Bad News Barrett: Wayne Rooney’s gone quiet since getting knocked out by Phil Bardsley!

Graham Caygill, reporting from Santa Clara, speaks to Bad News Barrett ahead of Wrestlemania 31 about his upcoming match, the tour of Abu Dhabi and a possible showdown with footballer Wayne Rooney.

Bad News Barrett will be defending his Intercontinental championship at WrestleMania 31. Mohammed Saleem Al Neyadi / The National
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Bad News Barrett looks to retain his WWE Intercontinental championship match at WrestleMania 31 at Levi’s Stadium today in a seven-man ladder match against Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper, Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth and Stardust. The Englishman tells Graham Caygill about the match, touring Abu Dhabi and a possible wrestling match with Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney.

On WrestleMania and possibly stealing the show in the ladder match

“I’m really excited about it. There are two schools of thought when it comes to trying to steal the show. I know Dolph Zigger and Daniel Bryan have been very vocal about how they want to steal the show and put on the best match, but for me that is a losers mentality. I am all about the result. I will give you the most boring match in history if it means that I win the match. I just want to retain my title.”

On looking to make his mark in WWE history

“I still watch WrestleManias 1, 2 and 3 in my spare time, so I imagine in 30 years time will be watching what we do here on Sunday so this is where you want to put in your best performance, where you want to walk in as champion and walk out as champion, so if people are going to be watching this in 30 years I want them to be able to watch me at my best, which is what I will be aiming for here.”

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On aiming to be Britain’s first WWE World Heavyweight champion

“It is great being Intercontinental champion, and I am very proud of it, but ultimately there has never been a British WWE World Heavyweight champion before, which I think is ridiculous so I think I am the man to change that. That will always be my aim until I leave the WWE. I want to be the World Heavyweight champion and that is what I am shooting for.”

On touring Abu Dhabi

“I loved going out to Abu Dhabi. It is an incredible part of the world and I had never been there before. The fans were amazing and it was three really good nights there and I genuinely cannot wait until we can go back again.”

On watching Preston North End lose to Manchester United in the FA Cup

The English football side Barrett supports, League One side Preston North End, were beaten 3-1 by Manchester United in the fifth round of the FA Cup last month. Barrett said: “We were in Orlando that day shooting Raw, but I got to watch it live off the TV as we were getting ready as it was on in the US at a really convenient time, like 2pm Eastern time, so I got to watch it in the locker room and went bananas when they went 1-0 up. Of course the rot slowly set in and you saw Wayne Rooney dive at the end to win a penalty which finished us off.”

On a possible match with Wayne Rooney

Barrett had accused Rooney of diving on Twitter post-match, leading to banter between the pair on Twitter with a tag team match with Barrett and Preston forward Kevin Davies going up against Rooney and retired six-time WWE world champion Stone Cold Steve Austin being suggested. Barrett said of the exchange: “I took a little jab at him on Twitter, which he responded to, which was fun. But then Phil Bardsley [the Sunderland defender] came along and knocked him out [in a video of him and Rooney having a boxing match at Rooney’s house, which was filmed and leaked to the media] before I had the chance to and things have gone very quiet since then so I think that match might be over before it had begun.”

On Preston’s promotion hopes

“It is looking good for us. We are second at the moment, Bristol City are top and have a bit of a gap to us and whether we can reel them in I don’t know. But as long as we finish top two [the top two are promoted automatically to the Championship, the second tier of English football], I will be happy as I don’t want us to be in the play-offs. We never do well in the play-offs. I think we have been in the play-offs nine times and we have never won one. I have seen us lose in three play-off finals so I definitely do not want the play-offs. Keep it in the top two and I will be very happy.”

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