What in the world is happening in the WWE regarding wrestler Nikki Bella and commentator Wade Barrett?
Since WWE’s Clash in Paris PLE on Sunday, August 31, there have been reports of a rift between the two, followed by a potential reconciliation, and rumors that Barrett had been removed from the commentary table over the entire ordeal.
Let’s try to figure out, to the best of our ability, what the heck is going on over there.
We begin at the Clash in Paris pre-show, where Barrett (real name Stu Bennett) discusses Nikki Bella’s Intercontinental title match against Becky Lynch with Ettore “Big E” Ewen and Michael Cole. As he plays the role of the heel commentator among the trio, Barrett’s comments sound harsh, but only within the context of the storyline and the show. Here they are, via Cageside Seats.
“Since when is being desperate for success an insult? Becky Lynch is somebody who has completely changed the game from Nikki Bella’s era — the Divas Era. And Nikki Bellas was fantastic. She was the top performer within the confines that she had to work in that era. The game has changed — it’s not even close these days. Now, Becky Lynch is somebody who has dragged women’s wrestling into the 21st century and beyond. She is the standard bearer of how great women’s wrestling is today. Becky Lynch was a Hall of Famer many years ago. She won it all, many years ago. She can go and retire on a desert island with all her millions or clear off to Hollywood any time she wants. The fact that she is desperate to stay #1 in this industry is something we should be applauding, and I am absolutely disgusted in Nikki Bella’s words.”
Later in the show, Barrett discusses how he and Bella came up through developmental together, once again referring to her as “fantastic” but as “the best of her era” who is trying to “recapture former glory.”
Here is what Wade Barrett said about Nikki Bella pic.twitter.com/wMygSNr25N
— Vin (@WhoisVindictive) September 5, 2025
On an episode of The Nikki & Brie Show this week, her podcast with twin sister Brie, Nikki shared that she felt Barrett went too far in his commentary, even if he was playing a character, and also noted that he had avoided her backstage.
“I would love to have a conversation with Wade Barrett. He avoided me on Monday, which was shocking because he always comes up and says hi to me. He tried to avoid making eye contact with me in the hallway.
”I understand when you wanna 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’s 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 as superheroes. We are actually professional athletes and we go through real things, and we have to put that a part of it.
”And honestly that stuff really doesn’t bother me because I get it. I was watching the pre-show and I saw what Wade was saying about me even on the pre-show, and I was sitting there getting ready in the locker room like, ‘Oh. Okay. That’s fine.’
“But what I loved was how Michael Cole then put it about what I’ve been through, what got me here, this era of me. All the things, haven’t had a title match in over seven years.”
After those comments were aggregated, Barrett noted on social media that he was unaware of any issues and disputed the idea that he avoided her.
“I had no idea Nicole felt this way, and I’m happy to have this ‘conversation’ any time she likes,” he wrote. “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.”
That conversation ended up happening soon after, with Barrett sharing on X that cooler heads had prevailed and all was well.
“Great news, fight fans..[Nikki Bella] and I have spoken, we’ve smoothed things over, and I’ve graciously been allowed back into the Bella Army,” he wrote Friday. “Fully paid-up member since FCW 2008. A difference of perspective – to which we are all entitled – but to be clear, some of the personal abuse that gets sent to Nikki on here is reprehensible and completely out of line, so let’s cut that out immediately.”
All’s well that ends well. Except, after Michael Cole and Corey Graves replaced Joe Tessitore and Barrett as the default SmackDown commentary team “for the coming months” on Friday, rumors swirled that Barrett had been suspended or removed in part because of the Nikki Bella situation.
Given all the drama that has unfolded so far, Barrett quickly shut down these rumors on Saturday, quoting a since-deleted aggregated report and stating it was “BS,” adding that this was part of his scheduled time off.
“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,” he wrote on X.
And that is where we’re at—a whole lot of drama and rumor over what was apparently much ado about nothing. A perfect professional wrestling commentator storyline, if ever we saw one.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.