How did a career move change this former WWE champion’s perspective toward the sport?
English wrestler Wade Barrett found quick success in WWE after becoming a regular face on the main roster with his heel faction, Nexus. Rising to stardom with his feud against John Cena, Barrett became one of the most popular heels on the roster.
However, after a few gimmick changes, title wins, and a King of the Ring victory, Barrett parted ways with the promotion in 2016. After a brief stint on the independent circuit, he again returned in 2020, but in a different role.
In August 2020, Barrett returned as a color commentator for NXT. After a run there till 2022, Barrett was moved to the main roster. During his recent interview with PWMania, the former Intercontinental Champion described how this career move completely changed his perspective toward the industry.
The big change when you move from being an in-ring guy to a commentator is the show is no longer about you. The show is about enhancing everybody else who arrives on the TV. It’s every character, every storyline, anything you can do to add a little sprinkle of sugar on every minute of the show is what you’re trying to do. It’s no longer about trying to get myself over or trying to be the big star anymore.
In terms of my appreciation for the industry, so say you’ve got a two-hour show or a three-hour show. Historically, Wade Barrett may have been on that show for 10 or 15 minutes. He might have had a match or a promo, whatever it was. That was really all I cared about. That’s all I’m focused on. The important part of this show is the bit that I’m on. I have to go out and make this as good as I can. The difference now is I have to have a complete understanding from start to finish of this roller coaster ride, everybody’s storyline, and how they all fit together.”
Wade Barrett Continues On His New Found Appreciation For The WWE Creative Team
As he continued speaking about his career transition, he shared how the move to the commentary team helped him appreciate the creative team and management. The former Nexus leader explained that he now had a better understanding of the business and realized that it wasn’t always focused on him.
That has given me a totally different appreciation for our creative team, the management, and the kind of decisions that have to go into this. Whereas I was always annoyed because why aren’t I winning? Why aren’t I in this spot? Why aren’t I getting that opportunity? Now I understand, ‘Hey, this guy’s really good. This guy we have losing in segment three, he’s really good, but guess what? We can’t have him win here because the plan for next month is to put this match and this match together and this guy’s not going to fit in there. So, we kind of need him to make the other guy look good.’
My understanding of putting together a two or three-hour TV show multiple times a week, especially if you’ve got a premium live event, and my appreciation of how the mental gymnastics that management and the creative team have to go through to try and make this all fit together and make cohesive sense and be intriguing for the viewer, I have a whole new appreciation for that.”
In other news: This former WWE star believes that Bron Breakker will win a World Championship soon.