Wade Barrett: He Has All the Tools But Will He Be World Champion?

When the bright yellow lights of NXT Season One arose, there was one man everyone was looking forward to seeing: The Internet Darling and established Indies star, Bryan “American Dragon” Danielson.

Danielson’s popularity overshadowed every other contestant before the start of the show and when it debuted on that faithful night, we got a glimpse of WWE’s fresh talent.

Along with Danielson there were Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, Skip Sheffield, Michael Tarver, Heath Slater, Darren Young and David Otunga.

With each star, there came a set of different WWE Superstar traits. The established star in Bryan, high flyer in Gabriel, Vince’s preference in Skip Sheffield, the talentless in David Otunga and Heath Slater, the mysterious arrogance in Michael Tarver, and the exceptionally talented Wade Barrett.

As the show continued on, Bryans’ misfortune and problems with his mentor eventually took him out of the competition leaving the obvious favorite in Wade Barrett. Unsurprisingly, the bare knuckle brawler won the competition with David Otunga as runner up.

A week passed before Wade debuted on RAW in a promo and stated hinted towards something big for the night.

Like any other fan, we ignored Barrett’s and it backfired when Nexus debuted. Destroying CM Punk and John Cena, the Nexus’ debut was nothing short of controversial as Bryan was released the next week after choking Justin Roberts with a tie.

Nexus run rampant through RAW for weeks and accomplished a feat worthy of the highest praise. They kept John Cena out of the WWE Title picture.

Led by Barrett amazingly impressive mic skills, Nexus became the WWE’s hottest commodity until Summerslam.

After weeks of the obvious cracks in Team WWE, Nexus seemed to be on their way towards a win at Summerslam. But not even an opponent formidable as Nexus could stop John Cena and Daniel Bryan. 

This is where the Nexus lost all of its credibility and wasn’t able to recover from the devastating loss. Despite having John Cena join the group, the angle grew staler with each passing week and seemingly ended when John Cena defeated Wade Barrett at TLC.

But no, the WWE decided to form a splinter group called the Corre and repackage Nexus with CM Punk as their new leader.

Before Wade went to Smackdown, I was distraught over the WWE’s reasoning to place CM Punk in another stable and leave Barrett seemingly out of the bunch.

As I sat and watched many moan and groan of Barrett’s exile from Nexus, one particular fan said “If you’re mad that CM Punk is the new leader you’re not a fan of Nexus, you’re a fan of Wade Barrett”

I found her statement to be nothing short of the truth and for the first time since his debut, I realized Barrett’s potential.

Mic skills? Check. Wrestling ability? Check. And last but not least, stage presence? Check.

It’s almost safe to say that Wade was the only thing that made Nexus relevant as long as they were. Let me remind you that this is Wade Barrett’s first year as a member of the main roster.

Barrett was a focal point in WWE’s developmental territory, FCW, for quite some time.

From a police removing DX from the arena on an episode of RAW, to commentating and wrestling on FCW, to competing in matches with Randy Orton and was the first man to pin the Viper and John Cena clean in 2010.

The two biggest faces in the WWE today fell to a man who has yet to have a full year on the main WWE roster.

His move to Smackdown wasn’t a smart one at first but The Corre has risen past the New Nexus despite feuding with Mr. Unbeatable, The Big Show. Barrett’s attack on Show spelled burial for most of us, but Barrett has turned the situation to his favor after acquiring Gabriel, Slater, and Jackson as allies.

As WrestleMania draws near, it’s almost certain that the Corre will take on Big Show and other members of the Smackdown roster to some capacity.

As good as the Corre is at the moment, there will come a time when Wade Barrett must venture out on his own.

The talent of this guy is mind boggling and at times can match a crafty veteran.

Some may argue that nothing is set in stone in the WWE but I believe Wade Barrett will be World Champion by the end of 2011. As the WWE’s brightest new star, Barrett’s lack of a World Championship reign is a travesty itself and must be fixed immediately.

The sky’s the limit for Wade Barrett.

Will the WWE pull the trigger?