Wade Barrett made an appearance on Busted Open Radio to discuss a wide range of topics.
During it, he opened up on the transition from being a wrestler to a color commentator. He worked his last match on an episode of WWE Raw in 2016:
“In terms of my transition from being an in ring guy to being a commentator, I think at the back of my head, I always knew I wanted to do commentary one day. So that’s probably part of it. I think I always felt it was something I really wanted to gravitate towards as I got older. The most difficult thing probably is accepting that you are no longer the star of the show. As you know from your time in the ring, anytime you were on camera, anytime you got an opportunity, you wanted to pull as much of that spotlight towards you, and hang on to it and direct it in whatever way you can towards Tommy Dreamer, or for me towards Wade Barrett. You realize now when you’re on the commentary desk, it’s no longer about you. I’m a backing dancer for whatever talents are in the ring, Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Mandy Rose. It’s never about me anymore. Anytime I’m talking about myself on the show, I’m trying to do it to bring in some experience from my career to explain what’s going on with these younger talents who are coming through now. So I had to accept that as soon as I decided to move on to the desk. This isn’t about me. I’m no longer the star. So that was a mental transition as much as anything else, and once I accepted that, the whole situation got a lot easier for me.”
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription