In 2024, after being released from the company, WWE star Baron Corbin made his return during the July 10th episode of Friday Night SmackDown, where he attacked both reigning WWE United States Champion Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes. Corbin went on to defeat Williams, capturing the United States Championship at SummerSlam last month. However, his reign ended this past weekend when Williams regained the title at Sunday Night’s Main Event special.
In an interview with Adam Bernard for The Sportster, Corbin discussed various topics, including how he maintained communication with the company while away.
Corbin said, “I mean, it’s crazy because it really did come together at the right moment. We’d stayed in touch throughout the time that I was gone, the year and a half I was gone. There were just little text messages here and there. Mostly well-wishes on things that we see each other accomplishing. I’d send Hunter a text when I would see something that WWE was doing that was amazing, because I love the company and I love what they gave me and the life they gave me. So there was never ill will when I left at all, especially with like Hunter and those things. So, there was always kind of a line of communication. It never once was anything like, ‘Hey, what would you think about me coming back?’ or anything like that. It was always like, ‘Oh, congratulations on this.’ Or he’d text me ‘Congrats’ on something. And so, it just kind of was that bond.
On the initial contact from WWE:
“And then I got a random message from one of the writers one time that was like, ‘Hey, would you have any interest in coming back?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know, I’d be open to a conversation. I like what I’m doing right now, I’m getting some opportunities to do some fun things.’ And that was like, I think, in December or something. And there was nothing other than that. Just, ‘Hey, would you be interested in potentially coming back?’ And I was like, ‘I’d be interested in the conversation.’ And then months later, another text like that came through. And then it became a conversation over the phone, and then to a Zoom with Hunter.”
On talking with Triple H about his return:
“My expectations, I think, were different for the reasons that they were calling. What I had assumed my role would be coming back and then my conversation with Hunter was not what I expected in that sense. And I think that — you know, he was telling me things like, ‘You’ve been away long enough, that year and a half to kind of leave behind the way that we left with kind of the Constable stuff,’ you know, the kind of funky booking.’ [It was long enough] to get back to what we do best, and that’s beating people up. Back to that Lone Wolf persona and getting believability back in the fact that I can win big matches.
On his character reset:
“That was important because when I made my exit, it was that point like, ‘Oh yeah, we know Corbin. We know what he does, he’s going to go in there. He’s going to get beat and then he’s going to go on and do something else.’ And it was like, that became the stigma of what I was doing. And so that time away and now coming back, we’ve kind of reset that. And I think we’ve proved that with walking in day one and dropping Trick, and dropping Melo, and then going to SummerSlam and winning a title. And I think that was Hunter’s vision, is to get me back to being a player on all levels. Whether it’s in that mid-range or the upper, or right below the top, that kind of stuff. Getting in the ring with guys like Punk and Cody and Seth. Like, I’ve never wrestled Punk before. I’ve never wrestled Gunther before. I’ve never wrestled Cody aside from one random quick match in Brooklyn in New York. Like there’s a lot of guys that I haven’t stepped in the ring with that are new, like Trick. I did some stuff in NXT before I left but you know, the main roster is a different game, different style, different energy, different atmosphere. So, all of that kind of just came together. Right time, right place.”
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(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
