Happy Corbin On Triple H, Scott Hall, And Other Legends Influencing His In-Ring Style

As a guest on the latest episode of the WWE After the Bell Podcast with Corey Graves, Happy Corbin joined the show to talk about the many influences he's had on his career. While speaking about his love for the details in professional wrestling, Corbin named several people who have helped him get to the point he's currently at, including the late Scott Hall.

"He's a guy who knows how to make another guy with the philosophy of making your stuff mean something," Corbin said. "If it's one punch and it means more than 40 in a row, then you're doing something right, it's the details. How to look, how to carry yourself like a star, that has Terry Taylor written all over it. Look at Roman Reigns when he comes out, he just stands there and slow looks, that has Terry written all over it. It's being a star, if you're hunched over, not comfortable, people see that. He played an unbelievable role.

"Then Razor [Scott Hall]. It's been a tough year losing him now, but he was a guy that would tell me [advice]. I still remember when I was in Brooklyn wrestling Samoa Joe and I did something, choked him on the rope, rolled out of the ring, and celebrated, and I get to the back and he's like 'what the hell was that?' I was like 'what are you talking about?' He's like 'you've got a big man on the ropes and you're out holding your arms up, talking to the fans? You should've been punching him in the face.' He was a guy that wasn't afraid to tell me how to do stuff as well. He was another guy who grabbed me at the PC a few times and we had long good conversations that led to text messages here and there. He's another guy who played an important role in the details.

"I'm just a details guy, man. You look at Randy, he's helped me as well, and Triple H, obviously, helped get me where I am big time. I like the guys who are detail-oriented and they grab onto me because I enjoy that aspect as well, too. I don't want to go out there and just go through the motions. Anybody can learn the moves, anybody can teach somebody a shoulder tackle or hip toss, but to put the special things in-between all of that, those are the guys I'm gravitating to and I think I'm lucky that they kind of grab onto me as well."

This past week, Triple H announced his official retirement from professional wrestling as a guest on Stephen A's World on ESPN. Having worked with The Game throughout his career with the main roster and in NXT, Happy Corbin spoke about the type of influence Triple H has had on his career while also revealing how he told him that he was going to get called up to the main roster.

"When you're around a guy that often when we were in NXT, we're seeing him every Wednesday, I'm seeing him at the PC on regular days," Corbin said. "He was coming in, he was training, he was grabbing onto a few people and helping them with things. He just had a vision, when he was down there in NXT, of how he saw guys and put the right people around them to be successful. If it was a guy who was a wrestling technician, get him with Norman Smiley, get him in there with a guy like that that can teach them all of those things.

"He sees a guy like me, I promise you Taker didn't just go 'ah, I'm going to go talk to this random guy.' I'm sure Triple H said 'hey Taker, this guy, I think he's in your wheelhouse, go have a conversation with him, see if you grab onto him.' I think that's one of the special things that Triple H has, he can surround you with the right people to help find success. He knows, he sees it, he has this vision and he helps to allow you to accomplish that vision and he has fun with it. I think he loves it.

"When he told me I was going to the main roster, we were in Dallas, my debut was in Dallas, and the way he just told me, not even looking up from his phone because he knows how to get to people and mess with people. He's just casually on his phone and like 'hey, you're in the Andre [The Giant Battle Royal] tomorrow and you're on the main roster now,' and then walks out."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE After the Bell with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.