I think Kofi needs to be the Money in the Bank winner this upcoming year. It makes the most sense. They can take a wait-and-see as to whether the crowd response to him is sustained, as well as the way in which the crowd responds to the current crop of upper tier talents (Cena, Orton, Dibiase and Rhodes, Henry and MVP, Triple H, Sheamus?, Big Show, and so many others on this and other brands).
I don't necessarily agree with that philosophy, but WWE clearly takes a conservative business approach to pulling this sort of trigger. It is much easier to erase mistaken heel pushes than it is to erase mistaken babyface pushes. Making someone universally likable and sympathetic is much more difficult than making someone generally reviled and unlikable. To put Kofi in a position to take the leap to a World title at some point in 2010 is a safer move than pushing him into what would almost certainly be a face-face feud for the title (Big Show and Orton are the only credible Raw heels, and they wouldn't likely want to move the New Potential Big Star to Smackdown having just done so last year; this one's a keeper).
But, on topic in regards to C. Montgomery Punk, we have to look at Smackdown as a whole heading forward. Undertaker/Batista is an obvious option for the WHC main event. Jericho/Edge is probably penciled in (with a JeriShow/Edge angle a long-shot possibility).
They then have Punk, Morrison, Kane, Matt Hardy, Finlay, R-Truth, Drew McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler, and a potential Rey Mysterio return as possible candidates for matches.
WWE's business strategy typically involves using those talents with more guaranteed money, greater experience, and greater name recognition. Finlay, Kane and Matt Hardy thus look to be safe bets for some position on the card. They also like to showcase the abilities of soon-to-be stars (recently Punk, Kingston, MVP) in the MitB match. Drew McIntyre is likely Smackdown's candidate for such a position in 2010. Smackdown could conceivably contribute 4 to the 8-man MitB (Finlay, Kane, Hardy and McIntyre) this year.
John Morrison could certainly use the rub of winning the MitB, but WWE likely wants to advance one young star at a time.
In 2008, it was Jeff Hardy's rise to glory (yes, his run was mainly this year, but it was 08 that elevated him) with CM Punk getting a test run.
This year, it was CM Punk main eventing multiple pay-per-views with Kofi Kingston now getting a test run via the Orton feud.
I see 2010 as Kofi Kingston's chance to move into the main event for a while, with Morrison being a prime candidate for the test drive.
So I could see CM Punk spending WrestleMania XXVI: the REAL 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania in a personal feud much like Jeff Hardy did this year. The R-Truth feud would be finished. But a potential upper midcard feud with Morrison would be a solid draw, IC belt or no. It will continue to draw heat onto him without exhausting his main event potential and possibly catapult him back forward depending on the makeup of Smackdown's roster (question marks surround the post-Mania health/availability of Taker, Batista, Rey, and Edge; and Jericho is turning 40 next year, right?)