Where would NXT Season 1 be without Nexus?

[Derf]

It's been about 6 months now since we saw the huge debut of the Nexus, a group formed of the 8 origional NXT wrestlers. We all knew Wade Barrett was gonna get some sort of push, but no one knew what was going to happen with the other 7 guys. What this thread is about it, where do you think each of the NXT Season 1 guys would be right now if Nexus had never formed.

Wade Barrett - Being the leader of Nexus gave him a huge push, and I think this group behind him made him bigger then he could have ever been had he debuted alone. If he didn't have Nexus behind him, he'd have had no big storyline to debut with, and floated like Kaval did till randomly cashing in his PPV shot, probably losing, and midcarding for a while.

Danial Bryan - Dispite being fired, I think Nexus helped him bigtime. If nexus never formed, DBD wouldn't have been fired, and probably would have feuded right away with Miz. At the time, Miz was unbeatable, and I don't think DBD would have taken the US Title from him if they'd have feuded before Miz won MITB.

David Otunga - He was the runner up in season 1, and I think the WWE is VERY high on his, probably based on Mic Skills alone. I know the IWC hates him, but I think he has almost the complete package to be huge in WWE. He has the look and the mic skills, and since when has ring skills mattered? However, being in Nexus, he's always gonna be viewed as another guy in the group, and I actually think he could have been bigger on his own.

Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater - I think these two would have eventually been brought to the main roster, but neither with their current gimmick, and I doubt they'd have made it big. Nexus helped them bigtime.

Darren Young & Micheal Tarver - Without the Nexus storyline, these two would have never seen TV again after NXT. So Nexus helped these two bigtime, at least as long as it lasted.

Skip Sheffielf - This is the hardest one for me. From his debut in NXT right till he got injured, he just slowly continued to rise. His rise sped up with Nexus, and if he returns when Nexus is done, he could be a huge singles guy. Without Nexus, he might not have been injured, and I'm sure he'd have eventually made it to the main roster, but I don't know if it would have been with a decent push, or the cookie cutter monster push.

With my opinions said, what does everyone else think? Without Nexus, who would be more successful, and who less?

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

Barrett: it seemed pretty obvious from the get-go the guy was destined for something. I don't think any of us could have anticipated how much this gimmick helped him/legitimized him as a contender so quickly. Just from my personal knowledge of watching FCW, I knew he was solid on the mic, but I still feel his look, and in-ring leave a little something to be desired. Regardless, I knew he would at least be upper mid card, at some point post NXT, just not this fast.

Danielson: I don't think there was any doubt in anyones mind, that he would be successful in the 'E regardless of what shit gimmick they handed him, because he can work. I actually think the whole Nexus and firing, was a step backwards for him. He was the one that elected to go on NXT though, he was going to the main roster with or without being crowned "the next break out star" and I think time will show that he is the true winner of the show.

Slater: would have been standing next to other NXT alums like Eli Cottonwood and Lucky Cannon in the unemployment line. Horrible look, in ring, mic work, etc. I don't hate the guy, and I know he has a passion for the biz, but I just don't think he's got what it takes. Without Nexus we never see him again.

Gabriel: no doubt this guy would've had a job post NXT. Probably would've been called up as a generic face a few months after the show, my guess is he would've wound up on SD, and formed a team with Kofi for a few months before breaking it off to go heel, and starting a program between them.

Sheffield: I'm not sure what to think, if I was basing it solely of his "What it do?" NXT gimmick, you could hand his future endeavored notice, but once Nexus started I felt he was gainging some momentum. Though after having already competed in Tough Enough 4, and NXT, and time spent in two WWE owned farm systems, failing wellness tests, and being fired and rehired. You know they must be high on him, because many very talented people have been let go much faster, so it almost seemed like they were just gonna keep throwing him at you in various forms until something stuck. So no doubt he would've been around, good size match up for someone like Chris Masters, probably would've ended up on SD.

Tarver: personally I like the guy, I think he could've been an Ahmed Johnson mean streets type guy, or an R-Truth, from the hood but friendly type guy, all depending on how they played it. I will say I think he has a great look, and really does have some mic skill, so this one was really in creatives hands but I think he could (and will) be something one day. He's better than Ezikiel Jackson IMO, and they're pushing him, so no reason not to give Tarver a shot.

Young: not much to say, another Slater, interesting look, we never really heard much from him on the mic, but hard to take seriously with that stupid hair and gold rope necklace. Might be worth giving a look with a repackage down the road, without Nexus though I don't think he'd still be in WWE.

Otunga: No question he'd still be there, and probably better off than he currently is. He was hosting Raw while still on NXT for god's sake! The guy is a PR dream for WWE, a Harvard Law graw, married to a celebrity, has a small built in fanbase from his time on VH1's "I Love New York". If playing the role of Wade's bitch doesn't kill his momentum, expect big things from him in the future...unless Jennifer Hudson divorces him before he gets the chance to make a name for himself that is.

 

[Ultra Awesome]

Honestly, for some reason I believe all of them would have inevitably made it to the main roster. The only real question would be for how long they would be there. However, I'll go ahead and play along with the thread and write down what I would WANT to have happened had Nexus never been formed.

Wade Barret: Seeing as how he was the winner of NXT Season 1, it's fairly obvious that he would have gone to the main roster and eventually be in a status that he is like today---an Upper Mid-Card. Wade Barret, from the beginning showed promise. His in-ring ability was decent; his mic skills were pretty good; and his look was perfect. Wade Barret would have had no trouble without Nexus on the main roster.

David Otunga: Now this is a guy that I sincerely cannot stand. I don't find him interesting in the very least. His in-ring is horrible and his mic skills are annoying. Worst of all, his look just bugs the shit out of me. I say future endeavored (but only because I am being biased).

Justin Gabriel: A guy that lacks in mic work but makes up for it with his 450 splash. This guy would have gone to the main roster from Smackdown and made a name for himself on the mid-card. Perhaps an IC reign here and there.

Heath Slater: Future endeavored. His look; mic work; in-ring ability---they all disgust me.

Skip Sheffield: The beast of Nexus. Yes, Skip would have had a great future regardless of Nexus. Although at first he seemed a bit...stupid with his whole: Yep-yep-yep shit, he would have eventually proved he was worth while.

Darren Young: See Heath Slater

Michael Tarver: Now, this is a guy that I am totally biased about. His silly shennanegans always got me laughing. Though, without Nexus, Tarver would have been a future endeavored.

Daniel Bryan: C'mon. From the very beginning it was already fortold that he would have a future in the WWE. The "internet darling" gardnered so much attention from the very momment it had been said that he had signed a contract with the WWE. Daniel Bryan would have been where he is today regardless of Nexus.

 

[PhD]

Everyone but Barrett you have to believe would be less successful, since almost all of them were goofy, kiddyish faces without enough charisma to get over on their own. Daniel Bryan would have stuck, but only because they were clearly high on his ring skills in the first place, which is why he's used as the token good wrestler week in and week out on RAW.

And as for David Otunga, you asked when have in-ring skills ever mattered; how about when your in-ring skills are so bad that you can't even work a match safely? The guy isn't just bad in the ring, he's shit, and it doesn't matter if he pulls in a couple hundred eyeballs who remember him from some Z-list reality show if he ends up hurting someone who actually is a big draw.

Basically, none of the Nexus underlings has the chops to stand on their own, and I foresee a mass of future endeavored's arriving after Wrestlemania, or maybe even the draft.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I think that had it not been for Nexus we would not have seen any of the NXT rookies from season 1, save Bryan and Barrett make it to television so soon. They would have been sent back to FCW to hone their skills even further. Bryan would have made it to the main show regardless of Nexus. He was getting too much of a reaction to be kept on FCW. I don't exactly know what would have happened with Barrett. He might have made it to the main event eventually but his rise would not have been thi quick.

The rest are frankly quite uninteresting for me. I assume that each of them would have been debuted either as midcarders or lower midcarders at some point of time but only Slater and Gabriel would have stayed. Otunga as the OP said is seen very highly within the WWE due to his mic skills and his celebrity connection and he might have been given a push. But I don't feel he would've had the neccesary skill to sustain that push. He might have ended up like MVP eventually did though even that his debatable given his lack of in ring skills.

 

[martymcfly]

Honestly, I think that nexus really only helped barrett (and I suppose maybe gabriel/slater who were given a title for storyline purposes only).

For the rest of the nexus I think it was a mixed blessing that in the long run will not help them too much. Good in that they might get TV exposure early, and those who impress may last a while; however, it could also be bad in that some of them clearly weren't ready and might get future endeavored. Had they been given time to grow in developmental longer, they might have made it in the long term. Plus, the introduction of nexus has all these rookies simultaneously so it has become easy for most of the members to get lost in the shuffle and not really given an opportunity to stand out.

Without nexus though, I think the one who would have been most hurt, career wise, is definitely barrett. From what I could tell, his gimmick was wearing a suitcoat with a rose? He never spoke and spent most of his time being on the receiving end of finishing moves from pros who were feuding with jericho.

I honestly don't know what WWE creative could have done with that character if it wasn't for nexus. He certainly would have floundered around the midcard for a while, and without folks like cena or orton or jericho to carry him through a match, his horrible in-ring skills would have been more apparent than they are now, and I think he'd be resigned to the thursday superstars show.

So I guess my point is all in all, nexus has been great for barrett, and perhaps gabriel/slater since they were given titles too, but bad for everyone else. For example, harris and mcgillicuddy haven't even been in a match since they joined. They just wander around nodding like mindless drones. That is not going to impress anyone or further their careers.