5 careers that didn't live up to the potential

#2 Wade Barrett

Wade Barrett had great success with the WWE early on in his career

When Barrett led a group of unknown Superstars against the marquee names in the promotion, many viewed it as a stroke of genius. WWE rarely took chances, but their decision to book Nexus as an unstoppable faction paid dividends, at least in the beginning.

And then, John Cena happened. For a good decade, everything that Cena touched in WWE turned to ashes. Cena also gained notoriety during this time as someone that buried talent, and when Barrett defeated Cena, forcing him to join Nexus, the fans believed that the WWE would book Barrett as a legitimate main eventer.

And boy, were they wrong! John not only got his revenge, but he proceeded to single-handedly dismantle the hottest faction since the New World Order! Barrett then underwent a gimmick change, but never really recovered from his devastating loss.

As Bad News Barrett, WWE once again had the chance to hit the reboot button with Wade, but that never happened either.

This resulted in Barrett leaving the WWE, and he has largely stayed away from in-ring competition since.