(Note from Ray, their were a mix up with the column posted last week, this was meant to be last weeks one and last weeks one was meant to be this one, but I forgot to post this the previous week, but only the intro will make a difference.)
Future Stars – Part III
By Ryan Wilson
Last week I started a new weekly column based on whom I think will be future stars in the WWE, and last week you all read about Alex Riley and Dolph Ziggler, both that have big things destined. This week it will be two different stars, I was considering doing some Divas but after some deliberation I decided to stick to the guys, cos let’s face it, the average life span of a diva in the WWE is often short, so it’s hard to say who will really be here come next year, or the next two years. So let’s get cracking with this week’s two guys.
Evan Bourne
Evan Bourne is someone who is looked upon as one of the best highflyers in WWE, and has been for some time. Many of you won’t have known about Bourne’s life prior to WWE so here’s some information: Bourne became the first person in Missouri under the age of 18 to own a wrestler’s licence. He has wrestled for many independent wrestling associations facing today’s top stars such as A.J. Styles and CM Punk. He joined Ring of Honor and then Dragon Gate gaining much wrestling experience both in America and Japan. Bourne then joined WWE’s development territory OVW shortly changing over to FCW and shortly after his time in FCW he was called up to the main roster as Evan Bourne. Bourne then spent one year in ECW where he was known simply as Evan, and after impressing WWE officials was traded over to the top show Raw. Whilst Bourne didn’t exactly win any championships for the following two years he did impress the WWE Universe, competing in matches with Raw’s tops stars Sheamus and Chris Jericho whilst teaming with guys such as John Cena and Randy Orton. Bourne was then cast into a tag team with Mark Henry (the same Mark Henry that just destroys all round him now) and was unsuccessful at winning the belts. Evan was then off teh air for a while following a shoulder injury that required surgery, he returned a few months later to be cast into a feud with the all American-American Jack Swagger, in which he came out victorious with a final pinfall win over Swagger at Capitol Punishment. Although Bourne was just coasting through simple rivalries that didn’t give him his true chance to show off his full potential the Universe continued to support Evan, loving his aerial assaults, spectacular high flying moves and lighting quick kicks. Only two weeks ago Evan teamed with another high-flying menace Kofi Kingston to form a stable known as AirBoom, which got the chance to win the tag titles off Otunga and McGilicutty. In a fast paced and exciting match that actually got me shouting at the TV, AirBoom won the tag team titles and successfully defended them the week later. Whilst the tag titles aren’t as prestigious as they used to be I certainly believe that AirBoom can once again get the WWE Universe excited in the future of the tag division, I enjoy watching AirBoom and can’t wait for more exciting and fast paced matches. At only age 28, Evan is over enough with the Universe to make me believe that there will be a future for him in WWE, with a solid move set, exciting finisher and that likeable factor Evan could certainly have a run for US/IC title and hopefully WWE see enough in him to put the World Heavyweight or WWE title on him –hell I know I’d love seeing Evan as WWE champ, it’d make for an interesting champion unlike our boring champions; Del Rio, Miz…. Hmmm I feel like I’m missing someone in this boring list, can anyone help me with that?
Wade Barrett
Wade first imploded on our screens when he was the leader of the Nexus, a storyline that gripped the WWE audience from the word go. Before the Nexus storyline Wade and his Nexus members were competing in the first season of NXT –a show formed by WWE to find WWE’s next breakout star. NXT was a format like no other which included various trials and matches that couldn’t be seen elsewhere on WWE programming. Rookies were given “Pros” in other words a mentor to help them and teach them along the way. Wade Barrett’s pro was none other than Chris Jericho, which was originally the reason I believed Wade would win, to put Wade with Jericho was a huge compliment to Wade as WWE obviously thought he was big enough to pair up with Jericho. All NXT contestants had derived from WWE’s development territory FCW, Wade himself had won championships there. Wade ended up winning NXT season 1, and Wade made sure his presence was soon felt on Raw, where he had aligned with the losing members of NXT season 1 to form the Nexus, and their sole purpose was to get contracts for all losing members of NXT. When the Nexus first came on our screens we saw the WWE ring demolished, John Cena beaten down and even Vince McMahon beaten. We later saw Wade and his gang initiate Cena into the group when he was used as a slave. Barrett was then shown the door several months later and we saw a new leader take stage in the form of CM Punk, leaving Barrett to go to SmackDown and open up a new shop called the Corre, with a few ex-Nexus members. Wade would go on to win the Intercontinental Championship off Kofi Kingston, Wade would go into a feud with big Zeke for the Intercontinental Championship with big Zeke coming out the winner. With all these accomplishments in WWE we could certainly see Wade becoming a big contender and someday challenging for the WWE/World Heavyweight title. I like Wade, I think he has good mic skills and definitely has what it takes to be a big main player.
Ringsidehustle.com 
I agree pretty much 100%.
I do think they will be future stars as long as they are not rushed into getting over, if they get over to early, they’ll get stale quicker. So, if WWE play their cards accurate with timing, they’ll be doing alright.
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Glad to see you guys have so many opinions on Wade, good to hear them all. I agree that Wade can be big like HHH. Drew would be more HHH in my opinion but when he does the kip up he reminds me of HBK. Maybe he’s a bit of both?
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Wade can draw big money one day. Evan can draw money in a different way to a younger and shorter crowd. Kind of like dads will bring their kids. Dads will cheer for Wade to kick some face ass and kids will cheer for Evan, buy his merch. Evan is perfect. Flashy, big smile, good looking. Wade is perfect in a different way. Big brit with great hair, looks good in a suit, has height and knows how to talk.
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I think those days are over of Dads cheering, maybe i’m wrong. I think Dads just go for the kids, nothing more, again, could be wrong. But the type of casual fans will root for Wade, a group a friends on a night out watching the show.
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Eh… I guess the real point is that dads will take their kids when the one ring circuis is in town… Parents buy their kids a lot of stuff, DVDs, T-shirts and all that fun stuff. I’m not sure casual fans would ever cheer for Barrett… because he’s a Brittish heel. Good luck turning him into a face outside of Europe.
I’m meaning the cynical fathers that want to see someone get beat up. Barrett is the main eventer that can do it. He could replace HHH.
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I fully got what your’re saying, I just can’t see Dads actually cheering at this time, I think the interest would be there purely for the child’s sake. I could be wrong, not sure.
I was always hoping that Drew Mcintyre would be another Triple H, slightly different personality but that mental toughness Triple H has proven to be. I’m thinking Wade will be ‘himself’, I don’t think he’ll be like another wrestler, if you get what i’m saying.
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Drew doesn’t have what HHH has / had. If anything Drew should aspire to be an HBK. He could pull that off in positive ways. I’m not saying he will be the next HBK, but that’s the closest thing that I see him becoming. He can still be his own man, but if he had to fit a mold the HBK mold would be the closest that I can think of.
I get what you’re saying, Wade is unique. But I think he can be comparable to HHH… not even meaning wrestling style, just a big 6’4″ dude with an ugly mug and great hair that is happy getting booed and can put solid matches together.
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I don’t know comparing him to HBK, different sort of a wrestler, he’d be more like HHH than HBK in my opinion. He does have a unique thing about him that both HHH and HBK have/had. HHH proved he still has it, how about a match for Wade vs. HHH? It would be interesting. It could put Wade over, HHH is so good at that. Look what HHH did to Batista and Orton. Say what ya want about Batista, but he was along with Cena the biggest star on the company along with Orton now. So it would be a great match for Wade to get over in.
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Can Evan Bourne be still considered a future star? He’s almost a veteran right now. He might be close to peaking. He has been on the WWE roster since 2008 and he has been a professional wrestler since 2000 (although he didn’t join a major promotion until 2004). If he is still a future star, he’s running out of time.
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That’s a good point, Tony. I only seen him as been in WWE as a wrestler, but he’s around the same time as Bryan then. Bryan is certainly a veteran in my eyes anyway. I just see him as one of the younger stars still. which quite frankly is a bad thing. hmm i’m in two minds about him now. I still think he has a future, just it mightn’t be very bright as what I was expecting.
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DDP was in his 40’s when he became a big star in WCW. You never know.
Concerning Barrett, I can see people booing and cheering him no matter what. If he’s face, marks will cheer him. If he’s heel, they’ll boo. Reverse that for the smarks.
Finally, Ray, I saw where you changed the most recent columns to fit my suggestion. Thanks! You don’t have to scroll nearly as much to finf what you’re looking for.
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I know DDP, but different era and all. Don’t know if it’d work with Bourne because of his height and all. Look at Mysterio, look how noticeable he was before he came to WWE, Evan I never heard of, maybe once or twice, but that was it.
About Barrett, hmm your’re probably right, i’m confused what to think now, lol!
And i’m always open to suggestions and stuff, if anyone has more, drop them! 😛
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The rise of the smarks has changed wrestling for good. You rarely have a super over face or heel again, because of so many people people booing the faces and cheering the heels. It’ll be mixed from now on. If the IWC existed back in the 90’s, the same way it does now, Rock, Austin, Taker, etc. never would’ve got as big as they did. If Cena were around in the pre-IWC days, he wouldn’t be getting boos from so many people. It’s changed the way we watch, review, talk about wrestling forever.
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Yea your’re right. I still think Cena would get boo’s, though, fans would’ve gotten annoyed with the same sh!t every week. The same gimmick for 7 years or so. In fact, if that was the case, fans would be worse with Cena, as they’d be older. I think the IWC just hypes things up more than anything else and then the product they put out is disappointing.
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That’s another reason for WWE to push to a younger audience that doesn’t look up things on the Internet. Plus they’ll believe in it and enjoy their one dimensional face vs heel characters. 🙂
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With Cena, I doubt nearly as many boos would happen. And with the net, the backlash happens so soon. Hogan was the lead guy for close to ten years before he started getting the boos that started the heel turn. Cena started getting them 4 to 5 months after becoming “the guy”. If Hogan were the “guy” today, the boos would’ve started just as quickly.
That goes to the IWC “hyping” things up. It not so much that, as it’s the quick backlash. The thing is, it’s not just wrestling, but pop culture. As soon as something reached a certain level of popularity, there’s a backlash, a quicker backlash than there used to be. It’s the fans that have changed so much, not the booking.
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I understand what your’re saying. Yea, I guess your’re right, I can’t really disagree lol
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My first convert!!! Welcome to the club my fellow “Anti-Smark”!
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WWE creative are smart, I just see it as this, look at their biggest competition…TNA. WWE are miles ahead of TNA, they don’t actually need to give out their very best. If TNA put pressure on WWE then we’ll see a better product from both WWE and TNA.
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Forgive me Randy, but WWE’s competition is UFC and football. Once TNA starts scoring 2.5s on a weekly basis then they’ll be competition. We never see the best from WWE until January – March. Its like they purposely crap on the fans until those 3 months. Like there are only so many A level ideas the entire year. They should bring out the big guns for football season to keep the viewers they have. Over the summer they should let the big stars take 3 months off and start making new stars… like they almost did with Punk. Then when the tougher rating season comes along bring back the old top stars to compete with the new top stars. Which is what they did with HHH & Punk… but they blew their wad 2 months too early. But whatever, its their company. They’ll do what they want.
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I hear Vince is a nutjob around creative, so they have no idea what to do.
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That seems like a nice idea! I like the idea of the big guys having a vaca and letting the younger guys show their skills. WWE should look into hiring you! Completely agree with the Punk-HHH load being blown too early. Disappointing. and Nash just pissed me off for being such a big tall dumb shit.
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Vince lives in a bubble. HHH is trying to live in that bubble too Smooth.
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Although, bubbles are fun. I used to blow them as a child. But to be serious, he needs to give creative some room to try things out. They’re stressed out and are getting mixed signals.
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I’ve not heard anything, because I don’t talk with any of creative… but maybe they need to say you hired us to do a job now let us do it. Or maybe creative comes up with dumb ideas like… well since Karma is pregnant lets have Brodius clay wear a pink dress, have an abortion and wrestle the women…. sorry I had to throw out that idea.
Vince can always tell creative… HHH is our star, everything revolves around him. Same for John Cena… chop off everyone else’s head and creative can find good ways of keeping HHH and Cena on top… instead of what they’re doing now.
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The problem with WWE creative is that in the last 5 years, they’ve had about 35 different members for a group that’s 5 maybe 6. So, because so many and coming are going, there is something wrong there that they’re not settling.
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I’m sure the writer burnout is high when you need to write 52 weeks a year, 5+ hours of television per week. Everyone likes to think its easy coming up with fantastic booking ideas. Yep one idea is easy. 5 ideas are easy. Fleshing it out week to week is tough, then doing it 52 weeks a year without doubling over the storylines get tougher, and keeping track of the talent so no one is double booked. Booking for TNA would be even worse, because they have 2 episode tapings per show and there’s only so much that a fan is willing to sit through in the arena, which is why they have so many damned backstage segments.
That’s why the WWE has soap opera writers, because the writers have written 52 weeks a year for 1 hour shows.
When compared to writing a normal TV show, its working half the price for 4x-20x the work.
Kind of like the Simpsons have a tough time thinking up new episodes so they keep their writers for about 3 years (not all, but some) and there’s a staff of 8-10 writers for 24 episodes.
Or maybe these writers ask for a raise at the end of their contract and Vince is like… nah…
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You could be right, but over 30 writers in 5 years is just un-settlements, i’d sure wouldn’t like seeing all those writers come in and out. Especially travelling with different people so often, getting to know the,m, takes longer.
With the Simpsons, they’re in the one studio and know what the audience is like. When writers go to arenas, it’s hard to expect what the crowd is like for writers. I think everything is just jammed up and they need to work without Vinces approval. Let them as you said do their job, let them be creative!
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I do remember Jim Cornette or maybe Jim Ross or Bruce Prichard saying when you work for Vince, you’re working 24/7. If Vince has an idea at 2 am and you’re sleeping, he’ll call you up and tell you and your phone better be on. That would grade on people too. Plus Vince did everything before there was a need for writers, so in his mind he probably wonders why can’t you guys be on 24/7 like I was when I was your age.
Ah mysteries we’ll never know.
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I really don’t see the drawing power/appeal of Wade Barrett He’s British, and that’s his whole character. He’s not that impressive in the ring; I can’t name a single match of his where I was in awe. His promos are pretty much the same every time; same material, same tone, same facial expressions, same finger point.I find him extremely boring. Honestly, I believe many were just drawn to him because he was Jericho’s rookie on NXT, and was stood out like a gem in a pile of mostly sh!t. Then of course, many fans jumped on his bandwagon, because he was going against Cena.
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Not entirly, I had seen Wade & Gabriel’s matches from there time in FCW. I became a fan while they were in NXT. I was hopen that one of the two would win and thats what happened. Wade is a future top star in WWE and I believe he proved that in Nexus. He led Nexus untill Punk took over. Nexus made an Impact on the WWE with the attacks to John Cena, Jerry Lawler, Vince McMahon, etc.
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Nexus was a complete bust, so….
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I see his drawing power as a villain for a strong face to go against. Giant Englishmen are quite hateable. I don’t mean Cena as a strong face, because people have a way of turning heels into faces against Cena.
The Nexus fizzled… then they had the majority of Nexus call themselves the Corre… Then Punk came along and started up new Nexus or whatever. That’s kind of a double negative. All of that within a year… I had to explain the Nexus storyline to someone that didn’t watch since Summerlsam 2010.
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Have any of you all seen Barrett’s mugshot? It’s quite funny.
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I went to your blog and noticed an “OVW” tag. Are you near Louisville?
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Evan Bourne isn’t getting much discussion! lol
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Comment sections can go off in all different directions. I converted you last night.(that didn’t sound right)
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Haha I don’t know where this whole discussion went but I’m glad this post provoked thought!
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It ended up being about how the fans are the ones who’ve changed more than the actual booking.
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Yea lol. It went completely off the topic. I am wrecked to the bone, i’m going to hit the hay. The SD review should be up as usual and I got a column I might post tomorrow. Later!
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Speaking of Smackdown, I might be a Khali mark after tonight’s show.
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It’s not really funny but weird seeing him with so much hair. Booker T’s mugshot is funny. Greatest wrestling mugshot of all-time.
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Sorry, but I think Barrett looks like an extra from Shrek.
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