Views From The Turnbuckle: The Sad Stories Of Cody Rhodes And Wade Barrett

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A few weeks ago, WWE did a bit of spring cleaning with their main roster, releasing some talent. This used to be an annual event for the company, but over the last few years they have clutched onto their talent the way a hoarder clutches onto disposable cameras that are out of film. Despite the fact that WWE was continually acquiring top talent from the independents and other promotions, WWE allowed their roster to swell to so many that it would be impossible to give many of them even a whisker of TV time. For the first time in a couple years, WWE pulled the trigger and released some talent in a quick burst, mostly job guys who had fallen out of even the mid-card picture; guys like Adam Rose, Hornswoggle, Cameron, amongst others. Two names that stand out are talents that at one time looked to be future stars for the company, Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett. During the early stages of their careers in WWE, Barrett and Rhodes looked like potential main event talents who WWE could build important storylines around and make a lot of money off of them. Instead, the early run that they got during their early years ended up being the peak of their careers in WWE and both men were eventually reduced to jobber status and were released from the company. I want to preface this by saying that I think WWE has way too many guys on their main roster and considering the bevy of young talent they have coming up through NXT, I’m happy to see more room being made on the main roster. There are guys on the WWE roster right now who have been given a lot of opportunities to get over, yet they have never been able to break through. Jack Swagger is a perfect example of this, a guy that has been repackaged in different roles and given pushes, once winning the World Heavyweight Championship and another time contending for the WHC at WrestleMania. Despite that Swagger has never broken through and remains on the roster, but his ceiling right now is so low, it’s amazing he didn’t get released earlier this year. Swagger has some talent, but not every guy is going to end up working in WWE, and WWE would be better served by shuffling that talent out of the company and replacing them with someone who possibly could get over in a big way. Realistically, WWE can only give TV time and legitimate storylines to about 15-18 guys and girls, roughly. Even with the brand extension, there are really not that many good spots on the card. At Extreme Rules, only 22 men and women competed in matches on the show. Considering that WWE has many times that amount of talent on their roster right now, WWE might have to have a quicker trigger finger when it comes to determining who the necessary talent are. A big problem is that WWE is still bringing up talent from NXT without creating roles for them on the main roster. You have guys like Apollo Crews and Tyler Breeze, guys who showed a lot of potential in NXT, struggling to get ANYTHING going on the main roster and have been left off a lot of shows simply because there is no spot for them. With that being said, there are certain talents that WWE releases that WWE fails to get the most out of. Ethan Carter III and Drew Galloway have proven themselves to be important talents that have made a difference in the wrestling world outside of WWE. The same can be said for John Morrison/Johnny Mundo. Rhodes and Barrett might end up being even bigger mistakes for WWE. Here are guys that showed a lot more potential than I think Carter, Galloway or Morrison did in their WWE runs, yet their legs were cut-off for unknown reasons. Rhodes feuded Shawn Michaels and Triple H, closing PPVs and working big feuds early in his WWE tenure; the same can be said for Wade Barrett, who feuded with John Cena and Randy Orton. Rhodes made headlines after asking for his release from WWE and releasing a long statement after being granted his release that explained his frustrations with the company. Essentially, Rhodes saw himself as someone with the ability to become a top talent and management not only …

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