Australian kids’ magazine K-Zone as well as Australian lifestyle magazine Zoo Weekly both recently had a chat with Wade Barrett, and here’s a bit of what he had to say!

Excerpt from K-Zone:

KZ: Do you play WWE video games? If so, which is your favourite?

WB: Yes, I play Smack Down VS Raw on Nintendo Wii. You can download my character and play as me, which is pretty cool!

KZ: What’s in store when you come out to Australia and NZ in July?

WB: It’s going to be a very exiting Raw tour. I’m hoping to come out as I’ve never been out to Australia or New Zealand. All the wrestlers can’t wait to be there!

Excerpt from Zoo Weekly:

So if you could fight any celebrity in the world, who would it be and why?

I’d like to fight Gordon Brown, the former PM of the UK because he did such a bad job and he sent the economy crashing down. Tony Blair did a good job while he was in charge and Brown was his chancellor, and Brown was great and had the economy running well but as soon as he became the Prime Minister he lost control, had no idea what he was doing and put us back several years. So if I could fight anyone I’d love it to be him.

What country would you say has the craziest fans?

Believe it or not, but I was amazed when I witnessed this but the French in Paris are nuts. The French aren’t the sort of people you expect to go crazy for wrestling but the Parisians are absolutely mental when it comes to our tours. They’re loud and so into it. But hopefully the Aussie crowds can step it up and beat them. I hope they do because the French are some of my least favourite people on the planet, being an English man and all, so I’d like to say that the Australian’s are louder and wilder. The challenge is set!

Read the full interviews from either magazine: K-Zone or Zoo Weekly

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Gallery: Promotional Photos > WWE

WWE SmackDown Superstar and Corre founding member Wade Barrett entered the 2011 Royal Rumble at number 30 of 40 participants.

BOSTON — As the action continued to heat up, top Superstars like Big Show, Rey Mysterio and Wade Barrett entered the fray. Even former World Champions Booker T and Diesel made unexpected appearances in the match, much to the delight of the WWE Universe. But it was the man who drove to the ring in a $200,000 Bentley that had the biggest impact on the night’s events.

As one of the final men to enter the ring, Alberto Del Rio had an advantage over the last three participants — Cena, Barrett and Orton. The Mexican Superstar lucked out when Cena was unceremoniously tossed by an interfering Miz. From there, it was a rapid turn of events as The Viper chucked Barrett before being dumped himself by an opportunistic Del Rio.

Congratulations to Wade Barrett for a great debut performance in this year’s Royal Rumble!

Related Links:
Gallery: WWE.com > Digital Photos > Pay-Per-View > 2011 > Royal Rumble 2011 Digitals

Gallery: Screen Captures > World Wrestling Entertainment > Pay-Per-View > 2011 > Royal Rumble 2011 Screencaps

CINCINNATI, Ohio – Less than 48 hours away from the 2011 Royal Rumble, The Corre made an appearance on Friday Night SmackDown to answer a challenge from The World’s Largest Athlete!

Big Show def. Heath Slater

Two weeks after being attacked by The Corre, Big Show returned, preparing to win his first Royal Rumble Match. When The Corre surrounded the ring, the gigantic Superstar challenged each of them to face him one-on-one. First, Heath Slater attacked The World’s Largest Athlete from behind, initiating a match. After the giant defeated “The One Man Rock Band” with the chokeslam, he set his sights on Wade Barrett, Ezekiel Jackson, and Justin Gabriel. The powerful new faction gained the advantage, only to face a barrage of Superstars, charging to the ring to send them packing.

Related Links:
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Gallery: Screen Captures > World Wrestling Entertainment > Friday Night Smackdown > 2011 > January 28, 2011 Screencaps

DETROIT – Six days prior to driving into Royal Rumble, the Raw roster shifted things into high gear in the Motor City. It was there that The New Nexus, The Corre and all the Superstars on the Raw roster began firing on all cylinders.

The Corre confronted The New Nexus; Wade Barrett vs. CM Punk arranged

Wade Barrett isn’t going away – no matter how much we wish he would (EDITING NOTE: The grossly misguided opinions of WWE.com are certainly not the same expressed by the wade-barrett.com web team). The former leader of The Nexus confronted the man who replaced him, CM Punk, who had gleefully introduced his group’s newest member, Mason Ryan. This time, though, Barrett brought reinforcements – his new group, The Corre, including Ezekiel Jackson, Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel.

Before the situation became too incendiary, Raw’s GM intervened to arrange a match pitting Barrett against Punk with one significant stipulation: The loser of the bout will see himself and his entire group exiled from the Royal Rumble Match. And the contest’s special guest referee? None other than John Cena!

CM Punk vs. Wade Barrett ended in Double Disqualification

Trouble began brewing even before the bell rang. When CM Punk and Wade Barrett prepared to scuffle, they were backed up by those respective groups, The New Nexus and The Corre. Special guest referee John Cena, however, wasn’t taking any chances and decisively banned both factions from ringside.

Once the action kicked off, each Superstar fought as if their lives depended upon it. So intense was the skirmish, in fact, that the two appeared to disregard Cena’s instructions. As a result, the special guest referee had no choice but to disqualify each man, effectively banning both of their groups from the Royal Rumble.

Raw’s anonymous General Manager begged to differ. Instead, the GM reinstated both groups and demanded that Cena apologize to Punk and Barrett, or it would be he who would be banned from Rumble competition. Reluctantly, 2010’s WWE Superstar of the Year offered a contrite apology. He was then surrounded by members of both groups, who appeared eager to punish Cena. Before they could, however, Big Show and several members of the Raw roster emerged, resulting in one of the biggest, most brutal melees ever on Monday night – mere days before the biggest Rumble in history.

Related Links:
Gallery: WWE.com > Digital Photos > Monday Night Raw > 2011 > January 24, 2011 Digitals

Gallery: Screen Captures > World Wrestling Entertainment > Monday Night Raw > 2011 > January 24, 2011 Screencaps

Much thanks and appreciation to our great friend Jen at heath-slater.net for sharing 80 candids (WOW!) as well as this video of Wade Barrett and the Corre at the January 23rd Smackdown house show in Hammond, IN!

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Gallery: Candid Photography > WWE Live Events > WWE Houseshow: Hammond, Indiana (January 23, 2011)