The WWE Draft was not kind to Baron Corbin earlier this year. After multiple draft rounds hosted by a variety of former WWE personalities, including Teddy Long and Eric Bischoff, Corbin was left without a brand. He was one of only ten WWE stars, along with MVP, who manages Omos, not to be drafted to a Raw or Smackdown and be labeled a free agent. Many questioned what the free agency distinction meant for Corbin’s future with the promotion, but only a few weeks later, things became clearer as he returned to the WWE NXT brand.
Corbin wrestled as part of WWE’s yellow and black brand from 2012 until 2016 and competed in several high-profile bouts with names like Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, and Samoa Joe. Since returning to NXT, Corbin has slowly begun to win over many of the detractors he amassed during his main roster run. Notably, at last month’s The Great American Bash, Corbin went up against Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson, who was supposed to be the babyface but was booed by the fans in favor of the former WWE United States Champion.
In an exclusive Haus of Wrestling interview conducted during WWE SummerSlam weekend, I asked Corbin how much longer he will be in NXT, considering his revived popularity with the fans.
“When Hunter has the idea, or whatever it is, for me on the main roster, we’re at 100%. We’re rocking and rolling,” he quipped. “So, being down there, I’m trying to fight to stay there a little bit. You know? I want to let the audience up top have a break from me. Let me work with these guys. I need to blow up some guys because then, when I come back up, maybe I’ll bring a couple of guys with me. It could be something like that.”
What Corbin seemed to be teasing was that he was thinking about forming a WWE main roster faction with a few of the NXT stars. I pressed him regarding whether or not that was the case.
“I mean, it’d be awesome,” he replied. “There’s guys down there, and you look at like Ilja, you look at Bron, Melo is another one; there’s some guys down there with just massive talent, and I think maybe those are guys who you grab on to and go, ‘Hey, come with me. Let’s do something.’ You never know. I think you can do some special things with guys like that. So my eyes are open for any opportunity.”
As Corbin finished fantasizing about a possible rouge group of NXT stars making waves on the main roster, I pointed out that he would no longer be a Lone Wolf if his idea comes to fruition.
“Right? Well, I mean, we burned the Lone Wolf,” he noted. “He’s dead and gone. He’s buried with Happy Corbin.”
With the Lone Wolf “dead and gone,” I threw out the idea of Corbin calling his new faction the Wolf Pack, a nod to the former NWO sub-faction. If the LWO can make a comeback, why not the WolfPac?
“It could be awesome,” he said. “I’m here in Detroit. We went yesterday and were at the Pistons Palace, and all you hear about is ‘The Bad Boys, The Bad Boys.’ Man, that’s a dope name for a wrestling group too.”
My full interview with Corbin is now available on the Haus of Wrestling YouTube channel and podcast feed.
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