WWE: Comparing Nexus to NWO Is Lazy Form of Analysis

We all know how the saying goes. If you don’t learn from the past, you’re doomed to blah, blah, blah.

It’s this philosophy that draws people to search for comparisons. That’s why people want to say Orton is the next Austin, Cena is the next Hogan, Swagger is the next Angle.

Each of these comparisons is rooted in some similarities but is mostly off base. When looked at from any closer than 30,000 feet, they can easily be picked apart. Attempting to draw these comparisons and thus prognosticate future storylines based off a misconstrued parallel is a waste of time.

Simply put, these comparisons are lazy.

That’s why if the IWC were an actual place, I’d pull out a Jimmy Heart-esque megaphone and scream in a high-pitched shrill that the Nexus and the nWo have nothing to do with one another. The latest installment set to take place Friday night has stoked their flames and unfortunately given the vocally misguided a pillar to cling.

NOTICE: The following contains spoilers.

When Wade Barrett and company stormed the Raw ring, pummeled John Cena, choked out Justin Roberts and leveled the set, people immediately began to shout this was WWE trying to recreate the nWo.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Sure, they were each rebel groups with messages of a hostile takeover that wore matching shirts, but the similarities end there.

The nWo was formed by three of the biggest starts in the industry. They steadily grew, slowly involving a variety of performers from cruiserweights, to super heavy weights, to female wrestlers and even managerial authority figures. Each character had a distinct personality that contributed to the overall personality of the group. While assimilating into the black-and-white-clad, spray can-toting goons, they maintained their individuality and applied it to the storyline.

The Nexus did none of this.

They were complete unknowns. That includes their time on NXT, because not even a quarter of the audience that watches Raw had ever seen an episode of NXT.

Nexus was the introduction to the entire cast for most WWE viewers. There was a clear leader that set the tone for the entire group. None of the characters, outside of maybe David Otunga, to a certain extent, was given any opportunity to develop a unique personality within Nexus. Instead, they abided by the orders of Barrett in a very militaristic manner.

Honestly, if they followed the nWo model in this regard, it may have been more successful: Had Slater been a fun-loving lackey that repeatedly needed to be kept in line, or if Husky Harris had an almost masochistic streak about him that the rest of the group seemed almost freaked out. If any of them, beyond Barrett and Otunga, has an identity, I’d have more hope for them as individual performers in the long run.

Now that Punk has taken over the group on Raw, expelled Slater and Gabriel and even had some swank new shirts printed, the question of what would happen to Barrett remained. On Friday night, he arrived on Smackdown. And this coming Friday, he will rejoin Slater and Gabriel, along with Ezekiel Jackson, to form a new yet-to-be-named stable.

Assumptions are this group will seek dominance on Smackdown until The Undertaker returns for vengeance on those that assisted Kane in his burial on the way to Wrestlemania.

With this progression, the same lazy minds that thought Nexus was the new nWo have reverted back to their familiar comparisons—this time calling Barrett’s stable the equivalent to the Wolfpac. The grouping of Sting, Nash, Hall and others under the red and black colors was indeed the result of a splitting faction, which is once again where the similarities end. Again, though, we are comparing Barrett, Slater and Gabriel to three of the biggest stars of the late-90s wrestling boom.

This is a parallel devised for the purpose of de-legitimizing the group from the outset.

Rather than trying to place a label on every performer, let’s allow them to develop their own character and storyline. Everything in professional wrestling to a certain extent is derivative. Jericho looked up to Michaels, who looked up to Flair, who looked up to Gorgeous George and Buddy Rogers. Cena is similar to Hogan who was similar to Superstar Billy Graham.

Nothing is new under the sun, and that especially holds true in professional wrestling.

Before casting dispersions or expectation upon a character or storyline, allow it to run its course. Barrett’s move to Smackdown where he has fresh matchups against Big Show, Taker, Edge and Mysterio could be just what he needs to take the next step in becoming a long-term main event draw for the company. We won’t know until it happens.