Wade Barrett Recalls “Stupid” WWE Backstage Rule
Wade Barrett has reflected on his early run on the WWE main roster and one “stupid” rule imposed on him and his Nexus group.
Nexus was the group made up of the rookies on the first season of NXT – when it was still a reality-based show. The group burst onto Raw, taking WWE Superstars apart as well as the ringside area, referees, and ring announcers as they took over the show.
As the winner of the inaugural season of NXT, Barrett was the group’s leader and he led his team into battle against WWE stars at SummerSlam in 2010 with Wade Barrett himself challenging for the WWE Championship at that year’s Survivor Series.
Speaking on the Out of Character podcast, the SmackDown announcer spoke about the one rule imposed on the group at the time that he says didn’t make a lot of sense:
“Genuinely, it was one of the dumbest things that I’ve experienced in my time in WWE. There was a person who was put in charge of us who is no longer with the company who decided that it would be appropriate for a faction of guys who were attacking the company to not be allowed in the locker room, which would absolutely make sense because, in terms of Nexus, we were coming out of the crowd, we were perceived as outsiders who hadn’t earned contracts in WWE. So, it kind of made a bit of logical sense.”
While there was some logic to that, Wade Barrett didn’t see the sense in not getting in the locker room when the group was competing in high-profile matches on WWE television:
“Why am I main-eventing Survivor Series, why are we all main-eventing SummerSlam, yet I’m not eligible to step in the locker room here? I’m gonna change in the hallway; dinner ladies and catering staff and cleaners are walking past while I’m putting my gear on. I’m like, ‘This is stupid. There’s no benefit to this. There’s no payoff to this whatsoever.'”