Summary
- Wade Barrett said the current women’s division has “passed” Nikki Bella since she last competed regularly.
- Nikki says Barrett avoided her at Raw, praised Michael Cole, and said the Clash match was once planned for Raw.
- Barrett replied on X, denying he avoided Nikki and saying he said hello and will discuss it anytime.
There’s a little bit of drama surrounding WWE commentator Wade Barrett and WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella. It all involves what Barrett said about Nikki during the Clash in Paris pre-show. He basically said that the current women’s division has “passed Bella in the years” since she last competed in the ring regularly.
Nikki Bella spoke with her sister on their podcast, Nikki & Brie Show, sharing that she would have liked to have a conversation with Barrett, but he allegedly ignored her. She did note how she understood being a heel commentator, but then brought up praising Michael Cole, seemingly taking shots at Barrett. She said:
“I would love to have a conversation with Wade Barrett, and he avoided me on Monday [at WWE Raw] which was shocking because he always comes up and says hi to me, and he tried to avoid making eye contact with me in the hallway. I understand when you want to be a heel commentator and stuff, but then there’s one thing of like… Michael Cole does this beautifully, and this is why Michael Cole is one of the greatest commentators. He knows how to take a life story and put it into what we do, because that is real. We don’t go out there as robots or superheroes. We’re actually professional athletes and we go through real things and we have to make that part of it.” (h/t: F4Wonline)
She later added:
“Honestly, that stuff doesn’t bother me because I get it. Like, I was watching the pre-show and I saw what Wade was saying about me in the pre-show, and I was sitting there getting ready in the locker room like, oh, okay. That’s fine.“
Wade Barrett Responds
Barrett took to X and said that he did indeed say hi to Nikki and would have been happy to discuss it, instead of her going on her podcast. He wrote:
“I had no idea Nicole felt this way, and I’m happy to have this ‘conversation’ any time she likes. I wish she’d brought it up when we said hello to each other at Raw, rather than via her podcast. I don’t understand the avoiding claim at all, simply not true.”
At Clash in Paris, Nikki faced Becky Lynch with Lynch’s WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship on the line. Lynch ended up retaining the title against the Hall of Famer. Also, on the podcast, Nikki revealed that the match was originally slated for an episode of WWE RAW. So we will see what happens next, maybe a Nikki Vs. Wade match?
