Making the Case for the WWE Youngsters: Rising Talent in Wrestling

Wrestling can provide for quite a career. Stay fit and healthy and your career can last 20 years. You'll make excellent money, see the world, be a hero, perform in front of thousands, and entertain millions more.

It's no surprise then that wrestling has been dominated by the same people for almost 20 years.

Along the way, there have been phenomenons and fads, but at its core, the same superstars have remained. The fact that TNA's Wooooooo! British tour is even named after Ric Flair, highlights just how important the old guard still are to marketing.

However, wrestling is still governed by the logic that an audience wants creativity and so change has to occur for even the most seasoned of veterans—i.e. compare Hulk Hogan to Hollywood Hogan or the Undertaker of the mid-1990s to that of today.

The changes that occur ensure that the superstar can develop and in some cases prolong their careers. The basic elements remain the same, of course, but the characters evolve.

However wrestling also needs fresh injections of talent. To do otherwise would relegate the profession to being a mere parody of its former self. The new generations that come in, add fresh dimensions to a company that is internationally renowned.

To see one of these superstars enter the WWE or TNA as a nervous rookie is fulfilling for a fan because we can say that we were there when a phenomenon began, like being at the King of the Ring when Austin vanquished Jake "The Snake" Roberts.

Now and again, we even get a Shawn Michaels, whose career lasted over 20 years, achieiving everything there was to achieve in wrestling. For fans, it was a privilege to watch.

At present, wrestling is at a relative crossroads. The WWE in particular has added a considerable number of younger superstars to its ranks. The concept of NXT, though panned commercially, has brought on a number of talented youngsters and if Syfy do indeed cancel it, maybe the WWE can invest part of their Raw and Smackdown programmes to youth development.

It would certainly be better than a guest host or comedy promo.

The need for these new superstars to be developed is critical for the future of the WWE. The 1980s old guard still exist, but they won't for too much longer.

In two years, the wrestling world will not be able to wheel out veterans like Flair, Undertaker, Shawn, Bret, Hogan, Nash, Hall, or Sting. Their ability to put people in seats for nostalgia purposes will have gone.

By 2012, wrestling's new generation is doing it alone.

However, if we think that of today's generation, Batista, Jericho, Rey, Edge, Kane, Undertaker and if rumours are true, Triple H are close to retirement, the future of the company falls to an even younger generation still.

The likes of Orton, Morrison, Miz, Danielson, and Kingston are likely to feature prominently.

In order to create superstars though, they need crucial airtime and character development. At present few, bar Barrett and maybe Morrison, are getting anywhere near the Main Event. Whether they will ever get there will become clearer in the next few months.

Not every new blood is going to make it of course. For every Shawn Michaels, there are hundreds of...I'm not going to say Jannetys because he was a decent wrestler, but hundreds of wrestlers that failed to make the grade. Superstars who have tried hard but simply did not win over the fans.

To be successful, a wrestler needs the right gimmick and the ability to win over the fans. Remember Glen Jacobs was first a dentist, then a fake Diesel before he found his role as Kane. But there are other qualities and it requires most, if not all to get to the very top, these include:

Luck, Time, Faith, Support, Character, Airtime, Personality, Mic Skills, and well, some more luck thrown in, too.

One wrestler in particular that I see as having great promise is Justin Gabriel. Whether its high-flying ability or his matches with Cena, he simply looks like a wrestler. One of the longest FCW Champions in history, he has a certain something that means he might just make it.

If the dissolution of Nexus occurs as expected at HIAC, then Gabriel along with Otunga and Barrett are favourites to progress. Whereas Barrett might immediately go to the main event, Gabriel has an opportunity to do a "Shawn;" starting with the tag belts or more likely the IC or US belt and then steadily making a rise up the divisions.

If he is allowed to be marketed as a high-flying face, he might prove to be very effective in matches with the Miz and Danielson as well as main-eventers like Orton, Cena, and Triple H. The success of WCW was in part founded on wrestlers like Gabriel, vanilla midgets that ensured the entire wrestling card was strong from bottom up.

An effective IC/US division ensures that quality matches are always guarenteed and that PPVs have no weak matches. If Gabriel is to make it, then having him learn his trade in these divisions before making the step up is an effective way of developing as a superstar.

For others, Daniel Bryan the 'nerd' needs to be sold as being a quiet assassin, an everyman, an aggressive bruiser, maybe the first truly 21st century superstar. Anything that sells him as being different to the alpha male big muscleman. He has amazing popularity already and his match with the Miz was the highlight of the recent NOC PPV.

For the likes of Bourne, Tatsu, and Rhodes, the reinvention of the cruiserweight divison will ensure that they will secure some gold because it's unlikely that he will ever climb to the heights of the heavyweight division.

For many youngsters still not in the rosters of WWE or TNA, the path of tag team wrestling is one that is certain to get an immediate push. The search for the next LOD, Hardy Boyz, Beer Money, or Motor City, is an important priority especially in the WWE.

But what needs to happen in both organizations is for the next generation to be given the ultimate push. And it is here that John Morrison comes to mind. The recent push of matches with Sheamus and Jericho have reinvigorated a career that was beginning to stagnate.

Long seen as the heir apparent of Shawn Michaels, Morrison has the potential to be a strong superstar that brings speed and high flying abilities back to the Main Event.

The wrestling community will no doubt disagree with who they think should get pushed but we need to see some changes soon so as to ensure that the future of wrestling is safe. Promoting Swagger from obscurity only to send him back was no help at all, we need to see new superstars.

Where is the storybook career for the 21st century? That special superstar that rises to the pinnacle of the wrestling world?

There are plenty of potential candidates, but they need that ultimate push and they need it now.