Wade Barrett recently appeared on Out of Character with Ryan Satin for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, he spoke about potentially wrestling again. He hasn’t competed inside of the squared circle since he left WWE as a wrestler in 2016, but he is currently on the WWE SmackDown announce team.
“I’ve never ruled out getting back in the ring one day. I won’t say it’s high on my list of priorities. I don’t think I could physically do the full time grind anymore, more mentally than physically. I think my body could hold up. I’m still in very good shape. I keep myself fit. But I think that the grind of doing that job full time for who knows how long would be very difficult for me at this point because I’ve just got other avenues now and other things I enjoy doing, most obviously, the commentary side of things, which I wouldn’t want to give up.”
Barrett was asked to compare the person he plays on screen to the person he is in real life:
“I would say the character I play on TV is probably a far more upbeat version of myself. Most people who know me know that I’m pretty insular. I’m an introvert, pretty quiet. I don’t tend to leave the house too often. I’ve got to obviously flip that switch when the cameras are on so yeah, I can be pretty opinionated with friends and I try to bring that side of me to the show. In normal life, I’m about a three but obviously on SmackDown and NXT. I’m gonna turn that off all the way to a 10.”
Regarding how he would characterize his personality away from the camera:
“Miserable is probably the first one. Quiet. I tend to keep to myself. I’m not somebody at the age of 42 now who you’re going to see hitting the bars and going to the hustle and bustle. I quite like the peaceful life, the quiet life, which is ironic because I’m living in L.A. but it’s not necessarily my own choice to be living here. I tend to keep away from the hustle and bustle. I get enough of that through professional wrestling through Smackdown and NXT. For the most part, I like the quiet life.”
Regarding the moment he learned he would be moving up to the SmackDown brand from NXT:
“I probably found out maybe three or four days before I took the first trip over. It was very much a last-minute decision. Pat McAfee’s off for two or three months during his college football stop. Initially, they had Corey Graves stepping in and filling the seat, but I think Cory probably had a lot on his plate. He does a hell of a lot for WWE with all the Pay-per-views and RAW and he’s got his podcast. So I think maybe somebody needed to pick up a little slack on behalf of Cory, so that’s when they gave me the call and asked me to step in there.”
You can listen to the complete interview below:
(h/t to Wrestling News for the transcription)
