10 Real-life WWE stories we learned this week: Why Vince McMahon almost released top Superstar, The Undertaker accidentally set 2-time World Champion on fire

#4 Wade Barrett wanted Heath Slater to win King of the Ring

Looking back, Wade Barrett winning the 2015 WWE King of the Ring tournament should have been a career highlight. In reality, it turned out to be his last notable WWE triumph before he suffered a series of losses in his final year with the company.

Speaking in an interview with Chris Van Vliet this week, Barrett (real name Stu Bennett) said being the latest in a long line of WWE Kings did not fit his personality and he felt that somebody like Heath Slater could have benefited a lot more from taking on the persona.

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#3 Why Wade Barrett chose to leave WWE

Following Wade Barrett’s King of the Ring victory, he was booked in several matches with R-Truth before teaming with Cody Rhodes in a losing effort against Neville and actor Stephen Amell at WWE SummerSlam 2015. He then joined forces with The League of Nations (himself, Alberto Del Rio, Rusev and Sheamus) in what ended up being his final storyline prior to his exit in June 2016.

The former Nexus leader also told Chris Van Vliet that he felt like his storylines after winning King of the Ring had poor writing and booking, which ultimately led to his decision not to renew his WWE contract.