Ex-WWE Star Believes Backstage Figure Held Them Down

A former WWE star has opened up about their exit.

In October 2024, Baron Corbin was told his WWE contract would not be extended. This decision brought to an end a 12-year WWE career that saw the star feature on NXT, SmackDown, and Raw, while winning Money In The Bank, King of the Ring, the NXT Tag Team Titles, and the United States Championship.

Corbin had initially signed with WWE in 2012 after a spell after his dream of launching an NFL career failed to materisalise.

While the star never fully established himself as a main event regular, his release caught many by surprise given his reputation as a more than solid performer in a variety of different roles.

Baron Corbin Frustrated By WWE Exit

During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Corbin looked back at the latter stages of his WWE career, and ultimately his release by the company. The former United States Champion suggested he was never meant to succeed when sent back to NXT in 2023, but he made it work.

“I felt like in my WWE career, I was in uncharted water. In a sense, I had gone to NXT reinvented myself, and put a lot of work into it, even though, like, I didn’t agree with some of it.

I had a conversation with NXT. I was sat down. I’m gonna be polite. We talked about it, walking in. Bruce Prichard, I’m gonna be polite. He was like, you know, ‘It’s just not working. We want you to go down there, reinvent yourself, new moves, lose a little weight, blah, blah, blah.’

And I did, and I think it was not, maybe not meant for me to succeed as well as I did down there. But they’ve got such an amazing system there, with the talent they have, with the producers they have, and with the coaches they have and the writers. It’s impossible not to succeed down there, like impossible.”

The star went on to recall the positive reactions he was getting as a babyface through 2024 but revealed that a writer on SmackDown wanted to turn him back heel. Corbin then noted his run in 2023 alongside JBL who he said made several “amazing pitches,” but added they “died in the wind somewhere.”

Looking back on his release, he said he’d been contacted by the likes of Seth Rollins, CM Punk, and more, while Randy Orton wanted to talk to Triple H as he felt it was clear “somebody doesn’t like you.”

“And I was talking to Randy [Orton] about it, a lot of guys reached out, you know, you know, I’m sorry, you know. And guys you expect, like Seth [Rollins] and Finn [Balor] and Kevin, [Owens] and those dudes are amazing people. And, you know, [CM] Punk and Randy.

But Randy’s like, ‘Dude, I honestly thought you were, like, gonna be here another 10 years.’ He’s like, ‘I don’t understand it.’ He’s like, ‘Do you mind if I talk to Hunter about it?’ I don’t know if he ever did, but he’s like, ‘Somebody doesn’t like you.’

And I’m like, ‘There’s nothing I can do to change that.’ I feel like I know who it is, and that’s beside the point. But they had power enough to either kill creative or whatever it was, and they got to go to bed with that at the end of the night. That’s on them.”

The star closed by saying he knows Triple H wasn’t behind his release, stating he loves the WWE boss for the advice and guidance he’s given him over the years.

H/t to WrestlingNews.Co