Opinion: King Barrett Should Turn Face

As honestly as I can say it, King Barrett’s career has been a disappointment. I’ve been scratching my head for years trying to figure out why this guy hasn’t been catapulted into the main event scene in the last five years. Everything he tries fails eventually, and it’s confusing.

Barrett’s momentum has always stopped dead in its tracks because of an injury, booking issues, or changing gimmicks. I’m not trying to make excuses or present Barrett as a victim of circumstances, but something has always gotten in his way of reaching the superstardom he deserves.

It’s not to say that he’s had a bad career. His problem isn’t talent. He’s really good. Barrett has been a five-time IC Champion. He won the first season of the NXT competition and won the 2015 King of the Ring tournament to be given the title of King Barrett.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to capitalize on the moniker of “King of the Ring” because it respectfully doesn’t mean what it used to mean. It used to be that you held that moniker and you were a force to be reckoned with and a shining star on the rise.

My problem with it is the “King of the Ring” moniker doesn’t necessarily mean that you must be a heel ruling over the peasants and lesser beings. The gimmick is traditionally for heels, but I’m starting to think the Barrett is the perfect guy to go in a new direction with the gimmick.

It’s too easy to play the tyrant king character. It’s been done a million times already. Barrett is a good heel, but he’s never been a face. I think it’s a role that he could play very well, and since he’s never done it before, it would be fresh.

Instead of being a villainous tyrant ruling over the WWE, Barrett could be the noble and fair King of WWE that wants to right the wrongs being done and serve justice on WWE TV. That’s a unique angle to play for the King of the Ring gimmick.

Not only that, but the gimmick could get deeper. A King has knights and a Queen by his side. The search for King Barrett to find his Queen could be a great feud for the right situation.

For knights, I could easily see guys like Curtis Axel, Heath Slater, and Damien Sandow being heartfelt, yet bumbling knights in “The Royal Family” stable.

It just seems like a great waste of the King of the Ring moniker and Barrett’s potential to be playing the fourth wheel in the League of Nations. At the very least, he should be their guy on the microphone, but he’s not even doing that.

Turning him face would be something new that we haven’t seen before and I think it’s the thing that’s been missing to get him to the next level. Stu Bennett deserves more. He’s a King for god’s sake. He deserves a real crown and WWE Championship gold.