Wade Barrett Biography

Stuart Alexander Bennett was born in Penwortham, Lancashire, England, on 10 August 1980. He grew up in Preston and Wales.

He developed an early love for wrestling and idolized English professional wrestler Davey Boy Smith. He was inspired to become a professional wrestler himself after watching the WWF Intercontinental Championship match in the main event of SummerSlam 1992 between Bret Hart and Smith.

After finishing his schooling, he enrolled at the University of Liverpool to study marine biology.

Stuart Alexander Bennett found a job in a science lab after his graduation. He also worked as a recruitment consultant for a while. Despite taking up work in a different field, he never let go of his dream of becoming a wrestler and received training for the same in his leisure time.

He became a bare-knuckle boxer and participated in matches all over Europe. He became a champion in this field and took part in a match in Budapest dubbed "The Battle of Buda." He won a considerable amount of money as a prize. As he was returning home, he was attacked and stabbed by someone who tried to steal the money. He still has a 12-inch scar that runs from his upper back to down his right arm. He didn’t press any charges against the attacker.

He began training as a wrestler under Jon Ritchie and Al Snow. He began his wrestling career under the ring name of “Stu Sanders” and eventually adopted the ring name “Wade Barrett.” In 2004, he made his professional wrestling debut. He was a surprise entrant in a 30-man battle royal organized by NWA UK Hammerlock Wrestling.

In the ensuing months, he performed at numerous Real Quality Wrestling, Dropkixx Wrestling, and All-Star Wrestling events. He beat Danny Beckwith for the Dropkixx IWC Heavyweight Championship in June 2005. The same year, he faced Danny Dexter and Nick Aldis in Dropkixx Wrestling.

He appeared in an episode of Raw in Manchester as part of a security team in November 2006. Later that month, he took part in a tryout with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In 2007, he had another tryout and signed a developmental contract with WWE.

Wade Barrett was assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he defeated Ace Steel in a dark match. He went on to form a tag team with Paul Burchill and the duo fought the Major Brothers in several matches.

Barrett and Burchill beat Charles Evans and Colt Cabana in the final of a tournament for the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship in January 2008. They held this title for almost two years before being defeated by the tag team Los Locos (Ramón and Raúl) in a four-way match. The match also involved The Insurgency (Omar Akbar and Ali) and The Mobile Homers (Adam Revolver and Ted McNaler).

In 2010, Barrett participated in the first season of NXT. Chris Jericho was his storyline mentor. He proved to be popular and was ranked in first place in the Pros Poll later the same year.

He won the Intercontinental Championship by defeating Kofi Kingston in March 2011. In October of the same year, he went on a winning rampage and defeated Trent Barreta, Sheamus, John Morrison, and Randy Orton in a singles competition.

After defeating Yoshi Tatsu in the 7 September 2012 SmackDown match, Wade Barrett proceeded to beat the likes of Tyson Kidd, Zack Ryder, and Justin Gabriel in other matches. In October of the same year, he lost a non-title match to World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus.

In the 7 April 2014 Raw match, he defeated Rey Mysterio. He then became the Intercontinental Champion for the fourth time by defeating Big E at Extreme Rules. He competed against Van Dam at Payback and defeated him to retain his Intercontinental Championship.

Wade Barrett competed in the 2015 King of the Ring tournament and defeated Dolph Ziggler in the first round. He easily proceeded further in the competition and won the tournament by defeating Neville in the final round. He lost to R-Truth at the Money in the Bank pre-show.

He, along with Sheamus and Rusev, participated in the 7 March 2016 episode of Raw, where they faced Dolph Ziggler in a 3-on-1 handicap elimination match. Barrett was the one eliminated. Along with Sheamus, he unsuccessfully challenged The New Day for the WWE Tag Team Championship at Roadblock.

Wade Barrett took a hiatus from wrestling in mid-2016. He continued to work in non-wrestling roles and served as the on-screen general manager in WhatCulture Pro Wrestling (WCPW)\Defiant Wrestling in 2017.

In 2019, he worked as a color commentator for the National Wrestling Alliance. He returned to WWE as a color commentator in 2020.

He is also an occasional actor and played a small role as Kilroy in the crime thriller film Dead Man Down in 2013. He portrayed assassin George "Bishop" Edwards in the 2016 action thriller film Eliminators. He played a leading role in the action film I Am Vengeance: Retaliation in 2020.

Wade Barrett became an American citizen in January 2021.

He was in a relationship with American wrestler Alicia Fox between 2010 and 2012.