Report: Wade Barrett negotiating full-time commentary deal with WWE

It appears that Wade Barrett’s return to WWE may be a long-term one.

PWInsider reported today that, after appearing as part of the commentary team for last week’s NXT, Barrett (real name Stu Bennett) “met with WWE officials and is currently negotiating a full-time return to the company as an announcer.”

Barrett called last week’s NXT with Vic Joseph and Beth Phoenix and will also be on commentary for the episode of NXT that’s airing this Tuesday. He tweeted last Thursday: “Thank you for all of the nice messages about my return to @WWENXT. Crazy couple of days, but I enjoyed it so much, I’ll be back for #NXTSuperTuesday next week! Shout out to @VicJosephWWE @TheBethPhoenix and @TomPhillipsWWE for taking it easy on the new kid.”

PWInsider’s report stated that Barrett’s appearances on commentary for NXT were pretty much a feeling out process to see if he and WWE were interested in working together going forward. It also stated that “there was talk over the last few days that [Barrett] could perhaps be plugged into NXT UK as an announcer.”

Last week’s NXT was Barrett’s first appearance for WWE since departing the company in 2016. Barrett (using his real name) joined the NWA’s commentary team in December 2019.