WWE: 10 Possible Future Storylines for Justin Gabriel in WWE

Justin Gabriel spent the early portion of his WWE career working for someone else.

But those days are over.

After living in the shadow of Wade Barrett as part of The Nexus and The Corre, Smackdown's resident high-flyer turned face and is now flying solo. He hasn't been on his own for long, but he's got the makings of a potentially solid mid-card performer, with a good look and underrated wrestling ability.

I'm not sure Gabriel will ever find his way into the main event scene (at least not soon)--but he should be a key contributor on the blue brand going forward.

It's just a matter of the WWE creative team finding a spot for Gabriel and giving him some decent storylines to work with. So, I'm going to help those guys out today.

Here are 10 possible storylines for Justin Gabriel.

10. Justin Gabriel as David vs. Goliath

David vs. Goliath is a classic story, with the smaller David eventually toppling the much bigger Goliath.

It's a common theme in wrestling that is perhaps best exemplified by Rey Mysterio, who is only 5'6" but manages to beat guys like Kane and The Big Show on a consistent basis.

Now, Justin Gabriel isn't Rey Mysterio small, but he's not exactly huge either and will be considered the "David" in about 90 percent of his feuds. 

Wrestlers like Mysterio and Evan Bourne are hugely over with the crowd because they're able to defeat the WWE's behemoths in battles of good vs. evil. The WWE should do the exact same thing with Gabriel.

Put him in bouts against the company's giants week after week--guys like Ezekiel Jackson, The Great Khali, Brodus Clay, etc.--and actually have him win. It will build Gabriel up as one of the WWE's ultimate underdogs, but one that often pulls off the impossible.  

9. Gabriel Starts Hanging out with Zack Ryder

Zack Ryder managed to get over with WWE fans because of Twitter and YouTube, and he's now finally getting some face time on WWE TV.

We should see him continue to bring his fellow WWE co-workers onto his YouTube show, and Justin Gabriel could certainly benefit from hanging out with Ryder.

When Santino Marella first teamed with Vladimir Kozlov, he was the jokester while Kozlov was the more serious in-ring competitor. I could see something similar between Ryder and Gabriel.

Gabriel could appear alongside Ryder in several backstage skits, with Ryder making jokes, goofing off and asking Gabriel to be his tag team partner. Gabriel would hesitate at first, but then begin to see that Ryder can actually wrestle and eventually form a tag team with him.

From that point forward, Gabriel could appear on Ryder's YouTube show and begin to show some more personality. That way, the fans would have more of a reason to cheer for him other than the fact that he's pretty good in the ring.

8. Form a Tag Team with Skip Sheffield

Did you know? I hate the WWE's "Did You Know?" segments, but I decided to use that phrase to remind you that Justin Gabriel is already a three-time WWE Tag Team Champion.

Of course, those reigns came with Heath Slater as his tag team partner, and I hate Slater almost as much as I hate Michael Cole. But that's neither here nor there.

The point is that Gabriel thrives when part of a tag team, and given the WWE's new-found focus on tag teams, there's a decent chance we'll see Gabriel go back to doing what he does best.

Considering that Skip Sheffield has been out of action for like a year now, I'd expect him to return as a babyface sometime in the near future, and I think his powerhouse style would be a perfect complement to Gabriel's high-flying abilities.

I prefer tag teams with wrestlers whose skill sets complement each other, and that's exactly what a team of Sheffield and Gabriel would do. 

7. Justin Gabriel: The Ladies Man

Anyone who can pull off a relationship with Kelly Kelly either has good looks, some serious game or both.

Now, I'm not sure which one of those Justin Gabriel has, but a few of my female friends seem to think that he definitely has the first one.

Well, if that is indeed the case, then we could see the WWE go the "Ladies' Man" route with Gabriel. They've done it numerous times in the past (most recently with Daniel Bryan) and I'm not really a fan of it, because it never seems to accomplish anything.

But Gabriel doesn't really have much of a character right now, and I could see the creative team sticking him with a gimmick as the quiet heartbreaker.

Who knows? Maybe we'll get to watch Justin Gabriel turn into Smackdown's resident pimp.  

6. Gabriel Benefits from the Power of CM Punk

Ever since CM Punk cut that epic worked shoot promo a couple of months ago, he can say or do pretty much whatever he wants.

He's given shoutouts to overlooked wrestlers, like Colt Cabana (a.k.a. Scotty Goldman), and preached about how he wants to bring change to the WWE.

Well, if Punk really wants to do that, then he'll help get unappreciated stars, such as Justin Gabriel, a chance to prove just how good they are. He can lobby for Gabriel, among others, to get more TV matches or promo time, and he can even put Gabriel on his Survivor Series team as a way to get him some exposure.

Having the support of Punk would be a huge rub for Gabriel and would allow him to work his way up the WWE totem pole gradually.

5. Gabriel Tries to Prove That He's the WWE's Best Foreign-Born Wrestler

The WWE has a number of foreign-born wrestlers currently on the main roster (not including Canada): Alberto Del Rio, Drew McIntyre, Ezekiel Jackson, Jinder Mahal, The Great Khali, Kofi Kingston, Mason Ryan, Primo, Sheamus, Sin Cara, Wade Barrett, William Regal, Yoshi Tatsu and, of course, Justin Gabriel.

Yet, aside from a few of these guys (like Del Rio and Sheamus), the fact that they're from another country doesn't really play into their characters all that much. It should.

All of these wrestlers are in the WWE despite clearly being in the minority (that is, not being from America), and that's a huge accomplishment, which these guys should use to their advantage.

I'd love to see Gabriel cut promos about being the WWE's only South African wrestler and the best foreign-born wrestler on the WWE roster.

This would result in battles between the WWE's foreign stars, all of which are looking to prove that they're the best wrestler that the world has to offer.

This would make much more sense if Gabriel had the Intercontinental Championship, too.

4. Justin Gabriel vs. Wade Barrett

Justin Gabriel and Wade Barrett were like Siamese twins for their first year-plus on WWE TV: Wherever Barrett went, Gabriel followed.

They spent most of 2010 together in the Nexus and a large chunk of 2011 with each other in The Corre before splitting up earlier this summer. But, despite their long history, we never really got any closure between the two.

Barrett and Gabriel haven't wrestled a singles match since the first season of NXT, and that was long before the WWE Universe was truly invested in their characters.

I'd love to see a feud between these two, with the idea being that each wrestler is looking to prove who the true star of NXT Season 1 was.

They've worked with each other so much in the past that the chemistry (and thus, good matches and a solid feud) almost has to be there.

3. Gabriel Gets Michael Cole off the Announce Team

I've grown so sick of Michael Cole on commentary that I've come up with a name for said illness: The Common Cole.

Just like the common cold, it's a very simple sickness, yet one that doesn't have a cure. In this case, however, I've come up with one.

Surely you've noticed how Jerry Lawler's been ripping Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga for being outrageously boring (which is so true) and a mini-feud between the two seems to be going on. Well, I propose that the WWE does something similar with Cole and Justin Gabriel.

The idea: Cole starts ripping Gabriel on commentary (calling him boring, overrated, etc.), and Gabriel finally goes berserk on him one day, beats the holy hell out of him and injures him.

This would lead to Cole being removed from the announce table and coming back as a manager, while Gabriel would get over in a massive way as a face for finally ending the misery known as announcer Michael Cole.

What? A man can dream.

2. An Intercontinental Championship Feud with Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes appears to be in the midst of an Intercontinental Championship feud with his former protege Ted DiBiase, but assuming Rhodes holds onto the strap, he'll need someone to feud with next.

Why not Justin Gabriel?

The basis of a rivalry is there: Rhodes dishes out those paper bags week after week, and Gabriel can interrupt a promo by Rhodes' to tell him that he should be the one wearing a paper bag on his head. Blah, blah, blah. The idea is that Gabriel think he's both better looking and a better wrestler than Rhodes.

Not only would this give Gabriel a chance to work the mic and get over as a huge babyface against a hated heel like Rhodes, but it would also lead to some very good matches from two of Smackdown's best mid-card wrestlers.

1. Gabriel Leads the Reincarnation of the Cruiserweight Division

Rumor has it that Triple H may be bringing back the Cruiserweight division.

Phenomenal. I love the Cruiserweight division, and I think it could go a long way toward improving the overall quality of the WWE.

So, let's let Triple H lead the reincarnation of the division behind the scenes, and then have an underutilized wrestler be the face of it on-screen. Someone like Justin Gabriel.

He is the absolute perfect fit for what the Cruiserweight division once was and one of several wrestlers who could help rejuvenate the WWE's mid and lower cards.

Instead of having guys like Yoshi Tatsu, Trent Baretta and Tyson Kidd job, have them wrestle guys like Justin Gabriel in the newly established Cruiserweight division.

Maybe Gabriel can appear on an episode of Smackdown one day and say that he was walking backstage when he found "something" the WWE actually used to care about, which will turn out to be the Cruiserweight title.

In turn, that will lead to Gabriel saying he's bringing the belt back and giving all the WWE's Cruiserweights a shot at winning it in a single-elimination tournament.