The Hydden View: The Austin Challenge, Who Will Step Up?

The past two weeks in wrestling has given us plenty to talk about. The wrestling world is buzzing right now, some good, some bad. Survivor Series, Sting, TNA news, CM Punk, and now the Steve Austin podcast. If you didn’t watch Steve Austin interview Vince McMahon last night then you should. It was a great interview with Austin asking great questions of his former boss. Many people will break down the whole podcast and give there review of the show, so I will let them do it. I would rather talk about one thing that Austin said last night. Austin challenged the WWE locker-room to go out on a limb, to become stars. Now a challenge like this may not have meant much on its own, but with Vince saying the current locker-room lacks ambition how can it be ignored. So the question is who on the roster is going to step up?

Unfortunately the reality is not everyone is going to become a big star. There is only so much room at the top. A better way to look at this is what star needs a change, who needs to do something big and go out on a limb. As of right now I believe there are six wrestlers who get a pass, mainly because we need to see where there current characters take them. Those stars are Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Eric Rowan, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins. None of the before named wrestlers have been on the main roster more than two years. I looked at the Roster and four wrestlers stuck out as guys that need to take this challenge seriously. They are Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, Wade Barrett, and Antonio Cesaro.

Kofi has been on the main roster for 7 years now, but let’s get something straight he has had success. He held the IC championship four times and the U.S. championship three times. But, it’s time for a huge change for Kofi. As I write this I realize he recently has been given a new gimmick with the group “A New Day”. Is this the envelope Kofi has to push? Is this the move that will finally bring him to the next level? I think the group has potential to be successful, but I feel the group can only go as far as there weakest link. I think Kofi could benefit from a huge change, maybe even a change in appearance. Kofi is a great in ring talent, unlike others I do not believe his time has passed; I believe his time has just not come yet.

Jack Swagger has been on the Main Roster since 2008, it sure doesn’t seem like six years. Jack is in the same boat as Kofi, he has had success. Jack has held the ECW Championship (WWE version), World Heavyweight Championship, and the U.S. Championship. Jack has been doing the All-American American gimmick for quite some time, currently using it in a feud with Rusev. Is it time for time for Swagger to find a new gimmick. Is the All-American American needing a change. I think he could benefit from it. Swagger has limited verbal skills so putting him with Swagger helps. Could Swagger be a wrestler that would be a good fit as a Heyman guy? I don’t have these answers but Swagger is still young, only 32 years old he has time to cement his legacy as a top guy.

Judging wade Barrett almost isn’t fair. Barrett has been injured more than not, so it’s hard to judge him. Barrett has only been on the main roster for four years so he has time still. The “Bad News Barrett” character was getting over before he suffered another injury. I do not know Wade Barrett personally, and never will this I am sure of. That said one has to wonder if instead of a new gimmick Barrett needs to change the way he trains and conditions his body. He is injured far too often to get any momentum. Barrett like the two before him is a great talent, but at the age of 34 he needs to start moving up the ladder not tripping on the rungs.

This leads me to Antonio Cesaro, who I have written about before. Now it’s important to mention Cesaro has only been on the main roster for two years, just like the six wrestlers I gave a pass to. The reason I choice Cesaro was because he was talked about in the podcast last night. Cesaro got high praise from Austin, and even got praise on his in ring ability from Vince McMahon. Austin brought up how Cesara got his momentum stopped when he was put with Heyman. I got the feeling that the wrestler in Austin’s mind when he issued the challenge was Cesaro. I believe Austin is a big fan of Cesaro and really wants to see him get over. Vince Talked about how something with Cesaro was not connecting with the fans. I think the challenge needs to be taken seriously by Cesaro, I believe out of these four he could be the greatest of them all.

Now there are other wrestlers that could have been put in this group. Cody Rhodes, Damian Sandow, The Miz, Titus O’Neil, Justin Gabriel, Fandango and more should take the challenge seriously. Like McMahon said in his interview we learn every day, so every WWE wrestler could challenge themselves to make there characters better every day.

Now because I like discussion, in your mind who needs to take this challenge to heart?