Wade Barrett On How Dusty Rhodes Helped His Early WWE Career

During a recent interview with Art Of Wrestling podcast, former WWE Superstar Wade Barrett (Stu Bennett) discussed his time in FCW. He revealed how Dusty Rhodes saved his career in many ways as he liked the way he talked.

"I got a really lucky break. Dusty Rhodes really liked me, I bonded with him. He was the color commentator on the TV show. Dusty was writing the show, and he was doing the commentary too, so his hands were really full. He was like, ‘I need to step back from this a little. Let’s try some guys [on commentary].’ One day, he says, ‘Hey Stu, you’re doing color commentary today on the TV show.’ I was like, ‘No. Really, you need me?’ He was like, ‘I like the way you talk, go do it.'”

“I had never done this before, so, I went up and did the show, and the whole time I was thinking, ‘This is so bad.’ Dusty would occasionally come in my earpiece and be like, ‘Ah, he’s so good.’ I was like ‘Ok, at least I’m making him happy, so that’s good.’ But afterward, I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be so bad. I came to the back and Norman Smiley put me over, and Dusty put me over. Then Dusty was like, ‘You’re doing this every single week now. That is now your thing. You’re now the commentator.'”

“So, about six months later, I was doing color commentary on the FCW show, and I loved every second of it. I got that initial burst of confidence. I loved that I was having so much fun, making up stories with people…It allowed me to be creative and get this confidence and freedom. It was one of the happiest periods of my career, just doing that."