Baron Corbin Admits Previous Characters Had “Limited Shelf Life”

Baron Corbin opened up about his previous personas and his evolution in NXT.

Throughout his decade-long WWE career, Baron Corbin has found himself constantly evolving. He’s been a lone wolf, he’s been a king, he’s been both happy and sad. These days, the star is a fixture in NXT, where he’s taken on yet another persona, this one much closer to who he is in real life.

Speaking to WrestleZone, Baron Corbin opened up about his heavily-promoted bout at Great America Bash where he took on a debuting Gable Steveson. Corbin admitted he didn’t expect the crowd to cheer for him and boo Steveson, expecting the opposite as he thought the Texas crowd would cheer an Olympic gold medalist.

“No [I didn’t expect that], especially with all the things I’m doing now. The new stuff, the new character, if you will. It’s not even a character. I’m just doing me. So I had no idea the reaction [would go that way].

“I assumed [Gable Steveson] being an Olympic gold medalist, he was going to get this massive ‘USA’ [chant]. We’re in Texas, they obviously love the US and are passionate about it. So, I was like, ‘Man, they’re going to be excited to see him,’ and they were not. They booed him pretty hard, and they were cheering for me. So, it was a weird flip that I was not expecting, that’s for sure.”

Baron Corbin Says His Current Character Is “100% Organic & Authentic”

Continuing, Baron Corbin spoke about the decision to shed his previous personas when he came back to NXT, even going to far as to film a vignette where he threw his previous gimmicks in a fire. According to Corbin, this was a necessary step in continuing to evolve.

“No, I think it was definitely get rid of it all. My time here in WWE has been a massive roller coaster. I’ve been up top, I’ve been at the bottom, I’ve been in the middle. And I think that the last couple of characters were such characters that the shelf life was tough to keep those going. I think we made the most out of them. But when you look at Happy Corbin, you only do that so long until it just becomes stagnant. And I didn’t want to become stagnant.

“So, I’m taking in my experience and my time in the ring and the things I’ve learned from superstars like Roman, like Seth, like Kurt, like Cena, and take that and kind of just build an organic, natural version of me for people to see. The stuff I’m doing now in the ring, that is me. The attitude, a little bit of the ego, all of those things, they’re just letting me be 100% organic and authentic.”

h/t WrestleZone