Former WWE Superstar Wade Barrett (Stu Bennett) recently spoke with Sports Illustrated about his time with the company and what led him to walk away. Barrett is now pursuing a career in acting, which he says offers him much more freedom than he had in WWE.
“When you’re with WWE, you are operating within very fine boundaries that you cannot step outside of,” he said. “Now I have offers for movie roles that are completely out of what you would expect for me, and that’s really exciting. The opportunity to go away from WWE and be myself and become Stu again is exactly what I needed.”
Barrett had grown frustrated with his role in WWE. He’s had a lifelong obsession with pro wrestling, but came to the realization that he was putting his health at risk for something he was no longer in love with.
“Unfortunately, in 2015 and again in 2016, I was asked to play a character and perform storylines that I found thoroughly uninspiring,” he said. “After making repeated attempts to change my career trajectory and having those efforts turned down, my passion for playing the role of a WWE Superstar went away.”
It was an incident back in November 2015 that spelled the beginning of the end for “Wade Barrett.” During a match, one of his arms went completely numb for a minute or so. “That’s when I came to the realization that I didn’t want to put my body on the line doing something that wasn’t inspiring me, and I decided to move my career in a different direction.”
Barrett’s new movie Eliminators was just released, and he’s got two more (Vengeance, Fanged Up) coming out next year.
As for a future in pro wrestling, he does expect to compete again and revealed he’s spoke with “quote a few wrestling companies” regarding an eventual return to the ring. “I’m very much open to acting, but also to wrestling. I’ve spoken with quite a few wrestling companies about some opportunities that might be coming up.”
Head over to Sports Illustrated to check out the full interview.
