Wade Barrett has been part of the SmackDown commentary team alongside Joe Tessitore for a long time now. However, it seems Barrett has been removed from his role entirely now.
According to PWInsider, Wade Barrett is no longer part of WWE’s commentary rotation. It was noted that Wade Barrett will be off the road going forward, as his time as a commentator on the main roster shows has come to an end.
It was announced during the September 5 episode of WWE SmackDown that Michael Cole and Corey Graves are now the official commentators for SmackDown, replacing Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett. The duo will also handle commentary duties on Raw, so they’ll be pulling double duty.
The exact reason for the change hasn’t been confirmed. This comes after Wade Barrett was caught up in controversy after making a remark about Nikki Bella’s age. He later went on Twitter and said he was open to apologizing to her and they eventually patched things up as well.
Some have asked if this is fallout of Barrett’s comments about Nikki Bella at the Clash in Paris event pre-show, but it’s not confirmed that this is the case. On top of that, no details have been shared about Joe Tessitore’s status.
Wade Barrett leaving the commentary desk is another big change for WWE’s announce teams. Now that Michael Cole and Corey Graves will be calling both Raw and SmackDown, we’ll have to see what will become of Wade Barrett and Joe Tessitore in the future.
Do you think WWE made the right call in removing Wade Barrett from commentary, or would you have preferred to see him continue on SmackDown? Sound off in the comments.
September 6, 2025 12:50 pm
