10 Wrestlers WWE Fans Were Convinced Would Become Megastars (But Didn't)

5. Wade Barrett

"Wade Barrett has it all! He has the size, the skill, the talking ability, the character, everything!" screamed pretty much every British WWE fan in 2010.

They weren't wrong, and when the man from Preston emerged victorious from the first season of NXT the world seemed to be his oyster. There has never been an English-born WWE World Champion, and it seemed as though it would merely be a matter of time before Barrett righted that wrong.

Enter John Cena.

Okay, so Cena's tunnel-visioned destruction of the Nexus at SummerSlam 2010 can't go down as the only reason Wade Barrett didn't become a megastar in WWE, but the damage done on that night can't be overlooked. Until that point, Barrett and his compadres were white hot in WWE, a breath of fresh air in a landscape that had been looking increasingly stagnant. Their guerrilla warfare mentality was fresh, a mentality best embodied by Barrett's militant leadership.

Barrett's career post-Nexus settled into a depressingly predictable pattern. Barrett would win a few big matches and the Intercontinental Championship, losing non-title matches constantly and eventually dropping the belt before getting injured, allowing the cycle to repeat upon his return.

In 2016 the big man asked for his release, and the wrestling world quickly moved to lament WWE's inability to make Wade Barrett a major star.