WWE: Will Justin Gabriel Accomplish More Than Wade Barrett in WWE?

It was June 7, 2010 when the group that would later become known as The Nexus shocked us all.

The stable, which consisted entirely of NXT Season 1 graduates, interfered in the main event match on RAW between John Cena and CM Punk, destroying anything, everything and everyone in their paths. The rebel group was led by NXT winner Wade Barrett.

Anyone who watched the inaugural NXT season could see that this guy was a star in the making. After all, he won the show, was chosen to lead the Nexus and wound up feuding with the WWE’s top two stars, Cena and Randy Orton.

He wasn’t the only one from the group who we thought had a bright future, though.

Whereas it was clear that guys like Michael Tarver and Darren Young were the less talented members of Nexus, many fans expected two other guys to make it big in the WWE: Daniel Bryan and Justin Gabriel.

Unfortunately, Bryan wound up being released because he “crossed the line” (by choking announcer Justin Roberts with a tie) during the Nexus’ original attack, so that left the faction with two future stars: Gabriel and Barrett.

Though the two remained tied at the hip throughout their first year in the company, it was Barrett who had the spotlight. He was involved in high-profile feuds with Cena and Orton that lasted until the end of 2011, while Gabriel essentially worked as Barrett’s lackey during that time span.

Gabriel showed arguably the best in-ring skill set from Nexus—besides Bryan, obviously—and would be used in singles matches against guys like Cena, likely because the creative team realized he was one of the few members of the faction who could put on a respectable match.

Throughout Gabriel’s time with the Nexus, however, he often showed a bit of hesitation when hitting the 450 Splash on wrestlers who had been taken out by the Nexus, and many of us expected him to turn on the group and thus, turn face.

That wouldn’t happen. When CM Punk took over the Nexus—now the “New Nexus”—Barrett made the jump to SmackDown. Heath Slater and Gabriel followed, and the former Nexus members formed a group known as The Corre.

The Corre managed to take Barrett from a main-eventer on RAW to a relative afterthought on SmackDown. Whereas the Nexus was booked like a monster faction that would take over the WWE (at times), the Corre was booked like an absolute joke. One could argue that it was one of the worst stables of all-time.

The group accomplished next to nothing, unless you want to call helping turn Ezekiel Jackson face or unnecessarily putting over The Big Show something. Yet, after the faction disbanded in June 2011, there was still something there with both Barrett and Gabriel.

Even though Barrett was booked like a moron in his Intercontinental Championship feud with Jackson, he was still the game guy—above average worker for a big man, charismatic as hell and loaded with main-event caliber mic skills.

Meanwhile, Gabriel had shown some serious in-ring skills on his way to winning three WWE Tag Team Championships with Slater. However, Gabriel had to do something—he had to drop the dead weight—and he did just that when he and Slater split in July.

Finally, the WWE creative team seemed to get back on track with both Gabriel and Barrett. Gabriel was positioned in his perfect role as a mid-card face, and Barrett got a big win over Money in the Bank winner Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam.

Two guys who have been booked like crap for eight months or so are now set up for successful futures in the WWE. The question now is: Who will have a more successful future?

When you look at Gabriel and Barrett, they couldn’t be more different. Gabriel is a small, high-flyer who isn’t overly charismatic and doesn’t have a ton of mic skills, while Barrett is a big guy, who is decent in the ring, but really excels when he has a mic in his hand.

If I had to choose someone to compare both Gabriel and Barrett to, Gabriel is like Evan Bourne while Barrett is like Sheamus.

The similarities between Bourne and Gabriel aren’t hard to see: Exciting in-ring style, small stature, lack of mic skills, lack of gimmick, etc.

The same goes for the similarities between Barrett and Sheamus: Big guys who know how to work the mic and rose to the top of the WWE quickly before dropping back to the mid-card.

Now, if you wanted to follow someone’s career path, would it be that of Bourne or Sheamus? Come on, that’s not even close—it would be Sheamus.

Well, that’s exactly what Barrett seems to be doing.

Remember that Sheamus won the WWE Championship within a year of his debut in the company, he went back to the mid-card as the United States Champion and now he’s working his way back up to the main event scene as a baby face.

Similarly, Barrett main-evented multiple pay-per-views against Cena and Orton just a few months after his main roster debut, he went back to the mid-card as the Intercontinental Championship and now, with a PPV win over Bryan, he’s climbing back up the ladder.

Despite the feeling that Barrett has been wasted on SmackDown for the better part of a year, he’ll be in the main event scene within a year or so. I’m quite confident of that.

As for his former stable-mate, Justin Gabriel, I’m not sure we’ll ever see this guy rise above the mid-card scene. He can really go in the ring, but he’s never going to be a great talker, and we all know that mic skills usually trump ring skills when it comes to Vince McMahon’s booking philosophy.

When Gabriel hangs up his boots for good, he’ll be remembered as a quality wrestler. But he won’t be on the same level as Barrett.

The former Nexus leader has as big a future ahead of him as anyone on the WWE roster. Just wait, you’ll see.