"Excited to bleed blue" - Wade Barrett breaks silence following WWE promotion

Wade Barrett has received a promotion from NXT to SmackDown.

Barrett will join Michael Cole in the broadcast booth on the season premiere of the blue brand tomorrow night. Barrett replaces Corey Graves, who has been filling in for Pat McAfee while he's currently working as part of the ESPN College GameDay team.

The former Intercontinental Champion took to social media this afternoon to comment on his new role. He teased that his time in the booth with WWE NXT hasn't completely come to an end. Tweeting out:

"BOOM! Excited to bleed blue on #SmackDown alongside the GOAT @MichaelCole for a little while! What a crazy opportunity.. *mind blown emoji* And THANK YOU #WWENXT.. I'll be back! *fist emoji*," Wade Barrett wrote.

BOOM! Excited to bleed blue on #SmackDown alongside the GOAT @MichaelCole for a little while! What a crazy opportunity.. 🤯

And THANK YOU #WWENXT.. I’ll be back! 👊🏻 twitter.com/variety/status…

Will Wade Barrett return to WWE NXT when Pat McAfee returns?

Based on the wording of Barrett's tweet, it certainly seems that his time on SmackDown is only temporary.

Pat McAfee is currently away from WWE and Variety stated that he would return to the broadcast team once his obligations with ESPN College GameDay have concluded.

There's a good chance that once Pat McAfee reunites with Michael Cole on SmackDown, Barrett will return to NXT on Tuesday nights. This begs to question if Booker T's current spot on Tuesday nights is only temporary as well.

On Booker T's Hall of Fame Podcast back in August, he made it clear that he wasn't looking to get back into the booth on a weekly basis for the company. However, he stated that he would do it if he was asked and the money was right.

“Well; I’m gonna tell you this here, man. I’m not looking to get back to the table or anything like that,” Booker T said. “But I’m all about the check, man, and what I mean by that is I’m all about taking care of my family. So any income coming in, I’m definitely gonna, my kids gonna be the recipients in the long run. I’m gonna push myself to the limit, and they asked me to come back to the table, I would go." [H/T: WrestleZone]

Here's your new #SmackDown announce team! Welcome to the blue brand @StuBennett 👊 https://t.co/Fz0jXC8qod

What do you make of Wade Barrett's comments? Do you think this is a temporary promotion until Pat McAfee returns? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.