Wade Barrett will go down as one of WWE’s biggest missed opportunities, with the revelation that he nearly won the Money in the Bank just another huge miss for the Englishman.
Barrett seemed destined for greatness. After he debuted in 2010, winning NXT season 1 and leading the Nexus, he was earmarked as being the first British WWE Champion.
Obviously, that didn’t happen.
After failing to win the WWE title from Randy Orton in 2010, thanks to John Cena burying Wade Barrett, he never sniffed a world title again. Barrett dropped down the card, fighting mainly for the Intercontinental title for the next six years.
However, Vince McMahon originally planned for him to win the Smackdown ladder match at Money in the Bank 2011, instead of eventual winner Daniel Bryan.
In an interview with Inside The Ropes, Wade Barrett revealed that he was meant to win the 2011 Money in the Bank ladder match. He claimed he was told the day before the match, and he and the other competitors went through the match as if Barrett was winning the briefcase.
The Englishman was thrilled with this, as he knew a world title reign was soon to follow for him.
“The day before we put the match together, the plan was that I was going over, I was going to be the Money in the Bank champion. I’d have the briefcase and presumably, at that point, I would eventually go on to either cash it in and become the WWE champion, which, let’s face it, is everyone’s goal who gets to WWE.”
“So, I get informed of that, we put the whole match together, we set it up, and I’m incredibly excited. I mean, there’s not much you can tell a wrestler in WWE that will excite him more than hearing that he’s going to win his first ever WWE Championship, even though that was going to be a little bit down the line.”
“At that point, winning the briefcase—nobody had ever failed on the cash-in, and I knew if I got it, I was gonna win the title. So, I was thrilled. It was great news. I go home.”
Vince McMahon Changed The Winner From Wade Barrett To Daniel Bryan At The Last Minute
Wade Barrett continued. The WWE commentator revealed that the next day, Vince McMahon changed his mind and decided Daniel Bryan should win the match instead.
Obviously, this devastated the Englishman. His second chance to become WWE Champion has gone, with little chance of future progression in sight.
“The next day, day of the pay-per-view, we turn up, we’re all kind of in catering. We go down to the ring, we have a chat with the guys, plan’s still the same. Vince and the writers, we’re all having a meeting. And probably about an hour before the show goes live, we’re all kind of getting our gear on. Dean Malenko, who is the agent for the match, comes out, ‘Okay guys, I need to get all the guys for this match together just so we can go through a few things.'”
“He tells us, ‘Okay, we’re going to put the match together, but just to let you all know, Vince has had a change of heart. He’s decided now that he wants Daniel Bryan to win the match, and Daniel Bryan’s going to win the briefcase.’ There we go. So, I was informed then and, obviously, I was inside, furious when I heard this.”
“But you keep a stiff upper lip, as they say, and you go along with it. I was pleased for Bryan, he was a great guy, and subsequently, it obviously worked out pretty well for him. But to me personally, that was a moment that was incredibly disappointing. I knew that things in my career, looking back now anyway, would have been very different had I actually won that match.”
“That’s something where a career can turn on a dime, really, as they say in America. I could have potentially won my first championship there and gone on to have a very different career path than I subsequently did.”
Wade Barrett later claimed that it was Pat Patterson who changed Vince McMahon’s mind. If the WWE Hall of Famer hadn’t been a fan of Daniel Bryan, maybe Wade Barrett would have won in the main event of WrestleMania 30 instead.
Sadly, his career would end just five year’s later. Wade Barrett wrestled his last match in April 2016, retiring from wrestling. He now works as a commentator on Smackdown, but doesn’t rule out a return to wrestling under one very specific condition.
If you use any quotes from this article, please give a H/T to BritWrestling for the transcription.
