Baron Corbin Screwed Baron Corbin

[Wildcat66]

By the obvious ripping off of a famous Vince McMahon quote, you may have guessed that this thread is about my opinion on the recent fall from grace Baron Corbin has had the last few weeks. And...well, you're right.

But before anything else, I need to set up a picture. So I will:

Baron Corbin came into WWE in 2016 in a big way by surprisingly winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, before this; he was making a name for himself in NXT first as a bad ass face who would squash lesser opponents in rapid fashion and then later as a ruthless heel who took no prisoners. The year afterwards would see him shine having some really good matches with Kalisto, Dolph Ziggler and roll through the SmackDown roster with relative ease. By December, he was main eventing SmackDown for the WWE championship.

This year started off great for him, he was facing off against people like John Cena, Randy Orton, Sami Zayn, A.J Styles and even then Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose. He was impressing many with his talent and was awarded by being Mr. Money in the Bank, he even got a feud with John Cena. It looked like everything was going his way...

And then he lost his cash-in to Jinder Mahal. And then he lost to John Cena in a little over 10 minutes. All of a sudden, reports came in that Baron Corbin had a terrible attitude backstage, taking his 'lone wolf' gimmick at bit further than just kayfabe and even getting into a twitter fights with Dave Meltzer of all people. And just now, i've gotten the word from WrestleTalk that the reason for Baron Corbin's loss at SummerSlam might have been because John Cena told creative that he wasn't ready for this spot.

So, what happened? How did we come to this point for Baron Corbin?

Simple: Like the title of this thread said, Baron Corbin screwed Baron Corbin.

I can understand being a heel is an important guideline to abide to in professional wrestling, something that still holds up even as kayfabe continues to grow more and more irrelevant each day but there is a difference between acting like a heel and actually being one and judging by what I and a lot of us have heard these last few days, Baron Corbin is kind of a dick. Getting into an argument with perhaps the most popular wrestling columnist in history is not helping the cause as it only serves to make you look even worse.

And when you've gone so far as to piss off the biggest name the company has outside of Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, you know you've done something wrong. In fact, it was reported that Baron was chewed out in front the entire locker room and creative; he's only done that to one other wrestler (Alex Riley) and look what ended up happening to him. We've talked a lot about how Cena is one of the people who hold a 'golden shovel' over the years and how he's either halted some wrestling careers or even wrecked them completely. But if what we've heard from Baron Corbin is true; I think he kind of deserved it.

Baron Corbin was on the cusp on being a world champ, he was said to have cashed in his contract at SummerSlam and take it away from Shinsuke Nakamura. If he had kept his mouth shut, he probably would and could have been world champion. Was he ready for it? Who knows? He may have not always been the best promo, but as a wrestler he was and still is a good worker. I don't know whether or not his ego started to get the better of him after winning MiTB or if he was always like this; but in wrestling, as well as in other businesses; you have to keep a professional outlook on your prospects and understand your flaws so you can have the best possible career for you. And especially this, do not piss off the top names of the company OR the board. That is one of the many death sentences you can face in WWE and can (and usually does) kill any chance of you being worth a damn if you're lucky.

Maybe i'm coming off a little too hard on him and if that's the case, I respect your viewpoint. But at the end of the day, Baron Corbin had the opportunity to be a main event player on SmackDown; maybe even WWE in general and he blew it. Whether or not he was ready for a shot like this is a debate for another day, but I don't think anyone can deny that Baron Corbin royally damaged his career prospects if these story have any merit to them. (And if the recent dirt sheet record has anything to do with it, they probably do)

In short: Don't be shocked if Baron Corbin loses to people like Chad Gable or Breezango, maybe even to Tye Dillinger at some point. In the immortal words of Vince McMahon, Baron Corbin screwed Baron Corbin. And he's going to have with to deal with it for the rest of his life. Baron screwed Baron, I have no sympathy for him whatsoever.

 

[Starkist]

Wow dude that's a book.

I mean, Corbin did in a way screw himself up on his push. If the rumors are true about Corbin being in a heated altercation with Cena, then that alone was a foot towards the grave. He buried himself. You don't go toe to toe with Cena in the locker room or you get nowhere fast.

Corbin is boring and bland to me personally. He needs to fix his damn hair then working on his wrestling then prove he is main event worthy. WWE thought he was but they seem to think anyone who messes with Cena is no longer a priority.

 

[blueskyy]

You said it twice, and I shall repeat it the third time. Screwed or not, he wasn't ready anyway. Unless I know exactly what happened backstage, I don't really care about dirt sheets like this.

 

[LODemolition]

Yeah, Corbin overall seems like quite the douchebag and I couldn't be happier that they had his cash-in attempt fail. He comes off as having a real attitude problem and being the type that will never admit that he does anything wrong. I doubt anything that Cena or anyone else says to him will ever sink in and I'd honestly be surprised if he's still around in a couple years. It would be one thing if he had the things you look for in a superstar, then maybe you could tolerate him and be willing to be more patient with him, but he sucks in the ring, he sucks on the microphone, he's annoying just to look at (nice skullet pal), and his new theme and entrance aren't any better than the last one. It reminds me of all those generic ones they went through with Wade Barrett before they finally came up with the one that started out with "God save our queen", which wasn't bad.

I read that they are making him take his shirt off recently as punishment since he's really insecure about his belly button that looks like a big mouth. If that's true, I find it pretty hilarious. A friend of mine made fun of his hairline on Twitter and Baron blocked him. Lol wow, the thin skin on this guy.

 

[Wildcat66]

Yeah, Corbin overall seems like quite the douchebag and I couldn't be happier that they had his cash-in attempt fail. He comes off as having a real attitude problem and being the type that will never admit that he does anything wrong. I doubt anything that Cena or anyone else says to him will ever sink in and I'd honestly be surprised if he's still around in a couple years. It would be one thing if he had the things you look for in a superstar, then maybe you could tolerate him and be willing to be more patient with him, but he sucks in the ring, he sucks on the microphone, he's annoying just to look at (nice skullet pal), and his new theme and entrance aren't any better than the last one. It reminds me of all those generic ones they went through with Wade Barrett before they finally came up with the one that started out with "God save our queen", which wasn't bad.

I read that they are making him take his shirt off recently as punishment since he's really insecure about his belly button that looks like a big mouth. If that's true, I find it pretty hilarious. A friend of mine made fun of his hairline on Twitter and Baron blocked him. Lol wow, the thin skin on this guy.

I heard. I also heard that he threw a 'hissy fit' after losing to Cena backstage.

Apparently Baron Corbin is kind of a petulant child.

 

[WallsofZakku]

eh, oh well. im not even a baron corbin guy anyways so im glad he blew his chance to win the championship. this gives jinder more time to show what hes got, hopefully now that shinsuke is out the way he can move into a legit program. and for the love of god vince at least try and switch up those similar anti american promos please

 

[WallsofZakku]

also we are talking about history here guys he would have forever been in the books as wwe champion if he was to cash in the mitb briefcase. like someone pointed out in a previous reply corbin is just not ready right now. he needs more time to hone his craft before being given the wwe championship as his first ever championship, ffs have him go after the us title or something to at least get an idea of what it would be like to be champion

 

[LODemolition]

I couldn't really wrap around my head as to why they gave him the briefcase in the first place. If it's because they were hoping if they let him hold onto it for nearly the full year and maybe he'd be ready by then, well that's not much of a reason. If it was because they just didn't have anyone else they could think of to give it to this year, again that's a lame reason. I would rather see them not even have the match rather than crown a guy Mr. MITB just because they feel obligated to do it once a year. It just seems like they didn't have much of a plan this time around. I thought MITB should have been an interpromotional ppv and I probably would've gone with Samoa Joe or Rusev. Guys who also have yet to be WWE/Universal Champion, but could easily be booked as such.

 

[Woodstuff]

lmao and people say kayfabe is dead.

Corbin plays an arrogant douchebag on TV, carries the character over to Twitter (getting into arguments on the internet fits his character perfectly), and you're all lapping it up that his bad attitude has landed him in hot water backstage.

The higher ups probably realised he isn't ready to be WWE champion, so they knocked him down a couple of pegs and are giving him more time to learn more before they push him back to the top.

You said yourself, he debuted 18 months ago. "Jobbing" to Cena at Summerslam doesn't mean he'll never make it back to the top. This was his first real "main event" PPV match. He went from MiTB, to a PPV match with Cena, and now appears to be moving on to a championship program with AJ Styles. What about that suggests he's being "buried"?

I read on WZ a few days ago about how Cena could be seen/heard saying something like "Nothing is about you! You aint done shit here yet", and tried to spin it as if Cena was schooling him infront of the live audience. But if you go back and watch the match, Cena has a smile on his face and seems more like he's teaching Corbin about crowd reaction. And given the hostile smark reactions Corbin's been suffering the past few weeks, who better to put him in the ring with than the master of smarky crowd reactions?

Honestly, this seems like a classic example of dirtsheets making a story where there isn't one. Meltzer obviously doesn't like the guy, so is it really a suprise that everything he has to say about him is negative? Just my opinion of course, but I'd say it's fairly obvious Corbin is still being groomed to be a top heel in the future.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I love reading those type of thread based on rumors an innuendos. Just because baron lost his briefcase, doesn't mean that they aren't hgh on him, I just says that they realise he wasn't ready for a title push just yet and want to groom him so that he become a big main event heel.

I don't believe anything that's being reported about him having heat because his twitter comments because that the type of stuf, that vince would probably encourage. You also have to remember, that when you look at his career since his debut in nxt, how many big matches did he won on ppv or nxt specials? So the fact that fans thought that because he got the briefcase meant that they we're pushing him big is just that thinking. I think corbin is just fine and someday he will be a world champion when they think he's ready to get push to that level, not he still wrestling main eventers so he's doing just fine.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Better men than Corbin deserved to be world champions before Corbin and Mahal and they never their shot. Men like Barrett, Rhodes, Cesaro. Even Del Rio and Rusev are better than Corbin. I never got what the fuck they saw in Baron Corbin and decided to push him to the moon like that. He's midcard for life.

In a roster where you have Balor, Ambrose, Rollins, Reigns, Joe, Styles, Orton, Wyatt, Nakamura, Roode, the Hardys and maybe Cesaro, Rusev and so many others, having Jinder Mahal as your freaking champion is a wrestling crime on its own that is somewhat acceptable. But having freaking Baron Corbin waiting to become the next champ, I'm sorry, that is unacceptable.

Nakamura, like I always said, would have been the best winner. Him or Owens. Nak would have won and cash in his chance at Summerslam like a good lad.

They're handing titles and opportunities to everybody and at the end the real stars lose their value because the entire roster becomes one big basket. WWE needs to sit down and say "These are my main eventers for the upcoming year, these are my upper midcarders with a few potential break out stars and these are my midcarders". You can't have everyone in one big basket. There's no star weight in their divisions.

 

[d_henderson1810]

What's wrong with Corbin defending himself on Twitter against Dave Melzter's comments?

Meltzer doesn't put his body and livelihood on the line each night. He isn't the one having to entertain a fickle audience, who will drop you at a moment's notice, or wrestling opponents, who may drop you by screwing up a move, and possibly putting you in a wheelchair for the rest of your life.

No, Meltzer sits at his cosy desk, trolling on his computer. He is a leech who hates wrestling, but then makes money off it, by constantly writing negative commentary. He thinks that he knows better how many people were at Wrestlemania 3 than those who counted the tickets at the gate on the night. If 93,173 attended WM3, who is he to question it, unless he can provide iron-clad proof that WWE made up the figure, and not based on because "they can't fit that many at a football game".

I find Corbin somewhat boring, but I am also paying at the gate. Meltzer uses his press accreditation to get him through the gate, so he is not paying to even see the shows.

Someone like Meltzer, and many people here, should actually be in awe of these guys and girls, and how they work hard to put on a show, and risk their bodies, most nights, instead of the self-entitled bitchy whining which often goes on with trolls like Meltzer.

Besides, it is unprofessional of Meltzer to indulge Corbin on Twitter. He is meant to be professional, and allow the subject of his articles the right to defend themselves, instead of baiting them. He should write his article, and then be able to defend it, just like Corbin has the right to disagree with him.

Most of you love Meltzer because he does what a lot of you do here: troll about wrestling, and hate on the product, while claiming to love it. This is evident by the fact that Meltzer is often wrong about what he predicts will happen, yet you still believe him next time around, instead of being sceptical and dismissing him a long time ago as someone who doesn't have a clue what they are writing.

 

[d_henderson1810]

Better men than Corbin deserved to be world champions before Corbin and Mahal and they never their shot. Men like Barrett, Rhodes, Cesaro. Even Del Rio and Rusev are better than Corbin. I never got what the fuck they saw in Baron Corbin and decided to push him to the moon like that. He's midcard for life.

In a roster where you have Balor, Ambrose, Rollins, Reigns, Joe, Styles, Orton, Wyatt, Nakamura, Roode, the Hardys and maybe Cesaro, Rusev and so many others, having Jinder Mahal as your freaking champion is a wrestling crime on its own that is somewhat acceptable. But having freaking Baron Corbin waiting to become the next champ, I'm sorry, that is unacceptable.

Nakamura, like I always said, would have been the best winner. Him or Owens. Nak would have won and cash in his chance at Summerslam like a good lad.

They're handing titles and opportunities to everybody and at the end the real stars lose their value because the entire roster becomes one big basket. WWE needs to sit down and say "These are my main eventers for the upcoming year, these are my upper midcarders with a few potential break out stars and these are my midcarders". You can't have everyone in one big basket. There's no star weight in their divisions.

You say that Corbin doesn't deserve to be champion, and neither does Jinder.

I agree, until you include "Shtistain" Nakamura in the group who should win it.

"Shitstain" isn't ready. He is a skinny dude, who has a big mouthguard and cool entrance. If he hadn't been on NXT, you wouldn't all cheer him. People won't say anything critical about him, lest they termed as "racist" (like I will for daring to criticise him).

Give Nakamura the U.S. Title first. See how he does as champion, before giving him the keys to the main event washroom. If he is meant to be champion one day, then why rush it? A true champion will still make a great champion down the rtrack. Austin and Rock had to work their way up the pecking order, and proved their worth. If Corbin Bernsen, Shitstain or Jinder, or even Finn Balor on RAW, deserve to be champion, build them first, and see if they can sustain it long-term.

Personally, they should have switched the title programs, and Jinder, Nakamura and Corbin should be competing for the U.S. belt, while Styles and Owens should have been fighting over the WWE Title, since they are two guys who have proven that they can take the next step, not just be handed a title opportunity the first night in the door.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't know if Corbin has heat backstage or not, I'm leaning more towards no because talk of Corbin having heat has died almost as quickly as it started. I've no problem with WWE not having him successfully cash in as I think it's time that successful cash ins don't happen as often as they used to; the concept has been around long enough and has been firmly established that winning MITB doesn't necessarily need to be an almost guarantee of becoming champion. As others have stated, Corbin wasn't ready anyhow and, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure I buy into all the stories of how high some officials ever were on him; allegedly, they were even higher on Corbin than Braun Strowman and I have a tough time believing that considering how far Strowman has come, how over he is and how much he continues to improve.

Personally, I don't think Corbin's all that special as far as a main event level guy goes. I'm of the opinion he brings a lot more to the table than Jinder Mahal, but Corbin's overall abilities strike me very much as someone who should be a contender for a mid-card title. For instance, it looks like Corbin may be Styles' next opponent for the United States Championship and this presents a good opportunity for Corbin to prove himself in a program with a world class competitor and come out looking better than when he went in. Personally, I don't want to see him beat Styles for the title as the title needs stability after being passed around so much this year but this program could be a strong step in the right direction for Corbin. I don't know if he'll ever convince me that he's a main eventer, I won't close my mind to the possibility but I firmly believe he's not there yet.

As far as Dave Meltzer's comments go, of course he's not a fan of Corbin. Corbin's not an indie darling nor does he work for New Japan and you usually have to be one or the other these days in order for Meltzer to feel you've earned the honor of getting a whiff of the stink off his ass.

 

[Dagger Dias]

"Shitstain" isn't ready. He is a skinny dude, who has a big mouthguard and cool entrance. If he hadn't been on NXT, you wouldn't all cheer him. People won't say anything critical about him, lest they termed as "racist" (like I will for daring to criticise him).

What the heck is your problem!? If you don't like Nakamura then you're entitled to that opinion. However, your comments in your post are 100% uncalled for. What if someone called you "Sh*tstain Henderson"? Would you like that? There is no need to call Nakamura what you called him. Seriously. We already knew you had an unhealthy hatred of Daniel Bryan, Stone Cold, and NXT. Now we can add Shinsuke Nakamura to that list of things you have an unhealthy hatred of. You hate three of the greatest wrestlers ever, you detest the most consistent brand WWE has ever had, you've freaked out on other posters who simply were being aware of the fact that Bray Wyatt is fat, and you whine very rudely about someone who is skinny getting a big push. Do you even like wrestling? Either you're a troll or an idiot. No one can be this stupid. If you're not trolling then you need to stop being so rude all the time.

As for the actual topic.... If the reports about his behavior are true then Baron Corbin did indeed screw Baron Corbin. I never liked the guy much personally. He was pushed way too soon and he wasn't ready. He should have stayed in NXT longer or at the very least gone through the US Championship first. The way his cash-in failure was done and the loss to Cena that followed only add more to the theory that he made the wrong people angry. Maybe he should have been less arrogant, but people make mistakes. I don't see him recovering from this.

 

[Naniwa91]

You say about Daniel Bryan being pushed due to hype. Well of course you would give said person a chance if all of the people ​in your audience is voicing their opinion. WWE took a chance and it worked.

Steve Austin's alleged wife beating preventing programs with Brock Lesnar? Vince wanted to have that match on Raw; Stone Cold felt like it was worthy of being on pay per view.

As for Nakamura, and talent in general, it seems like creative's modus operandi is sink or swim. Basically, instead of organically building contenders who a crowd can believe is capable of winning (or at least being a serious threat to win) the championship, they provide a launching pad, a helmet and a jetpack but no parachute in case things go left. In any event, Baron Corbin has time to right himself. Nakamura won't falter quite as easily as some folks say he will. If he were, he wouldn't be here.

Now I'm done.

 

[d_henderson1810]

You say about Daniel Bryan being pushed due to hype. Well of course you would give said person a chance if all of the people ​in your audience is voicing their opinion. WWE took a chance and it worked.

Steve Austin's alleged wife beating preventing programs with Brock Lesnar? Vince wanted to have that match on Raw; Stone Cold felt like it was worthy of being on pay per view.

As for Nakamura, and talent in general, it seems like creative's modus operandi is sink or swim. Basically, instead of organically building contenders who a crowd can believe is capable of winning (or at least being a serious threat to win) the championship, they provide a launching pad, a helmet and a jetpack but no parachute in case things go left. In any event, Baron Corbin has time to right himself. Nakamura won't falter quite as easily as some folks say he will. If he were, he wouldn't be here.

Now I'm done.

Bryan was over with the crowd. But I think that the fans got too carried away, and it got to dangerous levels. They hijacked the RAW after WM30, and Vince changed the main event of WM30 because of it.

I didn't have a problem with Bryan being champion (in fact, he was champion on SD before). But I felt that it would have been better to have Bryan naturally progress to the main event.

I just felt that his shot came out of nowhere, rather than have his feud with Triple H build toward it. People mistakenly thought that he was deliberately kept out of the Rumble (when WWE never announced him in the Rumble match, he had a match earlier in the night with Wyatt, and that year, no-one from any of the other matches did double-duty in the Rumble). The fans expected something that was never promised, because they got in their heads that Bryan should be in and win it. Show me any evidence that Bryan was to be in the Rumble and then withdrawn later.

I think WWE made the best of it, and worked around it, bringing an end to the Bryan-Triple H feud (which I enjoyed). I am even disappointed that Bryan got injured, and never got to show what he could do (but maybe that explains WWE's reluctance to give him the title, as they may have had medical advice that Bryan's style and body may not stand up to the rigors of a long-term main event program).

That is the problem I have with Bryan's body. He got injured easier, whereas if he had more muscle, he might have sustained some of the blows easily. Maybe, maybe not, but it didn't help, combined with his beliefs in natural therapy rather than surgery when needed.

I think the fans demanding and getting their wish about Bryan's "moment" at Wrestlemania is fine, provided that they don't expect it all the time, and realise that the tail doesn't wag the dog. Vince McMahon must book what will make the most money, and that doesn't always align with what the fans want.

I agree with Austin about the Brock program. It should have had build, it should have been on PPV (and maybe even two or three PPVs). I have since read that another reason Austin didn't want to do it is because he feared that Brock, with his careless wrestling style, could drop Austin on his neck again. Austin was very protective of his neck (which is understandable), and picked and chose who he fought partly based on how they would protect him in the ring (I read that Austin liked fighting the Rock at WM because Austin considered the Rock the safest worker and knew that he would not injure him carelessly).

My issue was how Austin voiced his protest- by walking out. He had other options, suggest another opponent, talk to Vince about it, refuse to do the match with Brock, but still show up (what is Vince going to do, fire his biggest meal ticket). By walking out, Austin deprived his fans of seeing him, and people who bought tickets in advance to see him, were denied seeing him perform. I felt that he owed his fans better for their years of support, and he could have voiced his protest in other ways. Hell, he once walked out an hour before Raw one night, changing up the show completely, and those who bought tickets to see him were robbed of the experience. Even Austin has since conceded on his podcast that he was stubborn back then, and regrets dealing with it that way (Austin also has said that he regretted hitting Debra, and took responsibility for his actions. However, I feel that his actions could never be justified, and that it sullies his reputation, and people should maybe not hype him as much as a result).

I actually don't hate any wrestler. All put their bodies on the line each night, and deserve respect because of it. I do have favourites, as anyone does, and if I feel disappointed with a wrestler's actions, push or storyline, I will say so. This forum allows me to do that. Disagree if you will, as is your right. But allow me the grace to praise or criticise at will, even if it is one of your favourites I am criticising.