UPDATE:

Drew McIntyre and Wade Barrett's visa issues are resolved. Barrett should be on Raw on Monday and McIntyre will return to SmackDown once Creative thinks it's right to bring him back from the deportation angle.

Credit: Wrestling Observer

ORIGINAL:

According to PWInsider, both Drew McIntyre and Wade Barrett have been removed from WWE television and house shows because their current work visas have expired.

Without the proper visas the two European born wrestlers are no longer allowed to work in the United States. Barrett has gone back to his native Great Britain to await his new permit while McIntyre has returned to Scotland. There is no word on how long it will take to get the visas and at this point it is just a waiting game.

McIntyre's departure was actually written into the storylines. After he lost a match to his long-time rival Matt Hardy on last week's SmackDown, SD General Manager Theodore Long informed McIntyre that his visa had expired, and he was being sent back to his native Scotland. It played right into the already existing rivalry that had developed between Long and McIntyre over the past few months as it looked as if Long "got one over" on his rival.

As for Barrett, he has building the past few weeks as the leader and mouthpiece of the new Nexus faction comprised of the NXT Season 1 Rookies that has been terrorizing Monday Night RAW throughout the month of June. Barrett was not this past week's RAW as it was explained that he was meeting with WWE officials at company headquarters in Connecticut. No further storyline reason has been given for his absence yet, but it is expected he may be "suspended" for his actions in all of the Nexus' recent attacks on WWE talent. With Barrett's sudden disappearance and the unexpected and untimely release of Daniel Bryan the incredibly hot Nexus invasion storyline RAW has already cooled considerably.