assumed that the belt would go to him during Batista's injury, but we never were sure of that, were we? After all, Eddie and Randy both wanted the WHC, so Batista, Eddie, and Orton in a Triple Threat would have been inevitable, wouldn't it? This match would be where Eddie turns heel again by screwing Batista over. Or perhaps he wins it fair and square and stays face. Who knows?
As Eddie's title run goes on, we then arrive at the Royal Rumble. Rey would win this Rumble, of course, starting a new Rey vs. Eddie feud. You see, the circumstances under which Rey goes to WM22 would have been drastically different. Instead of going to WM22 in Eddie's honor, he goes there AGAINST Eddie in a whole new feud.
Of course, the writers managed to do this without excluding Randy Orton, making it so that he cheats to beat Rey, and therefore becoming the third man in the match instead of stealing his opportunity altogether.
So you see, contrary to popular belief, Rey isn't going to win because his best friend died, he's going to win because that's what WWE had been planning for the past half of a year or so. It all goes back to us assuming that Eddie would have received the belt because of Batista's injury. (This is the first injury, not his most recent one, btw)
So now instead of Eddie v. Rey v. Randy Orton, you have Kurt v. Rey v. Randy Orton. The circumstances are different, but getting the exact same result that they had intended.
That's not to say that having Rey win would be the best thing, of course. While I do strongly believe that a main title run for Rey is WAY overdue, it would be best to have Kurt win it. If either Rey or Randy win it, then Eddie's name would continue to be thrown around even more than it already is. It would be ESPECIALLY bad for Randy to win it, not because he's not an awesome wrestler ('cuz he is, we all know that), but because he is a heel. A heel win at a WM is the best way to spoil the overall mood of the show, because it's supposed to be the end of a wrestling season and the start of a new one.
So here's what they ought to do. Have Kurt Angle win it by making Orton either submit or by pinning him, hence starting an Angle/Orton feud, which I am quite certain everyone would like to see. Randy would then defeat Angle at either Judgement Day or Great American Bash, or some kind of Smackdown PPV. Then, have Rey beat Orton for it after Orton holds the title for a good long while.
Otherwise, we may never hear the end of Eddie's death's exploitation.
