WWE Figure Almost Made In-Ring Return With The NWA

A WWE announcer almost made an in-ring comeback in a slightly unlikely location.

Wade Barrett hasn’t wrestled since since teaming with Sheamus in defeat to the New Day on the April 4th, 2016 episode of Raw. Shortly after the show, the British star was granted an early release from his contract after getting fed up with WWE’s notoriously punishing schedule.

The move essentially brought to an end a career that had seen Barrett become a five-time Intercontinental Champion, and King of the Ring.

However, he’s now revealed just how close he came to making a return.

In a new interview with Alistair McGeorge for The Metro, Barrett confirmed he was in talks to make an in-ring comeback with the NWA after speaking to then Worlds Champion Nick Aldis. However, the COVID-19 pandemic got in the way.

Interestingly, the former Intercontinental Champion hasn’t closed the door on lacing up his boots one more time.

‘Very quickly after that conversation happened, I’d say within two or three weeks, the pandemic hit, the world got shut down, NWA shut down for the best part of 12 months,

By the time it all kind of fired up again, I’d been picked up by WWE. So very brief conversations, maybe at some point in the future, we’ll see how things turn out.’

I’m fit and healthy, if something came up where, ‘Okay, there’s a match here, would you be interested in doing it?’ If it makes sense to me and I was excited to do it, absolutely, I could.’

Wade Barrett Almost Injured WWE Legend

During the same interview, Wade Barrett recalled a horrifying botch during one of his first matches on WWE’s main roster in 2010. At the conclusion of his match with Mark Henry, the star essentially dropped his 400lbs rival on his head, while also doing serious damage to his own back.

Barrett admitted Henry was upset after what he described as a “highly embarrassing” moment.