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Video: Why Wayne Rooney slapped WWE star Wade Barrett

Wade Barrett(R) confronted Rooney on the sidelines of the Manchester Arena

Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney set the social media abuzz on Monday night as he knocked out WWE superstar Wade ‘King’ Barrett at the Manchester Arena in Manchester. The incident took place in full view of thousands of fans who had gathered at the arena to witness the wrestling event.

The World Wrestling Entertainment is currently touring the United Kingdom on an 11-day Live Event tour from the 5th of November to the 14th. 

Rooney was in the Arena among the audience with his six-year-old son Kai and Manchester United assistant manager Ryan Giggs and former teammate Darren Fletcher.

The altercation between the two started when Wade Barrett spotted the England International skipper in the front row and started to hurl abuses at him. Rooney obliged the wrestler and jokingly invited him to get down from the ring and face him. But the resulting conversation spiralled out of control. 

He said, ” In this ring are two men who can easily be described as championship material(Sheamus and himself). Which is, of course, more than can be said of Wayne Rooney and Manchester United.”

Barrett then made his insult personal as he made reference to Rooney's eldest son.

“ I'd hate for your little boy to sit there and watch his own father fail. Because let's face it, he gets to experience that every single time you step on a football pitch.”

This understandably infuriated the 30-year-old who landed a meaty blow on the wrestler which saw him lying on the floor.

Click here to see Rooney’s reaction to Barrett’s barrage of insults.

History between Rooney and Wade Barrett

This was not the first time the two athletes have crossed paths. Monday's incident in Manchester was a culmination of a previous row between the pair on Twitter, dating back to last February when Barrett cited Rooney for 'diving' during an FA Cup clash against his beloved Preston North End FC.

Rooney had won a penalty against Preston which was controversial in nature and successfully converted it to end an eight-week goalscoring drought. Manchester United went on to win the game 3-1 and progressed to the next round.

Below is the conversation that transpired between the two after the FA Cup between United and Preston which also amazingly saw the involvement of another popular wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin.

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