Tom Pestock, formerly known as Baron Corbin in WWE, appeared on the latest episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet to discuss a variety of topics, including the original plans for his run as the Money in the Bank contract holder in 2017.
Corbin won the Money in the Bank contract at the eponymous pay-per-view event in June 2017. However, just two months later, on an episode of SmackDown, his cash-in attempt ended in failure. During a non-title match between WWE Champion Jinder Mahal and John Cena, Corbin interfered, causing a disqualification. Seizing the opportunity, Corbin cashed in his contract but turned his attention to Cena instead of Mahal when the bell rang. This distraction allowed Mahal to roll Corbin up for the win, making Corbin only the third wrestler in WWE history at the time to fail a cash-in, and the second to lose the ensuing match.
Corbin reflected on the plans during his Insight interview, revealing the context behind WWE’s booking at the time, which aligned with the company’s strategy to grow its presence in the Indian market.
“I think Vince [McMahon] saw me becoming world champion, and I think that winning [Money in the Bank], he’s like, ‘You’re going to hold it for a while,’” Corbin explained. “Because I think Jinder being champ also played a part—not only him doing his thing because he’s an incredible performer, but also they were trying to get, you know, a certain demographic of an audience. They had no intentions of changing that title at that time. So it was [planned for me] to carry it, and it was eventually to take it off of Jinder, but obviously, it did not come to fruition.”