Can They Be Saved #2: Wade Barret

[HillBillyJim]

#2 in the thread series im doing...

Wade Barret, as you likely know debuted in 2010 after winning NXT season 1. Later, on an infamous June night, Barret and other NXT rookies came to the ring, attacked John Cena and CM Punk, and destroyed the ringside. They called themselves the Nexus. At HIAC in the same year Barret defeated Cena, making him his lackey. Barrets career began to slide after this, however. Cena [who else] made the Nexus disband, and Barret was banned from RAW. He formed another group, the Corre, and went to Smackdown [I forget what happened to them I really didn't care]. The next year, he would defeat Kofi Kingston for the IC title before losing it to Ezekiel Jackson. He disappeared for a long time before coming back with a beard and a new attitude. He won the IC title again, but lost pretty much every match with it. That's where he is today, title less and losing to every guy that tries. Well, I ask the question to you the WZ people. Can Barret be saved/fixed/brought back?

 

[Suikervrij]

I really think it's a shame they don't know what to do with the guy right now. His new bare-knuckle attitude was cool and refreshing to see, but the barrage thing doesn't work and his misplaced arrogance and hardly good mic skills aren't helping.

I do enjoy watching him in matches though. He has a certain intensity that mostly came out when he wrestled Sheamus a while back. He could be a bad tempered former bare knuckle champion, but he should get a more serious feud, and i'd say start it off with Sheamus too to get them both over right now cause they are floating around like puppets in the WWE right now...

 

[HillBillyJim]

I really think it's a shame they don't know what to do with the guy right now. His new bare-knuckle attitude was cool and refreshing to see, but the barrage thing doesn't work and his misplaced arrogance and hardly good mic skills aren't helping.

I do enjoy watching him in matches though. He has a certain intensity that mostly came out when he wrestled Sheamus a while back. He could be a bad tempered former bare knuckle champion, but he should get a more serious feud, and i'd say start it off with Sheamus too to get them both over right now cause they are floating around like puppets in the WWE right now...

that's what I was thinking it makes logical sense to have England vs Ireland in a feud betwee two heavy brawlers. What do we get? the Miz, Axel, ect...

 

[das1234]

its at the point now with him, there is no use having him on tv.
he was a good intelligent-chicken (usual) heel before he got hurt, and has the same character now, but ten times more boring when it SHOULD BE basically brock lesnars character. his fight club thing should be about beating the **** out of the other guys, but he is doing the same moves and heeltactics as before. what a change. he can a main event guy, but in his current place there is no use in him being on the show.

i think the point where his gimmick credibility was damaged beyond saving was when his push was interrupted by the stupid barrett-sheamus movie role thing before mania, that was horrible. it would be like having lesnar job to kermit on the muppet episode. he started jobbing to main event faces and started sliding into total boredom.

because i kinda like his potential i would have given him the MITB and if his following run failed to get him over i'd have fired him.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

He is exactly where Swagger was a year ago, doing his jobber stint before the next "big push". They can't all be main eventing at the same time.

The biggest problem is Barrett's stated view that 40 would be a "realistic age" to get out, if he's 35-36 now then with a year to push him WWE is getting 3 years if he sticks to that plan... he may well have talked himself out of the main event.

A lot is made of JR saying things like "you don't see the passion". I think you do, I mean to come back from that injury he had at all, which could have ruined his life much less his career was pretty impressive. That he hasn't really lost much in the ring doubly so. His problem is that someone has to be the Scott Hall or Jake Roberts, they guy who is good, you know is better than what he gets but never gets it... thats how the Cena's, Punk's, Taker's and Orton's of the world stand out.

Can Barrett be saved, absolutely... Put him with the Wyatts, grow that beard out and have Bray convince him he was the reason for the change... then they turn on Barrett and he's face. Alternatively, why not bring back Harry "Davey Boy Smith Jr." and have he and Barrett be a stable with Neville, McIntryre with Regal managing... The British Bulldogs, The Brit Pack name it what you like... or give him Colter.

He was never gonna win the title on US soil, if he was gonna do it it will be in the UK.

 

[hatehabsforever]

What exactly does Wade Barrett need to be saved from? He only debuted three years ago. In that time, he's held mid card titles. He's been involved in factions and storylines of significance, most notably Nexus. He's had title opportunities. He's a regular fixture on weekly television programming in the biggest pro wrestling company there is. There's no reason to think his status in the company is in any form of jeopardy. At any time, he could be inserted right back into mid card title contention, or even in the major title hunt, especially in multiple man events such as MITB or Elimination Chamber. Sure, he is on a bit of a funk currently, but lots of non main eventers go through spurts like this.

Once again, the prevalent IWC misconception. If a guy is not WWE Champion or WHC Champion, his career is a disaster and he needs to be overhauled or released.

If the career that Wade Barrett has enjoyed thus far in WWE means he needs to be saved, please someone send an SOS out for me as well. As I see it, he's had a pretty sweet deal so far in WWE. Just ask Yoshi Tatsu, Curt Hawkins and company.

 

[BeastFromTheEast]

He can be saved but I think it will take some big changes in his creative direction. Maybe a face turn would do well for him. Maybe have the shield beat him down for no reason and have him reform The Nexus or something to take them on. IDK, but it would be nice to see him succeed because I feel he has the look and good enough skill to be a top guy.

 

[victor1892]

What exactly does Wade Barrett need to be saved from? He only debuted three years ago. In that time, he's held mid card titles. He's been involved in factions and storylines of significance, most notably Nexus. He's had title opportunities. He's a regular fixture on weekly television programming in the biggest pro wrestling company there is. There's no reason to think his status in the company is in any form of jeopardy. At any time, he could be inserted right back into mid card title contention, or even in the major title hunt, especially in multiple man events such as MITB or Elimination Chamber. Sure, he is on a bit of a funk currently, but lots of non main eventers go through spurts like this.

Once again, the prevalent IWC misconception. If a guy is not WWE Champion or WHC Champion, his career is a disaster and he needs to be overhauled or released.

If the career that Wade Barrett has enjoyed thus far in WWE means he needs to be saved, please someone send an SOS out for me as well. As I see it, he's had a pretty sweet deal so far in WWE. Just ask Yoshi Tatsu, Curt Hawkins and company.

This... Of course, Wade Barret cannot be considered a success, mainly because everybody can see that he has potential ( to an extent ). The biggest problem is that he can't really connect with crowds. I mean, okay, he's got a few badass moves, but he can't really draw heat. He isn't allowed mic time.
You can't be a relevant heel when you don't have a half-decent feud and some mic time.
Going back to the quote and original post, I think he has done pretty well for himself. Of course there's room for improvement, but that comes with time.

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

I think a huge problem with modern day WWE, that wasn't really so prevalent in the '80s and '90s was that they knew how to take someone who had the potential to be a main evener, and keep them relevant and believable as a contender until they were placed in that position.

Nowadays it seems like unless you're Cena or feuding with Cena, you go in the scrap pile of IC/US no man's land. No promos, tons of losses in meaningless matches, half the time they come back from commercial break with the guy already in the ring with no entrance. This isn't exclusive to Barrett though, they do this to almost everyone not at the top, so I'm sure they could bounce him back when they run of out of fodder for Cena, but the truth is they shouldn't have to bring him back up because he never should've fallen this far down the card.

Guys like Barrett, Miz, Kingston, Dolph, etc. Should always be involved in feuds with each other, or holding/chasing a lower title. This was done to great effect during the attitude era, when nearly every character had something going, and they had a lot less programing on the air at the time.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Wade Barrett is the best thing to ever come out of NXT. He has the look, the skills, the charisma, and the aggression. Barrett's problem is that he hasn't been pushed consistently. Every time he starts to get a little ahead, they slap him back down. It's hard for the fans to get behind a guy when he gets beaten by every guy he fights.

 

[MCMG]

Absolutely he can. He is still young and talented. Wade Barrett has shown he can work some good matches; his mic-work is strong and I think he has potential to be a top star. He has got a decent gimmick as it stands but it could be stronger. With the right booking he cap be a stop star so it is clear he can be saved.

 

[Soulblazed]

Barrett can definitely be saved..As others have already stated, he should focus much more on his bare-knuckle fighting gimmick..Barrett should be snapping on people, knocking them out and having them taken out on stretchers...

Because of his fighting background, he should use a left jab consistently during his matches, since using consistent jabs would throw his opponent off balance(so why not incorporate that into his gimmick). He should also use punching combos to his opponent's body and to their head more during his matches.

As I've previously stated, Barrett should be knocking his opponents out as well as getting pinfall victories over them. It'd be a good change of pace to see Barrett knock out(not just with The Bullhammer, but also knockout punches) wrestlers like The Miz, Kofi Kingston(whenever he returns), Sheamus, Curtis Axel, Randy Orton, etc.

Barrett also needs new entrance music.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

At the end of the day, Barrett has the most raw talent of anyone who has come up in the last 5 years... more than Ambrose, Cesaro, even Bryan to an extent... The Scott Hall analogy is very strong here, Hall had all the talent in the world, he was a natural and didn't have the wrestling background someone like Shawn/Bryan had but for a long time he was ahead in the game and only his own decision to go to WCW prevented that major World title in WWE for him. Barrett put it out there he doesn't want a "long" career, so why should Vince or more to the point Trips invest in him to that level...sure as a great midcarder but to get "THAT" push, you have to live and breathe the E and want to do it for a long time... I can see why Barrett would think as he do, his arm literally got snapped at the elbow, he's had his (hopefully) brush with severe injury and maybe it spooked him enough to not want to risk worse long term...

His biggest problem is he was the first NXT winner, the guy put into that first big spot and he did F'ing well with it... he sold Summerslams and PPV main events and people bought him as the leader of a faction like Nexus...but WWE then dropped the ball, and just when they were gonna do it - he got hurt cos of Ziggler... make no mistake, he was winning MITB until that injury... and if you really look at that botch, it was all Zig's fault, and Barrett pretty well saved his life...cos had Zig twisted how he seemed to and Barrett not taken the hit, he was going head and neck first into that barrier...

The Fight Club stuff failed because he was not used as it needed to be... we knew he could lead and influence... it needed a "fight club" in WWE, he needed to be the Tyler Durden, getting people to join... less charismatic wrestlers like Chavo and then the bigger names would "drink the koolaid"... then guys like Michael Cole or even Josh Matthews would be outed as members... it needed to be Aces and Eights, but done with the swagger that Barrett could provide... "You know I'm the leader, but not who I lead...." Hell Vince could have ended up the final member of the club, thus cementing it...

But they didn't go there... Barrett's strength was as a leader of men and a talker... The Wyatt idea I said earlier or the UK stable seem good ideas...

Entrance music is not his problem, once a push caught he'd get "real music", probably from a major UK band... The jacket isn't the issue, they have to have different attires or they'd all have Punk hoodies or robes...

To be honest, the hope he has now is probably King Of The Ring... if they brought that back and he won it - maybe even back to back then he is where he needs to be...at worst case, they have a guy who can be in the midcard, yet has sold big 4 PPV's as the pointman heel an they can still go the UK hero route with him and get him over... Sure we all really wanted Harry or Regal to be that guy, but Barrett can also still be that guy who gets the belt for the UK...in the UK...

 

[Mr. Piledriver]

I have said it before, WWE needs to allow Lord Steven Regal manage Barrett and teach him the finer things such as telling the story in the ring and perfecting his mic and promo skills....

 

[MWRedskins]

yes, Barrett can be saved. really the only thing he seems to lack is the best character for him. his in ring work is good. he can speak on the mic (as seen when he was the leader of Nexus) and he has the look, just needs to find the right character and be given the opportunity to use that character. he's still young enough and healthy enough though to have a good career in the WWE.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

The problem is that with this new gimmick, his charisma is gone. He has no distinct traits that make him anything like he used to be. I used to love the Wade Barrett that would mock and insult John Cena. Now it's just B-B-B-B-OOOM!! The tough guy act doesn't follow because he loses in two minutes. His "End of Days" theme is long gone, and it seems that literally, he is at the end of his days. He's spiralling into oblivion like Kofi Kingston. Three-time Intercontinental Champion that could have been a three-time World Heavyweight Champion instead. He needs a gimmick change and some promo time quick. He needs to give us reasons why we should care. Not too long ago I entertained the thought of Wade Barrett joining forces with Sheamus and Drew McIntyre to create a European faction of strongmen that went on a huge winning streak against top competitors. And just maybe winning a few World titles along the way before feuding between each other out of jealousy. At least it would place Wade Barrett in a spot to intimidate and dominate once again.

 

[Bear]

In comparison to Khali this is a whole different ballgame. Can Wade Barrett be saved? Heck yes he can and if I have anything to do with it? Heck yes he will. This isn't a matter of limitations but creative finding something better for him to do than lose week in and week out. The guy has a look of gold and can brawl with the best of 'em but what does that matter if he is never given anything to apply it to? I don't know if that's his fault or what but it's all he needs. We've seen his potential leading groups like Nexus and there has been investment since such as the potential filled Fight Club idea but it seems as nothing lasts with Barrett. Was he not lined up to win the MITB match just a year ago before being injured by Dolph Ziggler? You can be awful on the mic or inexperienced but it's a whole other thing just to be plain unlucky. And with all the subpar booking, random injuries and gimmick changes? That's just what Wade Barrett is. And it'll take consistent booking and a long term investment from all sides to change that. The old charismatic and main eventing Wade Barrett is in there somewhere, now they just gotta find him.

 

[ADLegend21]

It would take like a legendary feud to save Barrett. I don't like him (character wise, but he's a heel I'm not supposed to like him) In ring he's talented, but his finishers are just so dumb. Wasteland is the better of the two but that's not saying much. He's incomplete, but if he does get it right, I can only see World titles for him. Maybe he should form a tag team with someone, like McIntyre for a foreign team that just beats the crap outta people and has cool accents.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Wade Barrett CAN be saved, but it will not be easy. Significant damage has been done to him through bad booking and lackluster title reigns. 3 years ago he was leading the original Nexus group and had WWE Championship feuds with Randy Orton. Then we had the pointless Corre stable and multiple Intercontinental Championship reigns that all went nowhere. There was the rumored Money In the Bank win in 2012 before he got injured and his return as the fighter character, but all we got was terrible new entrance music and booking that leaves one wondering what plans they even have for him.

Barrett needed to win Money In the Bank this year. Out of all of the contenders in that match, he needed it the most. Sandow is headed for greatness with or without a briefcase. Barrett, on the other hand, would have benefitted greatly from the briefcase win. He has the potential to become World Heavyweight Champion. They could build him up with another midcard title reign, but only if he is allowed a lengthy reign full of strong title defenses and be made to look like a legitimate champion in said matches. Then have him win Money In the Bank next year, cash in and allow him a reign with the World Heavyweight Championship similar to the Intercontinental/US run that they built him up with, and he'll be a believable threat in the championship tier for the long run. It can be done, but not without a lot of work at this point.

 

[The Eighties]

Barrett has suffered from the same erratic booking as Ziggler, Bryan and pre-pipebomb CM Punk, with the stop-start pushes, and like them he can turn it around.

Barrett's biggest asset is he can talk, if you can do that in modern WWE then you always have a chance as promo skills are king. The fact he is also a big guy with decent ring presence and is a solid worker means he's a good package.

The biggest issue for Barrett is that he's gimmick hopped and nothing has really stuck, I mean from a character standpoint he was at his best when he was the leader of Nexus, but he wasn't really ready as a all round performer at that point.

Maybe he can put a new stable together to lead using the kayfabe logic that he was at his most successful as a General with an army focused on a sole purpose, in this instance he could lead other guys currently without traction in a quest to win Championships.

 

[Suikervrij]

I have to admit i quite like the idea of Barett, Sheamus and McIntyre grouping up. Although i doubt that will happen since the whole storyline has already been done in WWE '12 (?) and i can imagine they want to make it a little more original because of it.

Those three superstars to an extend do suffer from the same problem though. They all have persona's that just don't have enough depth and they don't get to develop any attitude or backstory much.

The 1-800-sheamus thing is silly (I'm a big fan of the guy, but he hasn't really had a good in depth feud since his first quarrel with Cena back when he started in WWE) and though the face turn is working in a way it's not being used as it should be.

McIntyre has a great look, in ring skills and showed he was good as "The chosen one", but he is now stuck in the awful thing they call 3MB.

Barett is not much different; He has great talent but the injury sidelined him and they just toss him from one thing to another, not giving him time to grow into a role. After his return from injury he first was supposed to be a hardass fighting guy. Then suddenly he had a ironic funny side with the whole movie star thing that broke with his character in a million ways. Then the IC championship, which was ok, but lacked depth for the guy and was more a vehicle to push Miz a little more.

It's starting to look like the WWE just doesn't know what to do with him, making him run for a while but when he's up to speed stopping him dead in his tracks. Which is a shame, cause he has massive loads of potential...

 

[Lancer]

To be honest, the hope he has now is probably King Of The Ring... if they brought that back and he won it - maybe even back to back then he is where he needs to be...at worst case, they have a guy who can be in the midcard, yet has sold big 4 PPV's as the pointman heel an they can still go the UK hero route with him and get him over... Sure we all really wanted Harry or Regal to be that guy, but Barrett can also still be that guy who gets the belt for the UK...in the UK...

I have said it before, WWE needs to allow Lord Steven Regal manage Barrett and teach him the finer things such as telling the story in the ring and perfecting his mic and promo skills....

I have to agree with the combination of both of these premises here. King Of The Ring would be perfect for Barrett, much like it helped Sheamus regain some momentum years ago. I think he could still retain the "bare knuckle" thing he has going on, but add a twist of elegance and conceit to it. Have Regal as his manager and mouthpiece. They could constantly promote their elevated lifestyle and way of thinking. That would be a surefire way to garner heel heat.

Like it has been mentioned before, Barrett's problem isn't that he is lacking in talent, but in being inconsistently booked for months now. The problem seems to be plaguing the entire midcard, but that's another discussion in itself. He just needs a rejuvenated, solid program. He is still relevant on WWE TV. He is lucky not to have gone the way of R-Truth and several others.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Barrett turns 33 eight days from now, so he's still a pretty young guy. Can he be saved? Personally, I don't see why not. Barrett has a ton of upside with a good look, a strong in-ring style that suits him, he's solid on the mic and has some legit charisma.

It bugs the piss out of me to see that Barrett has been effectively buried throughout practically the entire year. It bugs me even more that he was IC champ during most of it. At the same time, however, as someone else has mentioned, there are only so many spots at the top. Maybe Barrett's time passed him by when he was out injured last year. In all honesty, at this point, it wouldn't bother me at all to see Barrett with a solid mid-card title run or form a strong tag team. Barrett has a ton of ability and it just irks me to see it wasted. On Main Event this past Wednesday, Barrett had a good match against R-Truth. It's been so long since Barrett had a good lengthy match to show what he can do and it reminded me that the guy's damn entertaining.