Exclusive: Wade Barrett Talks Dream Matches, Pat McAfee And Wanting Wayne Rooney At WrestleMania

Wade Barrett does not look back on his in-ring history at WrestleMania all that fondly. But the former five-time WWE Intercontinental Champion is looking to rectify his disappointments with his new arc behind the commentary desk.

Preston’s favourite son (alongside Sir Tom Finney, Andrew Flintoff and Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park) is the owner of a long list of accomplishments inside the squared circle.

It was Barrett, after all, who won the inaugural season of NXT, back in 2010. The Lancashire lad would then lead an insurgency against WWE in one of the company’s most famous angles of all time.

Flanked by his fellow competitors from NXT, Barrett would destroy John Cena and the entire ringside area, including the timekeeper, ring announcer and commentary team during the main event of Monday Night Raw on 7th June, 2010.

The angle signified the beginning of a major push for Barrett and his new Nexus faction, as they warred with WWE’s status quo for the entire second half of the year.

Wade Barrett never had his WrestleMania moment

Although Barrett would ultimately come up short in his efforts to win World Championship gold, while also never hitting the heights of those halcyon days of 2010 again, he played a prominent (if unfortunately injury scarred) role on WWE programming for the following six years.

A King of The Ring winner in 2015 in addition to his five Intercontinental Title reigns, Barrett sadly never got to experience much in the way of WrestleMania moments.

Speaking exclusively to SPORF during a recent interview around the launch of a new season of WWE 2K26’s Ringside Pass, Barrett revealed that his WrestleMania history had been a sore point for him. Particularly the Intercontinental Title ladder match in which he unsuccessfully defended the gold at WrestleMania 31, in 2015.

“Anytime you get a chance to have a match on WrestleMania, it’s always huge,” Barrett explains, “When I look back on my career, I had some very big moments. I main-evented a SummerSlam, I main-evented a Survivor Series, won championships.

“I always felt that my in-ring career for WrestleManias was a big disappointment. I think that, to this day, that ladder match was probably the highlight of them.

“Although I know fans really like that match in general. There’s a lot of things I personally would have changed about that match.”

No more bad news for Barrett at ‘Mania

The match, in which Barrett defended his IC gold against Dean Ambrose, the late, great Luke Harper, Cody Rhodes (in his ‘Stardust’ era), Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth and eventual winner Daniel Bryan, was actually halved in length at the last minute.

“I think we were given 10 minutes. Originally we had 20 minutes, and it would have been a lot better, I think, if we had 20 minutes. It got cut down the day of the show, so I was pretty upset about that.”

“So, yeah, I don’t necessarily have the best memories of WrestleMania when it comes to my in-ring career. It’s a lot of regret, disappointment, and bitter blows, I suppose.”

But while his in-ring exploits at the Showcase of the Immortals may not live long in the memory, Barrett is now determined to ‘live forever’ through his newfound commentary arc.

“I will tell you that that’s come full circle now, though. I got to call WrestleMania last year, both nights, I’m getting to call it again this year, so I have a very positive view of my involvement in WrestleMania because of this new commentary arc that I’m on.

“It makes me a lot happier thinking about being able to call the main event of WrestleMania. Something that’s gonna live forever, and being able to call Brock Lesnar vs Oba Femi, this year. So, yeah, I’m a lot more positive about that stuff than I was my in-ring stuff, to be honest with you.”

A dream match over 20 years in the making

When it comes to WrestleMania, 2K are allowing players to relive some of their most beloved ‘Mania moments and matches on WWE 2K26, while also creating their own new moments. But who would Wade Barrett want to step back into the ring with for a dream match at the Grandaddy of ‘em All?

“It would have to be Drew McIntyre. He’s busy this year, of course, he’s got a huge matchup coming up with Jacob Fatu, unsanctioned, which I’m sure is gonna be a bloodbath. I can’t wait to watch that from the safety of my commentary seat.”

A match against the former WWE Champion would mean a lot both personally and professionally to Barrett, who’s friendship with the Scottish Warrior goes back over 20 years to when they were a pair of fresh faced lads on the British independent scene.

“Drew’s a guy I go way back with. I think I first met both him and Sheamus about 2005 on the independent scene in the UK, so we really came up together.

Drew McIntyre — Image: Georgiana Dallas/WWE via Getty Images

“We kind of learned together in development, got signed by WWE on the same day, and our careers have kind of been tied together ever since. Sheamus, I wrestled a ton during my career, Drew, I only ever wrestled twice.

“I tagged with him a lot, shared cars, locker rooms, lived together, but we only ever had two matches against each other, and both of those were on non-televised shows. So I’d love to be able to go out there and have a matchup with him.

“I’m sure he’d smoke me in about 5 minutes. But I’d like to just have that experience, just stepping in there with him on a massive stage, and put that down on film, and be able to always have that.”

Which WrestleMania ‘work of art’ would Wade Barrett loved to have called?

Now situated at ringside, in a workspace that often requires a decent carpenter given how many times it is destroyed by Barrett’s colleagues, the former Nexus leader was invited to take a trip down memory lane and select which historic WrestleMania bout he would have loved to have been on the call for.

With over 40 years of titanic clashes to choose from, the Preston powerhouse delved deep into the WWE archives to pick out a classic that has been watched, rewound and watched again by adoring fans for well over 30 years, now.

“That is a good question. So as a kid, I used to buy the VHSs from W.H. Smiths or wherever were selling them at the time, and there might be some young people reading this who have no idea what VHS is. Kind of like Netflix, but for old people.

“So anyway, I used to have my VHS tapes of all the WrestleManias and the SummerSlams and stuff, and the one I kept going back to and watching was WrestleMania 7.

“To this day, it’s my favourite of all time, and there’s a match on that one. It’s the Macho Man Randy Savage versus the Ultimate Warrior in a retirement match.

“That entire match is just professional wrestling perfection. The stakes, the characters involved, it was the best in-ring performance of Warrior’s entire career, which probably told you how good Randy Savage was.

“And then the fallout in the aftermath of that, that involved sensational Sherry and Miss Elizabeth, and, oh, the whole thing is just drama and action personified. To me it sums up the absolute best of professional wrestling.

“So if you’ve never seen that match before, you’re a young person, perhaps you’re not familiar with those guys, go back and check that one out. Randy Savage versus the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania 7. Work of art.”

Barrett confused by Pat McAfee’s involvement in WrestleMania main event

Although Barrett’s voice will be scoring many of the major moments from WrestleMania 42 (and hopefully many more WrestleManias to come), it is one of his commentary colleagues, Pat McAfee, who is dominating headlines as we approach this weekend’s extravaganza in Las Vegas.

Bewilderingly, McAfee, who provides commentary part-time on Monday Night Raw around his commitments with ESPN, was unveiled as the person who had been offering Randy Orton advice in his pursuit of his protegé Cody Rhodes’ WWE Title.

Orton and Rhodes will headline night one of WrestleMania 42, on April 18, at Allegiant Stadium. It is a bout with 20 years of history behind it, given Rhodes served as part of Legacy under Orton between 2008-2010. Orton was also the final opponent for Rhodes’ Hall of Fame father, the incomparable ‘American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes.

The match, one that millions of WWE fans have been clamouring for ever since The American Nightmare made his return to the company in 2022, has now taken a back seat to McAfee’s involvement as he attempts to ‘save the business’ by aiding Orton in his quest for a 15th World Title.

It is involvement that has not been well received by WWE’s audience. Reports have claimed that WWE’s parent company TKO and it’s CEO Ari Emanuel have been behind the move to strong arm McAfee (who is a client of Emanuel) into the Saturday night main event.

It is also involvement that has left Barrett utterly perplexed.

“Well, I was very surprised when Pat McAfee came out with the Randy Orton stuff on SmackDown. Sometimes there are blank pages on the sheet that I get as a commentator. That was blank. I had no idea Pat McAfee was coming out, I didn’t know what he was gonna say, so it was a shock to me, and it was a shock to Joe Tess on commentary, too.

“We were caught just as cold as the entire audience, and I was scratching my head. I didn’t really understand why Pat was saying certain things. He was taking shots at people who didn’t deserve to have a shot taken at them. He was also coming up with some references to 40-minute Ironman matches, and I don’t know what show he was watching there.

“So, yeah, I was caught cold by it. I enjoyed Cody when he came out and issued his immediate retort. And then I was laughing so hard when I watched CM Punk on Raw last Monday, one of the funniest promos and retorts that I think I’ve seen in a long time.”

“Exactly what you need heading into WrestleMania”

Although the controversy has generated a deluge of negative headlines, Barrett is still remaining positive about Saturday night’s curtain closer.

“I think the brilliance of this whole situation, it’s gone from an initial head scratcher to now the lines have been completely blurred, and I don’t know what is storyline, what is real life. Are they angry?

“I think when you get to that point, it just creates buzz, and I think the three of those guys you just mentioned have created some serious buzz going into WrestleMania.

I think some people are up in arms about it. Other people are angry that CM Punk said some things that he perhaps shouldn’t have said, and went off-script, as people like to call it. I’ve been watching this game a long time, I’ve been behind the curtain for over 20 years at this point. I don’t know where the reality ends and the story begins at this point, so they’ve got me too.

“So I think it’s exactly what you need this time of year, heading into WrestleMania. You want buzz, you want people talking, you want eyeballs on it. Whether this is by design or by accident, whatever it is, it’s worked.”

Barrett Wants Wayne Rooney at ‘Mania

Celebrity involvement has been dominating the discourse around this year’s WrestleMania. It’s not only McAfee who is throwing his weight around between the ropes heading towards the desert in Nevada.

Everyone from Grammy winning rapper Jelly Roll to Lil Yachty to IShowSpeed are taking their licks, as well as dishing a few of them out along the way. But there is one world renowned star, a former World and European champion, no less, who Barrett has some unfinished business with.

Eleven years ago, during an episode of Monday Night Raw from Manchester, dyed in the wool Preston North End supporter Barrett became embroiled in a head-to-head with then Manchester United captain, Wayne Rooney.

Rooney, one of English football’s most decorated stars, with multiple Premier League titles, a Champions League and a World Club Championship to his name, had enough of Barrett’s jaw jacking and promptly leathered the former Intercontinental Champion to the ringside floor with one slap.

Over a decade later, should the opportunity present itself, Barrett is in no doubt that he would dust off the old work boots and look to put things right with the former United and England skipper.

“Hell yeah, I would. I mean, honestly, I know a lot was made of me and Wayne, and obviously, I hiked it up at the time, but he’s one of my all-time favorite England players. Absolutely brilliant.

“I remember him bursting on the scene for Everton when he was 16. I was just, you know, blown away by how good this guy was, and obviously the hope was he was finally gonna win us a World Cup, which didn’t quite pan out.

“But yeah, I’m a huge fan of Wayne. He was awesome on that day that we worked with him. One of my favourite memories of my career that gets brought up all the time by fans is the Wayne Rooney stuff, so of course I would love to do something like that. I think we’re both way, way too old now to be getting in the ring, fighting each other, sadly.

“Ten years ago, it could have been good, but I think Wayne was a bit busy playing up front for Manchester United and England at the time, so we couldn’t quite get him back then, but yeah, I’d love to do something with him again, of course.”

So, if you’re reading this, Triple H, get it booked. ‘Bad News’ Barrett vs Wayne Rooney. The main event of WrestleMania 43. Sod it, make it a trilogy. It will be this generation’s Rock and Austin.

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