In an interview with The Sun in the United Kingdom to promote the upcoming WWE Studios movie Eliminators, WWE superstar Wade Barrett commented on the difference between acting and wrestling, doing his own stunts in the movie and more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On doing his own stunts in the movie: “You’ll see my face right the way through the stunts and the fight scenes. They were 100% done by me. I actually took a kick from Scott [Adkins], he’s kind of a ninja. He does some incredible jiu jitsu and Taekwondo kicks. I’m a meat and potatoes puncher and wrestler and he does all these spinning, crazy kicks. He caught me with one and I literally couldn’t breathe for fifteen seconds afterwards! We’re definitely knocking lumps out of each other in the movie.”
On what he hopes to accomplish with the movie: “This is a big step up for me. I did a movie in 2012 with WWE Studios where I played a fairly small part as a bodyguard to the bad guy. This time I’m the main bad guy in the film chasing down the good guy. Our aim at the start of this movie was to make it the best WWE Studios film of all time and I think we’re well on the way to doing that.”
On the difference between acting and wrestling: “Wrestling is more about improvising, reacting to what your opponent does and reacting to the crowd. You also have that adrenaline rush of 20,000 people in an arena screaming at you and knowing you’re live on TV. That really isn’t there for the fight scenes in the movie. Everything is very choreographed — punches are thrown at a specific place and footwork has to be exact and you tend to repeat the scene maybe six or seven times until the cameras have got every angle and in focus.”
The interview is available in full at this link.