Wade Barrett
Stuart Alexander Bennett is an English-American former professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE, where he performs under the ring name Wade Barrett as a colour commentator on the SmackDown brand.
Barrett won the first season of NXT in 2010 and made his main roster debut on Raw later that year, rising to prominence as the leader of The Nexus, a villainous faction composed of the remaining NXT first season rookies. He headlined five PPV events for WWE in 2010—SummerSlam, Night of Champions, Bragging Rights, Survivor Series, and TLC—three of which saw him unsuccessfully challenge for the WWE Championship. In 2011, he formed The Corre, a short-lived group with former Nexus members Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel as well as Ezekiel Jackson. After they disbanded, he would go on to become a five-time Intercontinental Champion.
In 2013, Barrett's ring name was amended to Bad News Barrett and he adopted the character of someone who took immense pleasure in delivering bad news. Upon winning the 2015 King of the Ring tournament, his ring name was changed to King Barrett and he began portraying an arrogant royal character. He notably portrayed a villain for his entire WWE career, regardless of the other changes made to his character. He left WWE in 2016 and has not wrestled since, though he has appeared in non-wrestling roles on the international independent circuit, such as a commentator for World of Sport Wrestling and a general manager for Defiant Wrestling under his real name. He returned to WWE as a commentator for NXT in 2020. Bennett became a naturalized American citizen in 2021.
Bennett made his acting debut in the action film Dead Man Down and has since starred in action films such as Eliminators, I Am Vengeance, and I Am Vengeance: Retaliation.
Early life
Stuart Alexander Bennett was born in Penwortham on 10 August 1980. His mother was a social worker, while his father was an accountant. He has an older brother who manages a supermarket. He grew up in nearby Preston, then moved to Wales with his family at the age of six. Despite spending much of his childhood in Wales and admitting that he does not remember anything about Preston, he does not consider Wales his home and has never lived in one place for more than nine years. He was inspired to become a professional wrestler by his idol Davey Boy Smith, and named the WWF Intercontinental Championship match in the main event of SummerSlam 1992 between Smith and his other childhood hero Bret Hart as his favourite match of all time. He earned a degree in marine biology from the University of Liverpool, after which he went to work in a science lab and as a recruitment consultant while training to become a wrestler.While living in Liverpool in his early 20s, Bennett became a champion bare-knuckle boxer who would fight in various locations throughout Europe. He competed in a match in Budapest dubbed "The Battle of Buda" by the bare-knuckle underworld, in which he defeated a reputable opponent for a substantial cash prize. Later, while walking through an alleyway in search of a taxi to the airport, he was stabbed with an eight-inch knife by someone who attempted to steal the money; he has refused to discuss certain details for legal reasons, but admitted that he seriously injured his attacker and escaped with the money despite significant blood loss. The attack left him with a 12-inch scar that stretches from his upper back to halfway down his right arm, and the punches he took during his bare-knuckle career left him with a disfigured nose, but he has expressed no regret over that period of his life. He incorporated his bare-knuckle career into his WWE gimmick at the request of Dusty Rhodes, being introduced to the WWE audience as a bare-knuckle champion who had fought on the streets of Europe. His Wasteland move is named after the site of many of his fights.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2004–2006)
Bennett decided to become a professional wrestler at the age of 21, and was trained by Jon Ritchie and Al Snow. He made his professional wrestling debut in June 2004, using the ring name Stu Sanders, as a surprise entrant in a 30-man battle royal held by NWA UK Hammerlock Wrestling. Sanders also performed at numerous Dropkixx Wrestling, Real Quality Wrestling and All Star Wrestling events, as well as wrestling in Wales for Welsh Wrestling. In June 2005 he beat Danny Beckwith for the Dropkixx IWC Heavyweight Championship. In 2005, he feuded with Nick Aldis and Danny Dexter in Dropkixx Wrestling.World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2006–2016)
Ohio Valley Wrestling (2006–2008)
After appearing as part of a security team on 13 November 2006 episode of Raw in Manchester, Barrett participated in a tryout with World Wrestling Entertainment later that month. He had another tryout in 2007, and signed a developmental contract with them in October. He was assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling under his Stu Sanders ring name, where he defeated Ace Steel in a dark match. He later formed a tag team with Paul Burchill and the pair faced the Major Brothers in several matches. On 2 January 2008 Sanders and Burchill defeated Colt Cabana and Charles Evans in the final of a tournament for the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship. Sanders and Burchill held the title for nearly two months before losing it to Los Locos in a four-way match also involving The Insurgency and The Mobile Homers.Florida Championship Wrestling (2008–2010)
After WWE ended their relationship with OVW as a developmental territory, Sanders was moved to Florida Championship Wrestling with several other wrestlers. On 6 May 2008, Sanders and Drew McIntyre, collectively known as The Empire, defeated The Puerto Rica Nightmares to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship. They lost the titles back to the Nightmares at FCW's first TV taping on 17 July. The team broke up after the loss, and Sanders began wrestling under his real name before changing it to Lawrence Knight at 9 October FCW television taping. On 19 February 2009, Knight announced that he was the new FCW commentator, alongside Dusty Rhodes. He became colour commentator due to an injury, in which he tore his Latissimus dorsi muscle and required surgery. In August 2009, Bennett was renamed yet again to Wade Barrett, partially named for Wade Dooley. He described the character of Barrett as being an extension of his "dark side". He returned to in-ring competition in FCW in December 2009.The Nexus and The Corre (2010–2011)
Barrett competed on the first season of NXT, with Chris Jericho as his storyline mentor. His first appearance for NXT was on the inaugural episode of NXT on 23 February, when he acted as Jericho's ring announcer. Barrett made his in-ring debut on the following episode of NXT, defeating Daniel Bryan. On 13 April episode of NXT, Barrett won the "talk the talk" challenge and was awarded his own custom made entrance theme. On 11 May, Barrett was ranked in first place in the Pros Poll. On 1 June 2010 episode of NXT, Barrett won the overall competition and a WWE contract, by defeating Gabriel and David Otunga in the season finale.On 7 June 2010 edition of Raw, Barrett was at the forefront of an attack by the NXT rookies, as they interfered in the main event match between John Cena and CM Punk, attacking both competitors, Luke Gallows, the announce team, the timekeeper and the ring announcer, Justin Roberts, before they destroyed the ring area and surrounding equipment. Cena in particular was heavily targeted by the rookies, who hit him with their finishing moves. On 14 June 2010 edition of Raw, Barrett and the other rookies demanded full-time contracts from Raw General Manager Bret Hart, who instead fired Barrett and had the rookies removed from the building. Later in the show, the rookies attacked Hart and gave him until the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view to decide on their contracts. At Fatal 4-Way, the rookies interfered in the main event for the WWE Championship, costing Cena the match and the championship in the process to Sheamus. The following night on Raw, Vince McMahon fired Hart and announced that a new 'anonymous' General Manager had been hired and the six rookies received WWE contracts. The group of rookies continued their path of disrupting main events, as they attacked both Cena and McMahon, who had been acting as the referee on 21 June 2010 edition of Raw. On 5 July 2010 edition of Raw, the group was named The Nexus. That same week, Barrett was absent from Raw as his work visa had expired and he had to return to the United Kingdom to apply for a new one. With his visa situation cleared up, Barrett returned the following week.
On 12 July 2010 edition of Raw, the Nexus competed in their first match together and defeated Cena in a 6–on–1 handicap match after Gabriel hit Cena with the 450° splash. The following week, Barrett made his singles match debut on Raw by defeating Mark Henry. The Nexus continued to feud with Cena and the Raw roster, resulting in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match at SummerSlam. Barrett was the final member of the Nexus but submitted to Cena, causing the Nexus to lose the match. After Young was exiled from the group for losing a match to Cena the night after SummerSlam and Skip Sheffield was injured at a live event in Hawaii two nights later, the Nexus faced Cena, Edge, Randy Orton, Sheamus and Jericho in a five-on-five elimination match on 30 August 2010 edition of Raw, which Barrett won by pinning Orton.
Barrett received his guaranteed championship match from winning NXT at Night of Champions, where he was unsuccessful in a six-pack challenge match for the WWE Championship, despite eliminating Cena. The feud between Cena and the Nexus continued at Hell in a Cell on 3 October, when Barrett defeated Cena to force Cena to become a member of the Nexus. The following night on Raw, Barrett, with the help of the rest of the Nexus, won a battle royal to determine the number one contender to the WWE Championship, when Cena eliminated himself on Barrett's orders. Barrett received his championship match against Randy Orton at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view. After ordering Cena to help him win, Cena interfered in the match causing Barrett to win via disqualification, which meant that Orton retained the championship. The following night, Barrett was granted a rematch at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, and allowed to choose a guest referee. He chose Cena, stating that if Barrett won the match and the WWE Championship, Cena would be allowed to leave the Nexus; however if Barrett failed to win the title, Cena would be fired. At Survivor Series, Barrett was unsuccessful in winning the WWE Championship from Orton after Cena pushed him into an RKO by Orton. Cena was fired as per the match stipulation after Survivor Series. Due to Cena's interference, Barrett received a rematch for the championship the following night on Raw, but was attacked by the fired Cena, "costing" him the match, leading to The Miz to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Orton. After Cena attacked several members of the Nexus over the next few weeks, they demanded that Barrett re-instate him, or be exiled from the group. On 13 December 2010 edition of Raw, Barrett agreed and rehired Cena on the condition Cena faces Barrett in a Chairs match at the TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view, which Cena won.
Barrett made his first appearance since the TLC pay-per-view on 3 January 2011 edition of Raw, where he confronted CM Punk, who had taken over the leadership of the Nexus in his absence. Punk gave Barrett the opportunity to regain the leadership, stating that if he won a triple threat steel cage match involving Orton and Sheamus to determine the number one contender for The Miz's WWE Championship, Punk would not only give up the leadership, but work for Barrett's Nexus. However, during the match, Punk came down to ringside, attacked Barrett as he was about to win and took off Barrett's Nexus armband, symbolically removing him from the Nexus, resulting in Barrett losing the match. At the television tapings of 10 January 2011 edition of SmackDown the next day, Barrett made his first SmackDown appearance since 1 October, this time by attacking Big Show. The following week, he was joined by Ezekiel Jackson and his former Nexus stablemates Gabriel and Slater, who had left the group the previous Monday. They named themselves The Corre. Barrett later qualified for the Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship, but came up short after being the first man eliminated by Big Show.
At the television tapings of 25 March 2011 edition of SmackDown, Barrett defeated Kofi Kingston to win the Intercontinental Championship. At WrestleMania XXVII, The Corre were defeated in an eight-man tag team match by the team of Kingston, Big Show, Kane and Santino Marella. Barrett went on to successfully defend his championship against Kingston on 22 April 2011 edition of SmackDown. On 6 May 2011 edition of SmackDown, Barrett, Gabriel, and Slater attacked Jackson, removing him from the group. On 13 May 2011 edition of SmackDown, Barrett then challenged Jackson to a match for the Intercontinental Championship at the Over the Limit pay-per-view and Jackson accepted. At the event, Gabriel and Slater attacked Jackson during the match, resulting in a disqualification, but Barrett retained the title as a title cannot change hands via disqualification. He then defended his Intercontinental title against Jackson again on 3 June 2011 edition of SmackDown. During this match, Jackson threw Barrett out of the ring, resulting in a countout, but once again, Barrett retained the title as a title cannot change hands via countout. Barrett then instructed The Corre to attack Jackson, but abandoned Gabriel and Slater, whom Jackson fended off. The following week, The Corre dissolved after Barrett, fleeing from Jackson, walked out on Gabriel and Slater in a six-man tag team match against Jackson and The Usos, causing them to lose the match. At Capitol Punishment, Barrett lost the Intercontinental Championship to Jackson, and failed to win his rematch for the title on 24 June episode of SmackDown.
On 1 July episode of SmackDown, Barrett was announced to be one of the participants for the SmackDown Money in the Bank match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, facing Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Kane, Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan, Cody Rhodes and Sheamus. The match was won by Daniel Bryan, sparking a rivalry between the two. At SummerSlam, Barrett defeated Bryan in a singles match. He then had a short feud with Sheamus, where he lost on three occasions.