Wade Barrett is the seventh WWE Superstar released today, a release which was not a surprise and was expected after Barrett handed in his notice several weeks ago.
The 35 year old British Superstar started with WWE in 2006 under the Ohio Valley Wrestling umbrella and then Florida Championship Wrestling. In 2010 he was part of the first season of NXT with Chris Jericho as his mentor, a competition that he won. In June of that year, Barrett led a team of NXT rookies who destroyed John Cena, CM Punk, the announce team, and everyone in sight in one of the most shocking angles of the year. As the leader of The Nexus and winner of NXT, he received his WWE title match at Night of Champions but was not successful. After splitting from The Nexus, he headed up The Corre with Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater and Ezekiel Jackson.
In 2011 he started the Barratt Barrage character and then perhaps his most popular gimmick, Bad News Barrett. In 2015 he won the King of the Ring tournament on the WWE Network and abandoned his BNB character for King Barrett. Unfortunately, as history shows, being King of the Ring is really not something you want and his career went downhill from there. He later joined The League of Nations with Rusev, Alberto Del Rio, and Sheamus, but unhappy with his character, he handed in his notice. At WrestleMania 32 he only had a supporting role in the 3 on 3 match with LON and The New Day and after the match he received Shawn Michaels’ Sweet Chin Music, Mick Foley’s Mandable Claw, and Steve Austin’s Stunner. The night after Mania, Barrett was kicked out of the League of Nations for his last WWE appearance.
During his WWE time, Barrett won the Intercontinental title 5 times and a Slammy Award for the debut of The Nexus.
