WWE: Why the Time Is Now for Wade Barrett

Wade Barrett will be the WWE’s next breakout star. 

Though I originally had that slot reserved for Cody Rhodes, or perhaps even Dolph Ziggler, the WWE brass seem to have a newfound confidence in Barrett, and it appears that the sky is the limit for him at the moment. 

What a surprise, huh? 

Since Barrett moved to SmackDown in January 2011, he’s spent most of his time on the show wallowing in mid-card hell. Though he did have a run with the Intercontinental Championship, his stable, The Corre was a huge flop, and he had incredibly forgettable feuds with both The Big Show and Ezekiel Jackson.

He seemed destined to be a guy with loads of potential who fell through the cracks in the WWE. But that all changed on the October 21 edition of SmackDown when Barrett announced the start of “The Barrett Barrage.” 

And that’s exactly what it’s been. 

Since Barrett told the WWE Universe that he would no longer associate himself with a “legion of parasites” and instead would fly solo, he’s picked up wins over Daniel Bryan, the WWE Tag Team Champions (Air Boom) and even Randy Orton. To top that off, Barrett—not Christian, not Rhodes—was named the captain of his Survivor Series team, which will face Team Orton this Sunday.

Yep, there’s no doubt that the WWE has listened to the very vocal minority on the Internet who couldn’t fathom why Barrett was being buried. We complained, we were heard and the time is now for Wade Barrett. 

The 31-year-old former bareknuckle brawler really does have all the tools that Vince McMahon looks for in a superstar. He’s big, strong and athletic, with a good look, a ton of charisma and mic skills that are among the best in the business. 

It is Barrett’s rare combination of those attributes that turned him into the winner of NXT Season 1, when most of us assumed that Daniel Bryan would run away with it.

The WWE saw something in Barrett, and once NXT ended, company officials made the decision to have Barrett lead a rebel group known as the Nexus. Though the hype surrounding the faction quickly faded away, it started off as one of the most shocking stable formations in wrestling history. 

Perhaps more importantly than anything else, though, it gave Barrett something that every professional wrestler needs to succeed: experience. 

Upon the Nexus’ debut, Barrett was instantly thrust into the spotlight on Monday Night Raw. The show became Barrett’s forum to wrestle, cut promos and introduce his relatively new character to the WWE fans.

And he blew us all away. 

Barrett showed a cool collectiveness on the mic that only seasoned veterans usually display, and the company had so much faith in his abilities as a group leader that he was put into feuds with the WWE’s top two stars—John Cena and Randy Orton—within the first six months of his debut on the main roster.

In 2010, Barrett’s group interfered in main events and faced Cena’s team in the main event at SummerSlam, while Barrett himself wrestled for the WWE Championship at Night of Champions, Bragging Rights and Survivor Series and took on Cena at WWE TLC.

It seemed like Barrett was poised to be a World Champion and full-time main eventer, but his move to SmackDown changed that. It didn’t completely kill his rise to the top of the WWE, though—it only postponed it. 

The WWE has finally re-discovered the faith it had in Barrett just after his main roster debut, and it could not have come at a better time.

While Mark Henry is currently the top heel on SmackDown, Christian already had his time in the World Heavyweight Championship picture (and is now out with an injury), and the blue brand needs a new top heel to emerge. 

I always thought Rhodes would be the guy to do that, but Barrett seems to have passed him on SmackDown’s heel pecking order. 

And I’m totally fine with it. We need fresh faces in SmackDown’s World title picture, but we also want someone there who has some experience working in huge main event angles. 

Barrett has some. And more.

The NXT Season 1 winner has done nothing but prove that he can deliver when the spotlight is on him, and he deserves another chance to become a brand’s top heel and its World Champion. 

If I was Barrett, I’d steal a famous line from Cena’s theme song, look the head of SmackDown’s creative team dead in the eye and say, “My time is now."