Wade Barrett

[Ellye]

Last year, this man captured my attention for many months. While his in-ring abilities weren't highly above average for WWE standards, his persona and his microphone and acting skills were surprising. The guy made himself an extremely credible threat, and had a fantastic feud with John Cena that spilled over to the entire Raw roster and even some of Smackdown.

After CM Punk took over the Nexus and Wade was sent to Smackdown, I hoped that he'd shine in single competitions. Instead, they gave him a new stable, The Corre, that never really took of. A major difference between The Corre and The Nexus was that, in The Corre, Barrett was not an official leader.

Once The Corre dissolved, I hoped once more to see Barrett shine in single competitions. But it never really worked. WWE books him as a strong midcarder - but the type of midcarder that shows no sign of stepping in the main even any time soon. And, to be fair, I think can understand that.

Last week, WWE gave Wade a nice chance to use his mic skills, on his speak against Triple H. And I think that I realized that Wade Barrett persona doesn't really work for single competition. It also doesn't work very well as a member of a group. It works as a leader figure.

What do you people think? The Nexus has come and gone now, is there any chance of seeing Wade bossing around another group of underdogs? Will WWE figure out something to do with him while single?

Personally, I'd at least like to see a few more nods to The Nexus. I know that continuity isn't a top priority of WWE story-telling, but I believe that this isn't the kind of thing that should just be dismissed. Wade should brag about everything he did in 2010. After all, even if just for a while, he made John Cena, the top guy in the business, be his coffee guy. Wade can use this to hype himself up again.

 

[OneTooManyPunts]

I have no doubt that the future is bright for Wade Barrett. He is stuck in the same sort of limbo that a lot of WWE mid card talent, especially SmackDown talent, are in. I agree that he has really shined as a leader of a group, but Nexus more so than The Corre.

Personally, I think one of the best ways to elevate him would be a feud with Sheamus. As a babyface, Sheamus is white hot right now, and I think they could present one of the better big man feuds WWE would have to offer.

He had a good thing going with Daniel Bryan earlier this year, but the feud didn't last long enough to reach maximum potential, or give either the needed exposure they deserve.

With Cody Rhodes seemingly being groomed for an eventual main event spot, it might not be a bad idea to put the IC title back on Barrett now that WWE has a renewed focus on the importance of the title.

 

[poppycock]

I like Wade and I think he is a star in the making and will oneday hold one of big two Championships. I think he was a victim of the whole push sombody hard down people throats when they are not fully developed and then realise they need a bit more work so let them fade away a bit. He is still somewhat relevant in my opinion...even after a horrible IC Title run and being part of a horrible stable he still has star quality that oneday will be realised. The main event is bulging with heels right now so he is not really needed in that sense but his time will come.

I would have liked him to be given what Alberto Del Rio has been given and feel he would have been better suited but again I think it may have been too soon. I agree that a feud with Sheamus would be a positive seeing as Sheamus is very much over at the moment and Wade is just on the cusp...not yet totally fallen from grace but nowhere near as important as a year or so ago.

I am torn because I would really like him to stay away from stables for a while and develop, grow on his own as a singles wrestler but also would not mind him being part of a Tag Team in the mean time. If swagger was not part of a storyline right now I would have liked to see Swagger and Barrett team up and become a heel version of the Allied Powers (Luger and Bulldog) or WWE to sign Magnus from TNA and team up with Wade as a new Blue Bloods type team.

Really though being a singles guy and having decent feuds with some upper midcard, main event faces would be my choice and then when his time is right he will surely once again be in the ruuning for the WHC or WWE Championship. I think he has everything a guy needs to make it in todays WWE. A slight gimmick change as I mentioned in another thread would maybe benifit him..nothing too drastic just a tweak as in making him coming down to the ring with a "Butler or servent", having him wear a robe and getting the servent to hold th ropes and shine his boots before a match. Being really arrogant, snobby, shit don't stink about himself. Even getting sombody in the crowd to come into the ring and clean, kiss his boots. Something along the lines of early Triple H but even more up themselves.

Anway I still think big things will happen for Wade in the WWE and still feel he will be the first British WWE Champion.

 

[The Future Rises]

Wade Barrett is a tremendous talent. Not only is he pretty good in the ring but his mic skills are top notch and he has a lot of personality.

Why shouldn't he be main eventing? Sure Wade makes a great group leader but we haven't even seen him in an actual one on on world title match that didn't include any crazy stipulation now have we?

They need to give Wade a chance. He's been over with the crowd ever since day 1 on the Raw roster where he lead The Nexus to an epic attack. He sure as hell is good on the mic and has great personality and he's pretty good in the ring.

Kevin Von Erich recently took to twitter to praise and put over Barrett by saying he would have "fit in great in the old territory days" and I agree completely. Can you imagine Wade Barrett in the mid 90s competing in company's like the old WWF and WCW along with guys like Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Scott Hall/Razor Ramon, Kevin Nash, Sting, etc.? I think he would have been a huge star.

But now with the main event too full for him to make a step to the next level I guess we'll just have to wait a little more for Wade's big push.

 

[Ellye]

I would have liked him to be given what Alberto Del Rio has been given and feel he would have been better suited but again I think it may have been too soon.

And you know what's kinda of sad? I feel that Del Rio was also not ready.
Don't get me wrong, the guy is extremely talented. But I just feel that he doesn't get enough heat yet to be a heel WWE Champion. Most of the crowd don't really care much about him. In this sense, Wade would be a better WWE Champion than ADR (though I agree that it would probably not be a good time for him, too).

Something that could have been done different in the past that would have benefited Wade was for him to win the WWE Champion from Randy Orton, during the Nexus run.
On that night when The Miz cashed in the MITB briefcase, I'd have done it in this way:
- Orton comes out, gets beaten up by the Nexus.
- Match begins against Wade, with Wade dominating.
- Cena is shown trying to get to the match, but members of the nexus are in his way and cost him time. He beats them down.
- Meanwhile, Wade manages to win against a tired Orton. Wade Barrett is the new WWE Champion.
- Randy wents crazy and invokes his rematch clause right now. Wade sees it as an easy win and accepts.
- Cena gets to the ring, applies an AA to Wade.
- Orton pins Wade and win his title back.
- The Miz cashes in and win the WWE Champion.

This way, the essence of that night would have been preserved (Cena "saving" Orton, The Miz "stealing" the belt from Orton), but with an addendum of also making Wade the WWE Champion for a few minutes.
Oh well, fantasy booking is fun.

 

[tyler14isnexus]

wade barrett is great in the ring even better on the mic,and i would have him dethrone del rio as the leader of the walk out angle and kick del rio out of the group and then that way del rio turns face and could be given a new gimick,and get then the group cost del rio to lose the title to barrett and have him regin over raw and smack down for a good six to seven months then have cody to turn on wade and try to get the title. or have wade feud with bryan again but for the money in the bank breifcase and have barret get the case hold it till mania have taker be world champ and hes just fought mark henry and won giving him a 20-0 record only for barrett to cash it in on taker and win to make it 20-1 giving barrett a major push imo.

 

[Ellye]

tyler14isnexus also raises another "wasted opportunity" as I see it. The MITB briefcase.
Wade is exactly the kind of guy that I would love to see with that briefcase. He would feel threatening, a constant menace. I'd love to see him holding on to that briefcase for many months, like Miz did in 2010. I believe Barrett could put out fascinating promos with it.

But since we don't know yet what the booking team has in mind for Daniel Bryan, I can't really compare.

 

[stefankingston]

Just a sudden thought, a WWE version of British Invasion is something I would like to see (The Empire in FCW), with Wade Barrett as the leader, apparently he's the one with the mic skills, plus Drew McIntyre and Mason Ryan as the enforcer. They can be the counterparts of Doug Williams, Brutus Magnus and Rob Terry respectively: The star and speaker, the silent brawler and the enforcer

 

[RavenChaos21]

I agree with Stefan. I would love for their to be a European stable that just dominates. I would love to see The Empire come back and feud with Air Boom. They were awesome in FCW from the youtube clips I saw. This will help Mcintyre get over and get him out of lower card limboI would not add Mason Ryan since he recently turned face and it would be too confusing to make him heel again. I do love the idea of those two teaming up again and helping each other out. I do like Wade Barrett, he is a tremendous talent and one that I could see becoming very successful during his time in the WWE. The only issue that I have with him is there is just something missing, something that is keeping him from getting to that Main Event stature.

 

[JWGunslinger]

When Wade first showed up on the WWE scene I could not look past his in ring skills that were mediocre at the time, I knew he was very talented on the mic but didn't see much of a future for him. Over time though as we've seen him go from Nexus to the Corre to now being a lonely singles compeditor I really have become a fan of Barrett, his ring work has improved tremendously and when he speaks he makes superstars and fans listen. I do agree that he works very well as a leader of groups, but I think if he could land a good feud with alot of promos and trash talk it could boost him out of the mid card slot he's firmly set in right now and back up towards the main event. I have two possible ideas for this, both would be very interesting to see but unlikely.

1)Feud with Jericho
They've had confrontations before and Chris was Barrett's mentor on NXT, Jericho has been rumored to be returning to WWE before Wrestlemania to hopefully work a match with Taker. If this happens then after Mania assuming Y2J loses Barrett comes out and gives him crap for failing to defeat the legendary Undertaker and goes on to say that Jericho is washed up and that he could defeat him. This feud would have two of the best guys on the mic pitted against each other and the matches would be solid as Chris can make anyone look good, and in the end have Wade go over. Odds are this will never happen, but if it did I think it'd be a blast to watch, and Jericho loves helping get younger guys over, hell it sure worked with Cena.

2)Face Turn
I know, the answer to seeing guys succeed or have better luck is not always to have them turn heel or face, it certainly wasn't in Mason Ryan's case . However in Wade's case I think it would be very interesting and I think that with his promo skills he could be a very believable face, although I do think he was made to be a bad guy. What I would want to see him do with this is(when the time is right) win the World Heavyweight Championship and become a symbolic leader of Smackdown. He would not be the leader of an official group, but make him a figure that the rest of the faces on SD could get behind and let him lead them against all the heels, if done correctly it could be a hell of a role.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Barrett does work extremely well as a faction leader. We saw that with Nexus. However it depends on the group getting booked properly. The Corre's awful booking undid a ton of his momentum from Nexus. I would rather see what he can do as a singles star. He got his big faction run and now they need to let him prove that he is worthy of the main event push he got so quickly on Raw last year. All he needs is a couple of feuds against faces where he comes out the winner, then he would be ready to challenge a face world champion because the momentum would be back. Barrett will get there if booked properly.

 

[XXJJ]

Barrett was garbage in ring when he first debuted. He has improved and made strides lately. He always had good mic skills.

The Corre was awful. That set his career back.

Right now he is well behind the other top heels on Smackdown (Henry, Rhodes and Christian).

Orton did say in a couple of interviews that "Barrett is a future WHC". I think most posters agree with that. He does have main event potential.

He needs to get in a big time feud with someone, like an Orton or Undertaker (when he returns). Doing something with those guys should get some of his momentum back. He is kind of in oblivion right now. I dont think putting him in random matches against other mid carders is helping.

 

[The Brain]

It certainly has been a disappointing year for Barrett. That’s really a shame because he did so well last year. I like Barrett and I’d really like to see WWE get behind him again. I think he has the presence of a star. He has the size and the look. He seems very comfortable and very natural on the mic. When guys like Ziggler and Swagger get on the mic I get the impression that they’ve been practicing their lines all day and they are not comfortable. Barrett is just the opposite. When he speaks I don’t think I’m listening to a man who’s been given a script. The real problem is he’s already feuded with the top guys so soon. In today’s WWE once you’ve worked with Cena and Orton there’s a steep drop to the next level. No one else is as close to the top of the mountain as those two. It’s Cena, Orton, and everyone else. We’re starting to feel the effects of losing HBK, Batista, Jericho, Edge, and Taker in the last year and a half. I’d love to see Barrett feud with Triple H if he ever comes back to a full time schedule. That's the type of guy who can get Barrett back on track.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

I've convinced myself that he isn't cutting promos to make the other people who do cut them look better by default. Gotta give others a chance even tho they suck.

I am still maintaining optimism that they view Wade as someone they don't want to burn all their cards on. He is big, intelligent, confident, charismatic, handsome, and athletic. These are all tools that most guys on the roster have, but few have more than one; let alone all six. He proved within weeks of his debut that he had no problem performing in front of people, no matter how green he was in the ring.

I think the guy going under the radar as been on purpose (again, optimism). We all know he can cut a promo better than anyone else in the WWE (sans Cena). We know that he has an inherit un-likability and can get over as a mega heel; which is big because we live in an age in which it is cool to go to a 'E show and be an asshole and cheer for the bad guy. But more importantly, the guy has improved greatly in the ring without people noticing. He isn't trying to be fancy, he is trying to literally kick ass in the ring. He punches to stop momentum, he boots teeth down throats, and is generally 6'7", 270lbs of British jerk face.


However, optimism and interest aren't the same thing. SD is boring as fuck without Wade doing anything imo.

 

[martymcfly]

In a way, I think it's kind of funny...back when Barrett was the leader of the nexus, people drooled all over him like a bunch of screaming wide-eyed teenage girls at a boy band concert, and didn't think he could be handed a title fast enough.

Perhaps I exaggerate, but I did find it strange the level of outpouring of love for this guy. Not to say that my opinion is more valid, but at the time he was the head of the nexus and then the core, I thought he was great on the mic but absolute crap in the ring. He was completely boring. However, I did feel that there was a place for him if he learned some more moves and could find a way to make his matches watchable.

But as other posters have pointed out, he seems to have floundered. Some have blamed his leadership of the core as holding him back, but I don't think that can be completely faulted. Punk, for example, led the new nexus and before that, the SES, both were abysmmal failures that did nothing for him but he turned out ok.

After MITB, I also would have sworn up and down that he was going to challenge bryan for the case and win it, and it certainly looked like the WWE was going in that direction, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

I guess it boils down to right now is that I have no idea why WWE is not doing anything with him. Perhaps he still sucks in the ring? It's hard to say since we haven't really seen him do much in the ring in some time.

In the end, I would like to see a place for barrett in the roster but it's hard to say. If he doesn't get put into a decent program soon, him and mcintyre can look forward to similar uneventful careers.

 

[Daniel]

I started out indifferent to Wade Barrett when the Nexus started. I grew to enjoy his work (mainly due to John Cena being so damn good in putting him over). His appeal began to diminish fast during The Corre angle and then his feud with the charisma vacuum that is Ezaekiel Jackson. I really started to dislike him during the Intercontinental Championship reign and the months afterwards. But now, he's starting to grow on me again. Not massively, but a little bit - but only on Twitter, I'm afraid.

My main problem with Barrett is that he seems to take himself to seriously on TV. His promos are boring and monotonous. He has a deep, strong voice - that's about it. He shows charisma on occasion, but those occasions are pretty much exclusive to his Tweets.

Now, that's my problem with Barrett. What's WWE's problem? How about the fact that he isn't really over? He really isn't. He hasn't been properly over since he feuded with John Cena - he hasn't managed to retain the heat that Cena gifted him. His in-ring skills are fine (he had a couple of particularly noteworthy matches against Cena, as I recall) and his character is OK. He just needs to get over with it.

 

[allstar13]

i personally thought that he was pretty talented when wwe started with the nexus storyline and thought that the storyline would elevate him to the me (and it did for a while) but after that wwe just sorta dropped the ball with him.

 

[slice_of_life]

Prime example of how WWE mishandles their talent. Guy had a tremendous stint with the Nexus/Cena angle and has dropped off the face of the earth. Held the IC title briefly and then lost to EZIKEL JACKSON?? I can't even tell you the last time Barrett had a match because I cant even remember.

Am I the only one who thinks he has a great mic skills, is good in the ring and has the whole bare knuckle champ persona which is a lot better than what other wrestlers have? He should be working his way to main event status, not losing time to guys like Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal.

 

[MoizH28]

I actually have an idea for Barrett but I know people will rag on me for it. I think he is great as the leader of a stable. I think he should be the leader of a stable involving international stars. This is what I have in mind: Wade Barrett (leader) Jinder Mahal (big guy mid carder) The Usos (heel tag team). The Usos can feud for the tag titles. Mahal can have programs with mid carders which will give him more time to improve in the ring. Barrett can oversee the stable and chase the world title. Like or Hate guys?

 

[zman21]

i think his time will come very soon. i predict him and sheamus final 2 in the rumble with sheamus going on to win then somehow works his way into the main event at wrestlemania. world tittle match at mania will be champion sheamus vs daniel bryan and wade barrett

 

[ellax]

I'm also behind what the thread started said..

In fact.. I was quite a fan of him during his time in Nexus.. with his mic and wrestling skills..

Hey.. he is one of the few WWE "rookie" who is capable to standing toe to toe with top stars and doesn't look weak at all..

Besides.. He IS the big guys kind wrestler that Vince love.. so I just don't understand why WWE have to bury him..

 

[Syn Dei Ath]

Okay, so I may get a lot of hate for this because it's a little gimmicky but first time posting, try not to tear the idea apart. If anyone remembers the last few times Barrett was on Smackdown, they'll remember that he himself and the commentators said that he was in the WWE to make as much money as he can. I'm thinking, use this a little bit. He can stay heel but make him a dominant one that doesn't cheat because he doesn't want to risk a dq and thus getting a smaller purse. I personally like the sound of Gentleman Greed Wade Barrett. Eventually he could have a big moment in, sure, what the hell, I'll be ambitious, a last man standing match, in which he refuses to stay down simply for the money. He could become a bit obsessive about the whole thing so my idea is for him to get that gimmick, go through the mid-card and elevate himself, and then lose somewhere along the way to Sheamus. Realistically, this probably wouldn't happen until next year after Mania but this has been a feud I've been dying to see and I think they could put on some great matches. I'm hoping these guys can become huge stars and I'm hoping Barrett gets the WHC from this too.

 

[H16HP01N7]

Okay, so I may get a lot of hate for this because it's a little gimmicky but first time posting, try not to tear the idea apart. If anyone remembers the last few times Barrett was on Smackdown, they'll remember that he himself and the commentators said that he was in the WWE to make as much money as he can. I'm thinking, use this a little bit. He can stay heel but make him a dominant one that doesn't cheat because he doesn't want to risk a dq and thus getting a smaller purse. I personally like the sound of Gentleman Greed Wade Barrett. Eventually he could have a big moment in, sure, what the hell, I'll be ambitious, a last man standing match, in which he refuses to stay down simply for the money. He could become a bit obsessive about the whole thing so my idea is for him to get that gimmick, go through the mid-card and elevate himself, and then lose somewhere along the way to Sheamus. Realistically, this probably wouldn't happen until next year after Mania but this has been a feud I've been dying to see and I think they could put on some great matches. I'm hoping these guys can become huge stars and I'm hoping Barrett gets the WHC from this too.

I Love this idea, I'm not a massive fan of Barrett, but this may be because I missed the Nexus Angle, as I've only recently started watching Wrestling again since The Attitude Era. But the Main Event scene needs more legit wrestlers and I think that Barrett would fit in very well here, he has the right look, and has the ability to hold his own with guys like Sheamus and Orton, and would make an awesome Main Event Heel.

 

[Defekt]

I really though Barret would remain a high upper card/low main event status guy.

He's decent in the ring, has a star look, and is very good on the mic.

 

[Karilas]

Barret's an excellent performer with a hell of a lot of promise, not to mention the fact that he's still young. Being English m'self I can't help but root for the man, Sin's idea of a money-grubbing gimmick sounds actually quite brilliant. Wade's definitely a guy who could pull that off, he could take some pointers from Kevin Nash.