Wade Barrett on Wrestling Career, Leaving WWE, and Downfall of Bad News

Website SPORTbible held a recent interview with Wade Barrett discussing if he wants to resume his wrestling career, why he left the WWE, and the downfall of his Bad News gimmick.

On the topic of his wrestling career, Barrett stated he has plans to resume his career in the future but at the moment he rather wait for the right opportunity and desire to resume a full-time career in wrestling.

“I have my good days and bad days. There’s days where I think I don’t miss it all and then there’s days like yesterday [at Refuse to Lose on October 2] where you see the kind of reactions the guys were getting and get that desire to get back in the ring. I’m 99 percent certain I will wrestle again at some point, I just couldn’t tell you when. I have those days where I’m like ‘No, everything hurts, I don’t ever wanna get back in a wrestling ring again’ – but I have days where I feel great and can’t wait to get back in. I know at some point I’ll be wanting to get back in, so if the right opportunity comes along we’ll get it done.”

On the topic of why he left the WWE after Wrestlemania 32, Barrett stated it was due to his contract expiring at the time and being very unhappy with the direction of his career. He stated the WWE was upset when he told them upfront he wasn’t going to sign an extension and the reasons for his unhappiness in the company.

“I didn’t really ask to be released. My contract was coming to an end, I’d been there just over nine years at that point – I was not happy with the way my creative had gone and not happy with some stuff behind the scenes, and the way I’d been treated by certain people there, so in my opinion it was time to move on and do something else, at least for a while. I’d been offered a new contract by them, I didn’t want to sign; I told them, I was upfront with them. I don’t think they were thrilled about it but there’s not a lot you can do – I felt that I was wasting my time there. There’s a lot of guys who are not happy with their lot there, I wasn’t happy with my lot there for several years but always believed I was capable of getting to the next level through my work or through my performances, and my ability to get over. It got to the point where I didn’t believe I was getting the opportunities to get to the level that I wanted to and I think once I’d seen the writing on the wall from that perspective, it was a very easy decision for me to leave and I’m guessing it was the same for guys like Ryback, guys like Del Rio, guys like Cody, who perhaps, like me, decided it was best to move on too.”

On the topic of the downfall of the Bad News Barrett gimmick, Barrett stated it was due to his heel character getting cheered too much and Vince completely pulling the plug on the character as a result. He also revealed this was the main reason why he got the King gimmick afterwards even though he knew it wasn’t going to work nor be as effective as his “Bad News” gimmick.

“The problem with Bad News was that I was getting a babyface reaction. It was one of those things where it was supposed to be a heel thing but I think people were so entertained by it that they started cheering it and look forward to it, even though I am insulting them. Vince never wanted me was a babyface, he thought I wrestled like a heel and I was English. He didn’t want me to be a babyface at all, which was fine and I was happy being a heel. But I think sometimes the crowd dictates things and even though Vince wants me as a heel, you can’t put me as a heel and the only way we could really turn me back into a heel, and stop them cheering for me, was to take away ‘Bad News’. At that point, I was just a guy who had nothing, so I was coming out, I wasn’t allowed to do the catchphrase or anything like that. I was just a very bland guy. So they gave me King of the Ring as something to do, I suppose, but doing a King of the Ring in this day and age just doesn’t work. It might have worked in the 80’s but I think wearing a crown and scepter in this day, to me, it doesn’t work.”