For some reason, a lot of fans have a problem with Baron Corbin. Social media is full of taunts and jeers that to the objective onlooker may seem unwarranted. Unfortunately, that may very well be the case. Though Corbin may not be able to do much about his booking, he is playing his part quite well. Crowned King of the Ring in 2019, he has made it clear that he is the top Heel on SmackDown, after Roman Reigns. Nevertheless, he has lost every match he’s been in since late July. Could this unfair backlash be the cause of his apparent jobber status? Whatever the case, Corbin’s performance is consistently improving. Fans should at least take some time to find a true grievance before jumping on the bandwagon to put him down.
Coming up from NXT, the former Golden Gloves Champion and NFL player, Baron Corbin, made his major WWE debut in 2016. Starting as a “Lone Wolf” type, one could easily mistake him for a Sons of Anarchy stand-in. His bullying Heel ways were repackaged in 2018 when he returned as RAW’s General Manager and subsequent scapegoat for The Authority’s “mismanagement”. In 2019, Corbin won the King of the Ring tournament and has been the go-to Heel on SmackDown ever since. Even so, it appears Corbin is jobbing since the last match he won was over Drew Gulak earlier this summer.
Top tweets regarding Corbin speak of how lame or boring he is, while others also question the backlash. After doing some digging, the main complaint is a common flaw of WWE. His feuds go on too long. WWE does tend to overuse an angle. Corbin’s last feud with Roman Reigns is a good example. The creative department appears to get lazy and just hits repeat. In the process, the WWE Universe simply grows tired of him. However, Reddit is where a person goes to show the love. Given the praise found there, Corbin might be an underground hit. Fanboy/girl posts far outweigh talk of how terrible he supposedly is.
So, what can Baron Corbin do when he is getting flak for just doing his job? A wise person would hone the craft. A lot of talk on both Twitter and Reddit spoke of a yearning for his Lone Wolf character to reemerge. Yet, the WWE Universe tends to be nostalgic. Somewhere, right now, someone is posting something about a match that happened 30 years ago. Corbin shouldn’t be afraid to grow and experiment. How much say he has in plotting his direction is uncertain but it’s clear he’s getting weekly airtime. He should make the most of it.
Currently, his character resembles a big brother from hell cut with a schoolyard bully. He traded in the faux business attire for an athletic tank and embroidered slacks. A possible way to go is to embellish that. He could become the resident Big Brother/Bully. Nearing 40, he still manages to steal people’s lunch money or put a finger in someone’s drink to claim it for his own. There has to be some levity. Gratuitous sadism begets strong criticism. That was one of the problems with his original portrayal. He seemed like a prick, not a Heel. Rather than look like he’ll shank someone in the restroom, Corbin may fare better coming off like he’ll “kill someone” if they let Mom know. He shows a sense of humour on Twitter. Looking at social media posts, a lot of fans would welcome more of that Baron Corbin coming to TV. If he can blend all this together just right, he may find a way to coax fans into loving to “hate” him.