The WWE Series: 2) Wade Barrett

[Adam Rush]

What kind of investment has Wade Barrett been for the WWE so far? Positive, neutral, or negative?

Wade Barrett is an interesting case. He obviously has potential, but he's injury-prone and hasn't lived up to his full potential. That being said, I'd call him a neutral investment, because IMO the jury's still out.

Thoughts?

Also, who do you want to see me do next?

 

[MisterRob]

Wade Barrett is definitely a positive investment to me. He was involved in a very big, and certainly successful in its beginnings, storyline with the whole Nexus invasion. From there he's been building into an upcoming star and a future mainstay as a main eventer. A few injuries (has it been more then just one?) does not detract from the run he's had so far in the WWE, and certainly not from the potential he has when he comes back. He definitely hasn't had any terrible moments in the WWE.

So what's not a positive about Wade Barrett? He's got the look WWE wants, he has charisma, he has personality and the ability to talk, and he's good in the ring. He's also been built up nicely, on the edge of becoming a bonafide main eventer.

 

[Adam Rush]

@MisterRob I'm not denying that, but he's never held a championship (correct me if I'm wrong). You can't base this strictly on his look. I do see your point, though, thank you for replying.

 

[MisterRob]

@MisterRob I'm not denying that, but he's never held a championship (correct me if I'm wrong). You can't base this strictly on his look. I do see your point, though, thank you for replying.

He was the Intercontinental champion. So yes, as a champion, he's already reached that pinnacle and he's only been in the WWE, on their top brands, for a short time: Less then 2 years.

 

[Kelso1ftw]

Well Wade Barrett gave us the most interesting storyline in 2010 with the whole nexus angle, he has great in-ring ability and also can actually talk on the mic. He has been a great heel and has great feuds with Cena and Orton, and he should be returning soon to face, I would hope, Sheamus which those two could put on some great matches and hopefully a great feud. Overall so far he has been a positive and even though he has been injured a bit I would honestly say that he has been a great upper mid-carder and overall would be a positive for the company and looks like he is going to be a great superstar in the future.

 

[TheLoneCharles]

Injury prone? Wade was only injured recently.

When Wade was healthy, he was one of the best mic workers WWE had and was the leader of the best faction to come along since Evolution. Corre was just booked poorly with a bad name and the fact they never followed through with the Corre VS Nexus feud. Wade is an excellent investment, a true foreign born heel with the size and believability to go far in the business. There is a reason why Wade was slated to win MITB before his injury and was in a solid feud with Randy Orton. Wade is a future WWE Champion.

 

[nbda1997]

I think Wade was definitely worth the time and money invested. He's got a little bit of everything that WWE looks for: size, physique, charisma, mic skills, and wrestling acumen. I don't know if there's a break-out main event superstar inside him, however, I think he still makes a great villain and can be used in the main event picture now and then.

All in all, I don't see him going beyond the upper-middle card. With the right storyline, though, he could definitely prove me wrong.

 

[akrassikauda]

I like Wade Barrett and the Barrett Barrage but he's been out so long that it went from positive to neutral.

Barrett has the tools, he can talk he can move he's a power guy who's quick I smell future world champion. But the champion part is halted because of injury, it's a shame because he was heating up most believed that this summer was going to be the summer of Barrett.

When Barrett comes back he cannot come back as a face he'll lose all the momentum he had and he cannot have one of those cheesy vignettes he has to come from nowhere. When he comes back he has to reconnect with the audience in a big way. The one thing I fear for him is WWE creative will screw it up and he'll be lost in the shuffle.

 

[xavyer]

In my opinion, the answer is positive, before his injury, he was doing great, he has it all, and also in my opinion, he can be the next Triple H for the WWE, he's a smart heel, he's methodical, and he can definitly pick his poison against whoever he's fighting, he has lead two factions, the outcome of each one weren't his fault, with the nexus, he was a little green for CM Punk, and with the Corre, it wasn't his fault, but he was a good leader, even as a rookie, but now that he has more experience, he will get nothing but better, and i hope in Wrestlemania he has a match against Triple H so he can pass the torch to Barret, and to wich superstar you ask about next, i vote for Damien Sandow......

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Strongly positive in my eyes. I've been a fan of Barrett since the first season of NXT. He has a good look and a good, physical brawling style similar to that of Sheamus. Barrett was THE real reason why Nexus was at all good. I'm not crazy about how Nexus ultimately ended, but Barrett is the one that ultimately made Nexus worth watching.

Since that time, the WWE got off track with Barrett for a while after moving him to SD! last year. However, I'm happy to say that they finally got back on track just before the end of last year and were steadily building Barrett back towards being a viable challenger for a World Championship. The fact that he's been out injured for so long has sucked but, at the same time, it's opened up doors for other guys on the roster, like maybe Daniel Bryan.

I don't think we've seen Barrett's full potential, not even close yet.

 

[wallace170]

In my opinion I believe that Wade has been a huge positive. And how Vince has not made him a world champion yet is way beyond me. Every superstar has that defining moment that makes the fans say "This guy belongs in the main event", for example when Brock Lesnar gave Hogan that bear hug and left him in pain in that middle of that ring was Lesnar's moment for me. I thought Wade's moment would of came at Summerslam of 2010. That didn't happen. Then for sure I thought that Wade's moment would of came at Hell in a cell where he actually pinned wwe's main guy in Cena. But the E did not take advantage of how hot Wade and the whole nexus angle was. To Wade's credit he has done a great job into getting back into that main event/mid card status. But to sum up what I am trying to say. He will have another moment that will make fans say he belongs. And he will be the number one heel in the business.

 

[Airehk]

I'd say its negative, but it isn't his fault. WWE doesn't know what to do with a less colourful "Shaemus". Wade can make it big, but WWE needs to know who Wade Barrett is as a person and really polish off that "bad guy" side to him.

 

[ccotreau1]

I voted Neutral simply because of his late inactivity due to the injury, but would say when he is back, he will be as great as he was before, and go back to the positive light imo

 

[GrandSword]

Positive - This guy is the total package. I think he was moved to SD because Cena was scared of how good this guy really is. He isn't a techincal marvel like Bryan, but in terms of the WWE, he has it all. He is a big guy and his in ring style is just that. The fans hang on every word he says and he is an imposing figure.

He will be the one who takes the title from Sheamus. Ziggler may take ti from Sheamus with the briefcase, but Sheamus will take it back... Barrett will come back beat Sheamus and have a huge run with it... he is the man and WWE need him back on tv asap.

 

[Aquaman6686]

He's a massive positive in my eyes. I called him winning NXT on day one, because he was the only one there that had the complete package. I think he suffered from being pushed too hard and too fast down viewers' throats, going from NXT to Nexus to immediately wrestling for the WWE Championship and constantly main-eventing PPVs. That's what hurt Barrett in my eyes - the fans just got sick of him. He started to get back on track with the Corre and winning the Intercontinental Championship, but then WWE made one of the worst decisions in recent history and had him lose the title to Ezekiel Jackson, which completely destroyed his momentum, and it took him the better part of 6 months to recover from that. Barrett was starting to gain momentum again with the Barrett Barrage, and was then sidelined with an injury. I see BIG things for Wade Barrett when he comes back. Personally I hope he redebuts as a surprise challenger for Santino Marella and beats him in seconds for the United States Championship. That would do wonders for both Barrett and the title.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

Wade Barrett was the FIRST EVER winner of NXT and the winner of pretty much the only season that will be remembered. I feel like that establishes his career as neutral at the very least, since he will go down in WWE history.

Then Barrett led the Nexus on a vicious attack on Cena/WWE, which became a pretty highly regarded segment. Eventually Barret headlined Summerslam & Survivor Series, feuding with the likes of Orton & Cena. Not to mention enterted his first Mania as IC champion & went on to be a top Smackdown heel.

Barrett had a very strong start to his career and was a proven competitor. For example, unlike a guy like Daniel Bryan(The First Postee) who started off very rocky & stale, causing him to debut a Mania a year later. And did not truely flourish until post-Mania IMO.

So while Barrett has not won a world title, is on the shelf, and his future is vey unclear, the way I look at it, he has a mostly (roughly 65/35) positive career.

 

[Ethelion]

Wade Barrett is a positive investment for the WWE, but with the word "so far", he's been neutral due to his injury. And no, I believe this is just his first injury in the WWE.

When I first saw him in WWE NXT, I was actually rooting for him to win mainly because I like his look. He won me over more when he showed that he could wrestle and talk. In fact, he was the only NXT Season 1 rookie, maybe even the only NXT rookie in history, who could actually talk. And it was a very pleasant surprise to me that he won the inaugural season, since he wasn't as over as Daniel Bryan.

He impressed me even more during his stint in leading the rest of the NXT Season 1 rookies as the Nexus, where the WWE should have given him the WWE Championship while he was hot, and although he was overthrown by the group, he immediately made a comeback in masterminding the Corre, despite it being less successful. After its disbandment, he still made an impact on his own with the Barrett Barrage (in case you didn't know, he initially introduced it as the "Barrett Uprising", which sounded better to me at first, but the former grew on me). Then, he got injured.

He was actually solid enough to get the fans to boo him and chant "Barrett Sucks" during his Nexus days and since he started flying solo, which means that he's doing his job well. But with him being sidelined for now, he's been neutral to the WWE at the very least. With the rumors that he's being pushed again and the fact that he's sporting a cool new look, expect more from him when he gets back.

For the WWE Superstar that I want to see you make one for next, The Miz please, especially since he's fresh after his Intercontinental Title win, making him the latest WWE Triple Crown Champion. I wanted to say CM Punk, but I figured that most people would say that he's already a positive investment.

 

[Ellye]

Funny, I came here to create a thread about Wade Barrett - actually I was going to ask if there was any news about his injury and such.

Wade is one of my favorite wrestlers in the current roster. I believe he's a naturally good stable leader, with his body and fighting style and microphone skills. His run as the leader of The Nexus was excellent as far as his participation was concerned.

He was in the spotlight of main events during about half of 2010, and that's already a pretty good return on investment. The Nexus storyline was pretty entertaining overall, it actually felt like one of the most "important" storylines of recent WWE in-universe.

Also, I actually believe he deserved to have been World Champion once already, and I sure hope he'll be in 2013.

So yes, I think he's a very positive investment, and I fully expect him to be a very relevant main eventer again, perhaps even more relevant than he was in 2010.

 

[HBsam31]

I had to go with positive on this one. He helped make Nexus the most interesting storyline of 2010. He has the look, ability, and mic skills to go a long way if he keeps his momentum when he comes back. He has held the IC title, and he was just getting very interesting again when he got injured. I think he has been a positive investment so far, and I think his stock will rise farther when he comes back.

 

[Dolph Ziggler]

I like barret, he's actually really good and he's a believable wrestler, although he should go back to the black trunks and grow his hair longer.

 

[R.K.O]

Neutral for me. True, he lead one of the biggest stable since Evolution and did it well, has tremendous promise to be a huge star and has all the tools needed to succeed in the business. But for me he hasn't done anything noteworthy in his singles career and it's too early to brand him as a positive right now.

Also, a side note, get rid of that terrible finisher Wade.

 

[MINISTRYrising]

i voted positive. for me wade barrett is won of the best investments wwe has made in a long time. the man has all the tools you need to become a great wrestler. he was the leader of the nexus. a group that breathed a breath of fresh air into the wwe and did a great job doing it as well. he is a fantastic in ring performer his mic skills are just as good. can't wait for him to return from injury.

 

[SpoodBeest]

Anyone who can talk like this guy is a positive investment. He single handedly carried a faction of low card wrestlers and made it work, and made the angle compelling. It was all thanks to Barrett's promo work. But when that angle finished it's like they struggled on what do with him for a year when he was agruably the biggest heel they had for the majority of 2010. How can you mess that up? They did for months and Barrett was losing to the likes of Big Zeke for crying out loud.

Then he began his "Barrett Barrage" angle where started a new win streak that mainly focused on taking out Randy Orton and that feud brought him back to the relevance a man of his talent's deserved. Then Orton got hurt, and Barrett floated around going into 2012 until Orton came back for a blowoff to their feud as well as elimnate Barrett from the Rumble itself. Then Barrett was in the world title picture at Elimination Chamber where he was eliminated by Santino and then proceeded to get injured when Big Show carelessly yes carelessly tosses Ziggler outside the ring on Barrett and Truth when they weren't expecting it. Three men could have been injured from that fiasco but the thing is none of them should've been and Barrett sadly has been taken out of commission ever since.

Depending on how they use him whenever he does return to the ring will debate on wether they believe in him as wise investment. The man can cut a promo with the best of them, and while he may not be the most pretty to watch in a ring, he's still solid and gets the job done. But he still possesses the most important skill it takes to have a successful WWE career: great mic work.

 

[ultramattman]

Wade Barrett began his WWE career by carrying a major storyline and headlining a string of PPV's. That alone would make him a net positive for WWE's investment.

Since then, Barrett's failed to live up to his considerable potential. A lot of it was the strangely lackluster booking after the Nexus was over. But I feel like there's just... something missing with Wade. Can't say what it is. Something about his personality isn't getting across. He's also a bit on the dull side in the ring.

But Barrett's still very young and inexperienced, and he's got a SIGNIFICANT jump on most wrestlers his age as far as mic work. I expect him to be a mainstay for a long time.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I'd say positive.

Barrett had an amazing first year on the main roster. He won the first season of NXT's competition and went on to invade Raw with his peers to form Nexus. This led to one of the best and most controversial angles we have seen in recent memory. Nexus as a stable did not end well, but the storyline lasted a LONG time. Almost a year. Barrett did great as the leader and then they split into two factions: Punk's New Nexus (awful) and Barrett's The Corre (awful booking but had potential). He led two stables, both of which captured the Tag Team Championships and Wade himself held the Intercontinental Championship. Then we have feuds with top stars John Cena and Randy Orton. Not bad for a first year.

He has the potential to go even further. The Barrett Barrage storyline would have taken him to the top with a rumored MITB win. Had he not been injured, he could be World Champion right now. Great mic skills, the look of a champion, decent enough in the ring, Barrett has it all. If WWE push him relentlessly upon his return and restart the Barrett Barrage then I can see him breaking into the main event on a more long term basis. Just don't make him lead any more stables, he has to make it on his own now. Based on his first year on the main roster, Wade Barrett has been a postitive investment so far and can remain a top heel in upcoming years.