Wade Barrett had a memorable first run in WWE which saw him win the first season of NXT, become the leader of The Nexus and have championship runs. Barrett returned to NXT in 2020 and has been playing a color commentator role since then.

His most popular gimmick was certainly when he was ‘Bad News Barrett’ and managed to capture the attention of many fans. Prior to that, his career was at a standstill.

While speaking on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, Wade Barrett revealed how he came up with the gimmick and how Vince McMahon asked him to change his gimmick on live television.

“JBL and Michael Cole had a show they were hosting on WWE.com. They got a bunch of the guys in there. (…) They came up to me and said, ‘Do you wanna be part of the show? Is there a zany character you wanna do?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’ll just be Bad News Barrett. I’ll just come in and give people bad news.’

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JBL got very excited about it and he took it to Vince McMahon and showed it to him in one of the meetings, ‘Hey look at this, we’ve got this character.’ Vince loved it and played it over and over again apparently. I wasn’t aware of any of this happening. (…) So he said, ‘Okay, we’re gonna have Wade do that from now on. He’s just gonna come out and keep giving out bad news.’ That seemed to then catch fire and take me in a whole different arc in my career.”

Barrett also doesn’t rule out making return to the squared circle as well. We will have to wait and see whether the former leader of the Nexus will end up competing in the ring in the future or not.

What’s your take on his gimmick? Sound off in the comments!

Subhojeet Mukherjee

Subhojeet is a professional wrestling fan for over 22 years. He got captivated by the sport during the Monday Night Wars and has a passion for it ever since. He also enjoys TV shows, movies, anime, novels and music, which broadens his perspective and appreciation for wrestling. He is a knowledgeable and respected voice in the industry.

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