I've been reading a few Japanese and American gaming magazines, and many of them say either online has been "promised" or "confirmed." The problem is, anything that I've read online or in a magazine doesn't have a source. I'm not going to drop money on a Wii just for SSBB if I can go to my friends' hosues and play regular multiplayer there. I just want info from somebody who's working on the game, that's all. If I missed it in one of the dojo updates, then that sucks for me, because then I have to dig haha.
On another note, if there is online play, then I hope there's no ranking system. Cheaters will try to prove they have the bigger e-peen in ranked games, and many people will lose on purpose to lower their rank and play newbies (this would suck if your teammate decided to SD a bunch and steal your stocks). I can point to many online games where situations like this have arisen from...pretty much any game with records of levels, scores, or rankings.