WWE commentator Wade Barrett has announced he is taking a planned two-week break for personal reasons.
He noted that the leave had been booked nine months ago.
Barrett broke the news while addressing widespread speculation about changes to the Raw and SmackDown announce teams. Saturday saw a series of online reports stating that Barrett had been removed from commentary duties.
Writing on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, September 6, Barrett called out what he termed “BS reports” that he said were causing “needless hate to be spewed towards people I work with.”
WWE have kindly given me a couple of weeks off for personal time (booked nine months ago), and then I’m back to business as usual. A complete non-story. The end.
Barrett’s statement followed a story from PWInsider Elite, which reported that Michael Cole and Corey Graves were set to commentate on both Raw and SmackDown in the immediate future. The same report noted that Barrett would be coming “off the road.”
This was followed by a series of speculative reports about Barrett’s future, prompting him to respond.
With fellow Raw commentator Joe Tessitore committed to his ESPN duties, calling college football, the assignments for Cole and Graves will cover vacancies on both main-roster shows.
According to his post, Barrett is expected to return in two weeks. The longer-term commentary lineups for Raw and SmackDown are currently unknown.
