Wade Barrett says he does not look back on his WrestleMania in-ring history very fondly, calling it a disappointment even as he prepares to return to the show in a new role. The former five-time WWE Intercontinental Champion said his best memory from those matches was the Intercontinental Title ladder bout at WrestleMania 31, and even that came with frustration.
"Anytime you get a chance to have a match on WrestleMania, it’s always huge," Barrett said. "I always felt that my in-ring career for WrestleManias was a big disappointment." He said the 2015 ladder match, which also featured Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper, Cody Rhodes as Stardust, Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth and Daniel Bryan, was probably the high point of his WrestleMania work, but only because the rest did not give him much to celebrate.
Barrett won the inaugural season of NXT in 2010 and later led the Nexus faction in an insurgency against WWE, a run that included the 7 June 2010 attack on John Cena and ringside personnel during the main event of Monday Night Raw. He went on to win King of the Ring in 2015 and defend the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 31, where Daniel Bryan won the ladder match. Barrett said the bout was originally scheduled for 20 minutes but was cut to 10 minutes on the day of the show. "It got cut down the day of the show, so I was pretty upset about that," he said.
That missing time still colors how he sees the moment. "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," Barrett said. He added that he called WrestleMania on commentary both nights last year and will do it again this year, a shift that has changed how he feels about the event. "I will tell you that that’s come full circle now, though," he said. "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."
For Barrett, the change from wrestler to voice at ringside has turned a history of disappointment into something closer to closure. It also gives him a new way to stay tied to the biggest stage in wrestling, one that once seemed more likely to leave him with what he called bitter blows than lasting satisfaction.