Badass Decay: Started out on WWE-TV as the brutal, charismatic leader of the NXT Riot, spearheading a movement that blazed a path of destruction that included everything from gang beatings of some of WWE's top names to clocking timekeepers and vandalizing wrestling ring setups. He participated in several title and title-relevant matches and even had kayfabe control over the company's most recognizable face. From there, he went to a Squash Match, having his own stablehijacked byCM Punk, and switching brands. He bounced back a bit to lead the Corre, which proceeded to run roughshod over Smackdown's most intimidating superstars, and at one point had possession of both the Intercontinental and Tag Team titles. Then his Greedgot the best of him and he exiled one member and alienated the other two. Since the Corre broke up, about half his exploits have involved trying to ambush fellow superstars and failing horribly.
Magnificent Bastard: Early on his huge charisma, intelligence, and skill at implementing his plans put him on the road to being one. Various uses of The Nexus and obtaining Cena under his control cemented him as this.
Straw Man Has a Point: Despite their villainous methods, Barrett and the Nexus did have legitimate complaints against WWE management.
Revisited following the end of both Nexus and Corre. Barrett's been a glorified midcarder since then, had a terrible losing streak against established superstars going on until he beat Daniel Bryan on pay-per-view, and found himself facing no-name enhancement talent more than he'd like as of late. When he addressed the disgrace of being expected to wrestle nobodies despite his orchestrated attacks on everybody from John Cena to Vince McMahon in the past year and walked away in utter disgust from such a match, he wasn't alone in the sentiment.