Baron Corbin On What Frustrates Him About The WWE Roster, Praise From Matt Hardy
Baron Corbin was a guest on the latest episode of After The Bell. Corey Graves went through Corbin's time in the main event scene in his feuds with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. Corbin talked about the double-edge sword of being on top for so long talking about being happy to be at the top of the card but also wanting to be in the spot of "the guy".
"Why I say it's a double-edge sword is because that's where I want to be, and it's amazing to be there, but you get there and you go I want more. I get Roman's 'the guy', but how do I become the guy? How do I become who Roman Reigns is. I need to get on his level. I want to take that spot," Corbin said. "It's the same for when Cena was here. When Roman was working with Cena, he sees that. He loves being there, but he's not content. How do I take his spot? How do I push him out of being 'the guy'?
"I think that's what frustrates me is that continually thought of who do I push out of the way, and how do I do it to become 'the guy'? And it's not always having the WWE Championship that makes you 'the guy'. If you think about, if someone important calls Vince like, 'hey we need your number one superstar to come in and be a part of this', he's gonna go it's Roman Reigns no matter where he's at. He is just 'the guy', and how do I get that spot?"
Corbin was put into a high spot in WrestleMania when he took on Kurt Angle is Angle's last WWE match of his career. Corbin talked about how he wants to be the person that other wrestlers like Brock Lesnar and The Rock want to work with. He also expressed his frustrations over wrestlers that are content with where they are at and are not striving to be at the top of the card.
"I respect Roman unbelievably and Seth and all those other guys, Brock Lesnar and Cena, but I want their spot. That's just the bottom line. If you don't want that spot, you don't belong here. I think that would frustrate a lot of people because I think people are content sitting in the middle or sitting at home and getting paid, and that irritates me to no end because I'm going if you don't want to be the best here, don't be here. Leave because you're hurting what we do," Corbin said. "I want a whole roster of guys who not want to be John Cena but they want to be on that level. They want to take what we do and fill stadiums every single night. They want to go out whether there's 1,200 people there or 103,000 people there. They're gonna give you the same effort and performance that I expect.
"I think that's the problem with some of the guys here. Some of them are just content with being blah, and for me, that's what frustrates me about being in that main event spot, but Roman is still the guy. I want to be the guy where everybody's going man put me with Corbin. I want to draw some money with Corbin. I want Lesnar to go, 'hey, I want to work with him,' or for The Rock to go, 'if I want to come back for one more match, it's with Corbin.' I want that spot, so that's why it's a double-edge sword with me because you put me up there at the top, but you're not handing me the ball. Give me the ball. What do I got to do to take that?"
Graves asked Corbin about his social media exploits. Corbin talked about wearing two vests at a live event in response to a Twitter user complaining about his vest. Corbin has routinely taunted fans on Twitter, and he talked about how some fans don't understand heel heat and has responded to fans about having "go away heat". He also talked about the praise he has gotten for the heat he has gotten.
"I can actually use social media as a cheat code because john457213 is on his 12th profile going, 'hey man, you vest looks dumb,' and I go, 'OK, that irritates you. Now I'm gonna go wear two. Thank you.' It's so simple, and people can make that difficult. Also, these morons, and I saw morons because you guys are morons, but they want to say, 'he's got go-away heat.' When I walk out that curtain, everybody is booing me. They just don't understand heat nowadays. 'Oh, this bad guys is getting booed so he must not be good because I would like him if he's good.' That's not the point, and they just don't understand it," Corbin said. "It blows my mind. You people can't be this stupid. My job is that you literally hate me, and I've been in the ring with guys on all levels standing there hearing the boos, and they'll go hey man, and they'll turn the microphone so that people can't hear, this is Vickie Guerrero heat. I haven't heard this in five years, and I'll go this is awesome. Then some idiot will go, 'this is go-away heat. Go away.' Like come on."
Corbin talked more about the praise he has gotten for his heel work. Angle called Corbin one of the best heels working today. Corbin also talked about the praise he has gotten from Matt Hardy, Vince McMahon and Triple H and how satisfying it is to get praise from people of that status.
"When you get an Arn Anderson or Matt Hardy [who] pulled me aside on a Europe tour, 'man, I want to say thank you because you're a true heel dude. You don't care about what the Internet says or what people say, and it's really hard to do nowadays. I appreciate it.' I'm going I'm good for two years. I don't need another compliment because you're getting it from people who matter like when you get it from guys who are in the hall of fame, and I've got it from several hall of famers," Corbin said. "I've got it from guys like Vince, Hunter or those guys are telling me, 'hey, good job.' Then I'm doing a good job. I don't need the gratification of the other people. That's what I think, for me, easier to handle all the social media stuff."
Graves asked Corbin what he has in store for the future. Corbin talked about setting his sights on the WWE Universal Championship. Goldberg is set to defend the title at this year's WrestleMania, and Corbin took a shot at Goldberg for not being around with the title that often.
"We're gonna see what happens at Mania with Goldberg wearing it and Roman going against him, and I want a guy who's gonna represent every single show with that Universal Championship," Corbin said. "I'm tired of it being in people's suitcases who aren't at the show. It's where it sits. I think somebody owes respect to that title to put it on everywhere and have everybody see it, take around the country [and] around the world."