After more than 12 years on the WWE roster, it was revealed that Baron Corbin’s WWE contract will not be renewed after it expires, ending a tenure with the organization that spanned from his recruitment to the Performance Center, a successful run on the developmental NXT brand, and then a mixed bag on the main roster.
The former football player had a brief stint in the NFL, signing with the Indianapolis Colts in 2009 before he was offered a contract on the Arizona Cardinals practice squad in 2011 before he was cut from the team. Still, his football background made him a prime candidate for the WWE philosophy when he originally inked a developmental deal in 2012, sign former athletes and build them from the ground up to be sports entertainers within the WWE system.
By the time he arrived on NXT television in 2014, when the brand was still exclusive to the newly-launched WWE Network at the time, Corbin debuted as a lone wolf type of character. It was a simple, but effective presentation.
When he moved up to the main roster in 2016, winning the Andre The Giant Battle Royal at Wrestlemania 32, it began a trend in his career that followed him throughout most of his tenure in the company. While his in-ring skills and promos improved with experience on television, he was often a victim of circumstance within the Vince McMahon structure of the organization.
As we know, there were many stars that were built up and promoted as featured performers on the NXT brand under Triple H that never had a chance to be perceived as stars when they arrived on Raw or Smackdown. Quite simply, Triple H took a different approach with NXT, especially at that time, often pushing it as the “work rate” brand to differentiate it from Raw or Smackdown. However, the main roster was run by Vince, and the “work rate” approach was never his philosophy so the vast majority of NXT stars were underutilized on the main brands, at least until they were rebuilt from a Vince McMahon perspective. Anyone remember when Bayley went from one of the most organically over baby faces in the entire company on the NXT brand to those cringe worthy hug segments on Raw?
In many ways, even throughout achievements, Baron Corbin was never truly presented as a star or someone that fans should truly invest in as a performer with the potential to be a major star. I’m sure that Corbin did the best that he could, you could see from his work that the effort was there and he was proficient in the ring, even if he wasn’t the next Lou Thez or Tiger Mask. However, there’s only so much you can do as an in-ring performer if the angles themselves aren’t designed to spotlight you. For example, Corbin won the MITB ladder match in 2017, which is usually an indication that the office sees the potential for someone to be involved in the title picture or the main event scene. If Corbin was ready for that spot at the time is debatable, but the fact that he lost the cash-in almost more or less labeled him a flop, at least for his first stint on the main roster, specifically because of the precedent that was set for who failed to cash in prior to that. The bottom line is, if you failed to win the cash-in, a scenario that from a storyline perspective should be the perfect opportunity to win the title, it sends the message that the wrestler just isn’t a main event guy. As talented as he is, was Damien Sandow ever viewed the same way by the audience after he lost the cash-in match?
The gimmicks that Crobin was given in the years that followed might’ve been different variations on his character, but they all boiled down to the same thing, they either presented him as a joke, a secondary figure, or were just plain drek as far as an on-screen persona. For example, Constable Corbin was cast as somewhat of an authority figure on Raw at a time when there was rightfully discontent with the product, specifically with the Roman Reigns super push, The heel Authority faction on Raw that appeared to be indignant at the hostile crowd reaction, and an overall stale presentation. This ultimately created the demand for an alternative that allowed for the formation of AEW to be given a chance, but that’s a different discussion for a different time. Infamously, the Authority faction blamed Constable Corbin for the subpar programming during a promo on Raw.
In 2019, Corbin won the King of The Ring, which did absolutely nothing other than give him a silly outfit to wear that made him look like a hobbit. Unfortunately, he won the tournament at a time when there was a track record for the winners would become the King of The Ring and then lose most of their matches in the months that followed or were simply kept at a stagnant level. Sheamus is an example of the former, with Kofi Kingston as an example of the latter. Earlier that year, he beat a diminished Kurt Angle in the former Olympic gold medalist’s retirement match for a forgettable six-minute segment during a marathon show that was more than a five-hour broadcast.
The King gimmick was hokey and too obtuse, even for a company that often utilizes the lowest common denominator to attempt to draw the general public. Speaking of which, when he was portrayed as broke and destitute, it could’ve completely ruined his career. Yes, I understand that it was booked to set up for the lottery win that saw him use the Happy Corbin gimmick, but the point is that he was quite literally booked to be a total loser. How exactly was he supposed to be perceived as a star? The Happy Corbin gimmick was cringe worthy and another example of something so blatantly obtuse that it was a channel changer gimmick. These series of gimmicks had Vince McMahon’s finger print all over them.
Eventually, he was landed back on the NXT brand last year with a persona somewhat similar to his original gimmick, which at least gave him a chance at a fresh start after such a series of horrendous gimmicks. He was even paired with Gable Steveson, the Olympic champion that fizzled out when he couldn’t make the transition to the pro ranks, for his NXT debut match, and that was no coincide. The office knew that Corbin could make Steveson look good and get him through the segment, as Corbin was a solid hand and a veteran of the WWE system. The fact that Steveson couldn’t have at least a decent match with Corbin said a lot about his lack of progress as a sports entertainer.
For the majority of this year, Corbin continued to work on the NXT brand, which made sense because it allowed him to work with the younger talent to give them the valuable in-ring experience to continue to evolve their careers. That being said, with how many times he was repackaged previously, it probably wasn’t a realistic option that he was going to successfully be reintroduced to the main roster so it’s almost understand that his deal wasn’t renewed, as they simply wasn’t much left to do with him.
At 40, Corbin is at the latter stages of his career anyway, and if he has financially security then it might be wise for him to retire. Sure, he wasn’t given the chance to flourish with many of the characters that he was given under the Vince McMahon regime, and it’s doubtful that anyone would’ve been able to get most of them over, but the entire point of the business is to make as much money as possible. If Corbin can retire at an early age after a 12-year WWE career then good for him. At the same time, he was purely a WWE guy built within their system so it’s doubtful that they would be a demand for him in AEW or New Japan. If anything, a stint in TNA could be possible, but again, he might opt to retire rather than risk any injury from wrestling elsewhere.
The biggest takeaway from Baron Corbin’s run in WWE is probably that even a solid performer sometimes can’t overcome silly gimmick or horrendous booking. Listen, I’m not saying that management fumbled the next John Cena, but rather that Corbin did the best he could with what he was given during the majority of his WWE career.
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
