Stu Bennett Talks Possibly Joining AEW And How Likely A WWE Return Is

Stu Bennett, fka Wade Barrett, sat down for an interview with Josh Wilding of Comicbookmovie.com as part of his promotion for his film "I Am Vengeance: Retaliation". A few of the wrestling questions that he was asked concerned a Cody Rhodes tweet that said Bennett would be a future world champion. He was to give his thoughts on that and possibly joining AEW.

"Part of my issue is that I'm close to 40 now," Bennett admitted. "I'm 40 in two months, so the prospect of going back and working a full-time professional wrestling schedule isn't particularly high on my agenda at the moment. That might change. It was very kind of Cody to say that, I'm still very good friends with Cody. We've been tight for ten plus years, and he's done an amazing job with AEW. I am really excited about the explosion in opportunities in the professional wrestling world.

"I work for NWA currently as a commentator, and there's Ring of Honor which a friend of mine Marty Scurll is running the moment, obviously IMPACT has done some great stuff recently and grown from the ashes of where they were years ago, and then there's all the Japanese stuff, and there's some good stuff going on in the UK too."

Bennett continued his point on the fact that there are many platforms for wrestlers to go to. He noted that the amount of promotions were not available when he was wrestling and the platform people can build on social media can help people earn opportunities as well.

"The fact is, there's a ton of opportunities out there now for professional wrestlers which, when I was coming through, weren't really there," Bennett noted. "The only game in town realistically was WWE, and it was very, very difficult to see yourself working anywhere outside of that. I think the digital revolution and the opportunity for smaller brands to get big platforms now is fantastic for professional wrestlers and professional wrestling in general."

Bennett has said on the Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast that he does not considered himself retired. He also said that he recently turned down an offer to return with the NEXUS at WrestleMania. He was asked if a WWE return is truly off the table.

"When I left there, I was of the opinion that I was done with working there," Bennett said. "I was pretty angry with a couple of people from when I was working there and when I left, a couple of people in management. I think time is a great healer, shall we say, and I certainly don't have much anger left in me in regards to that now. Similarly, I don't feel like I have an automatic affiliation with the company itself or the people who work there.

"It's not like I have any ingrained loyalty where I have to jump the second they call me, for example. If there were to be an offer, I would approach it as a normal business decision if it was an offer from AEW or Ring or Honor or New Japan, or anything like that. It's simply a business decision: is it worth it, do I like the offer, do I like the pitch, do I believe what I'm being pitched is actually going to happen? That's another big one. I would approach anything that came my way, the same I would from any other company to be honest with you."