WWE TLC 2011: Wade Barrett Must Beat Randy Orton To Remain Relevant

Randy Orton is undoubtedly one of the faces of the WWE. He has earned that distinction, and it would be a major mistake for him to beat Wade Barrett in a tables match at TLC.

Barrett entered the WWE last year as a hot prospect, winning the first season of NXT and leading the Nexus to prominence in the following months. Barrett was essentially the mouthpiece and the leader of the group. He was involved in feuds with some of the biggest names in the company right away, including John Cena.

After Cena's team defeated Nexus at SummerSlam 2010, however, their momentum really began to sputter. The group continued to exist, but it was spinning its wheels. Barrett was eventually exiled from the group in favor of CM Punk.

Barrett went on to form The Corre and held the Intercontinental Championship. For the most part, though, he has been insignificant since leaving the Nexus. That was until the "Barrett Barrage" began to take shape a couple of months ago.

It has become very obvious that the creative team fully understands how talented Barrett is as a wrestler and a talker. Because of that, he has been put over the likes of Daniel Bryan, Sheamus and Orton on a couple of occasions, including a singles win and a team victory at Survivor Series.

This massive push has really brought Barrett from the trash heap to the brink of main-event contention, but that could easily be squashed by win by Orton at TLC. I have to believe the writers are smart enough to keep Barrett's roll going, but they already ruined a potential Cody Rhodes push.

Previous to Barrett's involvement, Rhodes was feuding with Orton and—while Rhodes did score a win over Orton on RAW, thanks to a distraction, his potential push was basically lost when Orton defeated him for no good reason at Vengeance.

I will give Orton a lot of credit for what he has been doing lately. He has put over guys like Barrett and Mark Henry after dominating for the entire year, but the creative team was clearly caught up in the allure of "The Viper" and missed a chance to elevate Rhodes.

Seeing as how Barrett isn't tied down by the Intercontinental Championship, though, there is nothing holding him back. I'm a little apprehensive about the writers making the right decision—since Barrett has often gotten the better of Orton of late—but I think putting Barrett over is the obvious choice.

The good part about a tables match is that something fluky could happen. Barrett could score a win without Orton looking weak. I'll assume that Orton will go for something crazy like an RKO off the top rope, but he'll slip off in the process—somewhat reminiscent of how Sheamus won his first WWE Championship over John Cena.

However it happens, Barrett simply needs the win. It would truly be a waste for Barrett to be buried by Orton after being built up so well lately. I believe Barrett is most definitely a future world champion in WWE—a win at TLC could be the first big step toward making that a reality.