WWE Over The Limit Preview: Barrett vs. Jackson and the End of The Corre

The Corre has been pretty much a failure since its inception.  When what should have been the best stable in recent history, Nexus, started to fall apart from injuries and bad creative decisions, WWE decided to make a "light" version of the group, give it a weird name and send it over to their "B" show. 

What makes The Corre even more laughable is that they have had six or seven different remixes of their theme song in just over four months.

Granted, The Corre was never really designed to make an impact like Nexus did.  The only real reason WWE kept Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater together was so that when The Undertaker returned as was looking for revenge, he could still go after Kane and the former members of Nexus who helped bury him alive. 

When the plans were made for The Undertaker to face Triple H at WrestleMania, The Corre finally lost all reason to exist.

But they didn't stop.  In the past three months, the members of The Corre won the WWE Tag Team Championship twice and the Intercontinental Championship once. 

This might have been a bigger accomplishment 10 years ago when those titles actually meant something, but it's still an accomplishment nonetheless.

All the while, The Corre has been on the verge of breaking up.  The first real step toward that happened on the May 6 episode of SmackDown when Barrett, Slater and Gabriel attacked Ezekiel Jackson in his locker room, officially kicking him out of The Corre. 

Fast forward two weeks and Ezekiel Jackson is set to face Wade Barrett for his Intercontinental Championship at Over The Limit.

So what exactly is going to happen at Over The Limit?  Who will walk out of the match with the Intercontinental Title?  Will the remaining members of The Corre still be allies?  These are just some of the many questions that this match poses.

This match between Ezekiel Jackson and Wade Barrett will do two different things to both the winner and the loser.  The winner will walk out of Seattle with the Intercontinental Championship and a position on the mid-card for at least a few months. 

The loser, however, will likely be pushed ahead and possibly contend for the World Heavyweight Championship sometime in the next few months.

So the question remains, is it better to walk out of Over The Limit with WWE gold around your waist, or will it be better to lose and potentially get a main-event push by the time SummerSlam comes around? 

One could argue either way, but with the way the Intercontinental Championship has lost its prestige in recent years, I would take the potential spot in the main event.

With this being said, i think that Ezekiel Jackson is going to defeat Wade Barrett for the Intercontinental Title on Sunday. 

Wade Barrett has already established that he can sustain a main event feud with a solid opponent, whereas Ezekiel Jackson hasn't held a WWE Title aside from his three minute (or so) reign as the final ECW Champion. 

Big Zeke needs more time to develop as either a face or a heel, and as long as he is able to get a reaction from the crowd, he will become an effective member of the WWE roster.

But where does that leave Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater, the other two members of The Corre?  Will they still have an allegiance to each other or to Wade Barrett after Over The Limit?

I see both of the former Tag Team Champions playing an important role in the Intercontinental Championship match this Sunday.  Though they are currently standing behind their former Nexus leader, I feel that they will be the reason Barrett loses the championship on Sunday. 

It may not be deliberate, but remember, Justin Gabriel eliminated Wade Barrett from the No. 1 contenders battle royal several weeks ago, so we know that he's looking out for himself, not Barrett.  We could easily see an argument that leads to a distracted Barrett getting pinned.

I see no reason for Gabriel and Slater to split, but by the time Capital Punishment comes around, they will have distanced themselves from Barrett, ending The Corre once and for all.

So to sum it all up, here's how I think it will go down this Sunday.  Ezekiel Jackson will jump out to an early advantage in the match, quickly gaining the upper hand thanks to his size and strength. 

With some underhanded tactics and a possibly distraction from the former Tag Team Champions, Wade Barrett will take control and score a few two-counts.  After some time spent out of the ring and more back and forth action, both men will score near-falls. 

Somehow, Gabriel and Slater get involved, distracting Wade Barrett long enough for Big Zeke to hit The Book of Ezekiel for the pinfall victory.  Zeke will walk up the ramp as champion and Gabriel and Slater will leave Barrett in the ring.

But hey, this is just what I think.  Let me know your thoughts in the comments.