About this time last year I took a look at the Superstars roster page on WWE.com and was amazed by how many people that I saw whom I had no idea were still employed. Well, it’s one year later and so I thought I would try this again. To the WWE’s credit, I found myself saying “Oh Yeah….HIM ” a lot less than last year. I would also like to make the distinction between guys that are under utilized (that discussion can be found on the June 4th edition of We Talk Wrestling HERE) and guys that are just not used. I know the list of guys not used to their full potential is long but for the purposes of this article, I will be looking just at people I totally forgot about.
1. Johnny Curtis
The winner of NXT Season 4 disappeared from the WWE scene immediately after winning the “contest” and getting a WWE contract. He eventually appeared on Smackdown in June of 2011 with a series of “comedy” vignettes. The basic concept would be taking common phrases and making them literal, such as taking a cat out of a bag or putting a potato chip on his shoulder. This led to a match in August where he lost to Mark Henry and, once again, disappeared. Since then he has appeared on the next, never ending, season on NXT. For the purposes of this article I am going to completely discount that and treat it like he was back in Florida Championship Wrestling because, although it is available on television in Canada and other international markets, the show is largely ignored. In order to make a return, I would give Curtis a new look. He is the textbook definition of your cookie cutter, Create-A-Wrestler, look that will do him no favors in getting noticed. I wouldn’t change him up radically but I would give him a bully gimmick and maybe even go old school and give Johnny a “loaded” forearm pad that could differentiate him from the rest of the mid-card.
2. Michael McGillicutty
The son of Mr. Perfect had a lot of promise in developmental and on NXT despite being saddled with one of the stupidest names in WWE history, especially given the lineage of his real name, Joe Hennig. Hennig started off well in WWE after leaving Season 2 of NXT and joining up with Nexus along with Husky Harris. Unfortunately for him, WWE ended the Nexus angle shortly after he joined and, since then, has toiled in mediocrity. After Nexus disbanded, he and David Otunga lost the WWE Tag Team Championships and Michael McGillicutty has been a regular on WWE Superstars online show ever since (a show I recognize as much as I do NXT). For McGillicutty, the absence from RAW or Smackdown is a blessing as I feel it will allow him to come back as Joe Hennig with less confusion. Since I have yet to meet or speak to anyone who feels the name change is not obvious, it becomes the first change I make and, as mentioned in a previous article HERE, I team him up with Ted Dibiase and give him a nice run in the Tag Team division before deciding whether or not to move him into a singles position.
3. Abraham Washington
OK so I know that he’s still employed but What The Hell Happened To Him? For weeks he was courting guys like Mark Henry, Ryback, and Primo, Epico, and Rosa. He then signed the Latin Trio on a segment that was cut off by Bucky Beaver’s crack production team and the four of them have made one appearance on Smackdown since then standing on the ramp. A.W. has a great schtick and his “All World Agency” gimmick would give him a chance to manage all the international superstars that may not be able, or in some cases just plain shouldn’t, cut a promo. I’m not thinking that he would manage the main eventers, at least not right away, but A.W. can give a solid boost to the mid-card. My biggest fear is, since he has just dropped out of sight, that the manager kick is already over and that Abraham Washington will soon be wished well in his future endeavors. For the sake of talents like Jinder Mahal, Tensai, Tamina, and Alex Riley I hope this isn’t the case.
4. Trent Barreta
To be honest, when I first thought of doing this article for 2012, Trent Barreta was the first name that came to my mind. Trent has someone that felt the sting of the demise of WW-ECW. The Dudebusters tag team was a personal favorite of mine, despite hardly ever seeing them perform. When Caylen Croft was released in late 2010 I wasn’t quite sure what the future held for Mr. Barreta. The answer was: not much. He has mostly appeared on NXT and Superstars and, when on Smackdown, is used in the Jobber to The Stars role. In the article on tag teams that I mentioned earlier, I had Barreta and Tyson Kidd as a team given their tremendous chemistry against each other. With the current (and I do mean CURRENT) talk that the Cruiserweight division may return to RAW with the new Three Hour format, I would now look to have Trent in that division and I see him in the Billy Kidman role. That is, someone who isn’t the flashiest guy around but someone who the fans grow to respect and get behind as a star in time. In fact, there may be no person who could benefit more from the return of the Cruiserweight division than Trent Barreta.
Those are just four names that popped out to me. Agree? Did I miss someone? I’d love to hear from you at addie@wetalkwrestling.com
