It’s no surprise that WWE tends to drop the ball when it comes to using talent correctly. Many NXT call-ups have been relegated to the lower mid-card upon their arrival. Not to mention all the stars that fans got behind who the WWE decided to put in their place almost out of nowhere. Names like Zack Ryder and Dolph Ziggler ring a bell.
Another name that comes up in this conversation is former Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett, who now works as the authority figure for Defiant Wrestling (formerly WhatCulture Pro Wrestling) under his real name, Stu Bennett. While he wasn’t always a big star to the WWE Universe, his Bad News Barrett gimmick garnered a lot of praise, but the British brawler could never get past the mid-card.
Recently, Bennett spoke with U.K. website SPORTSbible to talk about the theory that WWE purposefully shoots their own talent in the foot.
They misuse a lot of guys. There’s a lot of guys you could do more with but at the end of the day, they pick the guys they want to go with.
I don’t think they purposely sabotage. I think there are limited spots to be at the top of the card or the highlighted guys. There are probably seven or eight guys where it’s like, ‘Ok these are our main guys going forward for the next six to twelve months’ and they need to be the guys getting the biggest reactions, being involved in the biggest storylines and stuff like taht.
So if there’s a guy who is getting bigger reactions than them, then I think there is an attempt to, I’m sure, make that reaction transfer on to the guys they are going with…the guys they want to push. There are just a limited number of spots, that’s the issue. You can’t have everyone in those spots.
Is the WWE brass sabotaging talent? It’s certainly been discussed before. Recently, a rumor went around about Smackdown Live Superstar Tye Dillinger, who was being kept off of TV because WWE wanted to quell the “10” chants. While it isn’t fully confirmed, it wouldn’t be the first time the company had done something like this.
Do you think WWE is holding down talent for their handpicked stars?
