6. Wade Barrett
As the winner of the first season of NXT, Wade Barrett exploded onto the scene by taking charge of his defeated NXT colleagues and making an immediate impact in the big leagues as the Nexus. In those first few months, it seemed clear that Barrett was on his was on his way to being world champion, but John Cena did what he does best and defied the odds, beating Barrett and his Nexus when it counted and relegating Barrett to the wildly inferior and shortlived Corre stable. Recently, Barrett returned to TV using the same Bad News Barrett character that he appeared as on the JBL and Cole internet show. A particularly venomous verbal assault on some Hall of Fame legends suggests that Wade still has what it takes to get himself noticed, and perhaps 2014 will be the year that he once again makes his way back to the main event and achieves what we all thought he was on the cusp of doing almost four years ago.