Baron Corbin Deserves So Much More, Retiring Kurt Angle, Happy & Sad Corbin, MITB, The Rock

On getting to WWE: 

"So at the time, I was on a cruise and I kind of got linked in. And the person I was with, they were interviewing managers for their band. And one of the managers was like, oh, man, what do you want to do if football doesn't work out because I have just been released from Arizona, with a little bit of a shoulder injury. And I said, I either want to go to UFC and fight or I want to go to WWE, so I've always been a fan of WWE and, and he's like, go to WWE, it's a better career, more longevity. It's just, you know, and so he put in a phone call to WWE and was like, hey, this guy's interested. He's, you know, six foot seven 335 pounds, he can move. He's an NFL offensive lineman. And I think after he put that call in, like three days later, Johnny Ace called me, he was like, hey, we want to bring you in for a tryout. So it was one of those things where that's what I wanted to do. And I just had an opportunity and timing there. It was pure luck that this guy knew Neil, who's in charge of the music for WWE. He knew Neil and he sent my name to Neil and Neil passed it on. And that's how I got there."

On right place, right time:

"It's funny, there's a lot of things like for me, wrestling Pat McAfee at SummerSlam at the NFL stadium, you know, we were on the Colts together. And we just clicked instantly as buds and we played golf and we went to howl at the moon and we just did all these fun things. While we were there and just really became tight and we knew of this impending lockout in the NFL. And we clicked over wrestling was one of the things we've both massive wrestling fans. You know, me being from Kansas City we had you know, Harley Race’s whole territory that ran Kansas City, we've gone to shows as kids seeing Kamala, seeing Flair all of these amazing people. So I've been a fan and Pat and I were like, well, like what if we get locked out? Let's go train to be wrestlers. Wow. And so we were looking at at the time OVW was the only thing the only way I knew because I was naive to the whole independent scene, like I knew of wrestling in Japan. And then I knew of WWE like I was very naive to any other company that was out there. And we knew OVW was where you know Cena, Batista, Lesnar, all those dudes came out. Okay. Well, if that's the funnel, like let's go there if we are locked out and train. And that was the whole plan. And then I got released and went to Arizona and Pat had an amazing NFL career and the lockout was short, you know, when we did get locked out. I stayed at his he was a draft pick, so he had good money. And we either stayed at the Candlewood Suites, I think was the hotel that Indy put us in, or you, you know, like for him, he got an apartment and he had so I hung out slept there for a little while, instead of just staying in the Candlewood Suites. So we were roommates for a hot minute."

On Pat McAfee:

"There's just special people in the world. And I think there's a lot that goes into it. I don't think it's just a personality trait. I think you got to be a good human, I think you have to have a positive aura, vibe, energy, all of these things and it just creates this special entity. And he is one of those special entities where, you know, despite things that he's done, like, whether it was the one time he allegedly jumped in the river behind and you know, got in trouble a little bit, but like, people didn't care, like that's just Pat McAfee, like, whatever, who cares where other people that could have ruined a career. But he had a successful NFL career. Then he went into comedy. And he went into Barstool Sports and those things and was super successful, like his comedy and he did that himself. He took his money, and he would rent out an arena or amphitheatre or whatever he wanted to perform, and he would sell the tickets, and then he would do the show. And he had massive success in that. And then, you know, he decided to take a chance on himself with his own show, The Pat McAfee Show and the success is obviously you see him now on ESPN every day, like the success is unreal. And it's then come to WWE and be a competitor. How many people can do that? Not just, you know, he's not just an average guy walking in there. Like he's been in the ring with Vince he's been in there, you know, like WrestleMania moments."

On elevating others:

"It's just the massive things, you know, singles matches at WrestleMania. And how many people get those opportunities, singles matches at SummerSlam I've had several you know, I had a singles match against John Cena that opened SummerSlam in New York. Like what? Like, and I think people discredit it because I don’t win those matches. But you know, somebody has to lose and I'm fine with being that guy. Like if I can elevate somebody else. Awesome. That's my job. That's what I take pride in. You know, as a bad guy. I want to go, How do I make this guy the absolute best? And I eat a lot of crow for it man. When I'm done and hopefully that's, you know, a few years from now. People go man, I didn't realise it at the time. That dude was really really good. I really appreciate that. I think Miz is getting into that right now where people are like dude, if you look at our win-loss record and like you know, Dolph is another guy like you look at our win-loss record, it's abysmal. I mean, it's terrible. But we've elevated some certain people to a level and I want to go hey, man, like part of your success is mine. Nobody's gonna give me credit for that. But I know it is. You know whether it was I spent three years running the main event I went Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman, Kurt Angle, Roman Reigns, it was like three years straight. And I was the constant every main event, every show, every pay-per-view, every Europe tour, running the main event, I was the constant. I think you gotta have a lot of pride in yourself to be able to do that too. And I think that comes maybe from the grunt work of an offensive lineman, never the glory, all the blame, like in a sense, and I think it's the same thing in wrestling. Like, I'm never gonna get the glory, at least I don't think [I am]. And I'm okay with that because I take pride in what I do and I love what I do and I love laying flat on the mat with my back down in here in a crowd erupt for a Seth Rollins when he stands up and holds the title up or Roman Reigns and those guys are obviously on a whole other level with themselves and they could probably do it on their own, but I like to think that I played a part in helping elevate those guys.

On being a workhorse:

"The whole COVID [era]. Like I think I was aside from Bayley getting injured at the end. I was the workhorse for that. Like I was pulling both shows. I was doing Raw on Monday at the ThunderDome. Then I'd come back and do Smackdown and there was a show where they had a whole show written and I think everybody was out and I pulled eight segs of a SmackDown where I opened with a promo on The Undertaker and it went into a brawl with Jeff Hardy and then it ended up with like a three seg, like eight segs during COVID Like I was the constant everybody else was come and go and things happened or people if they have never taken time off. I've never taken six months off television. I've never had a break or any of those things and I take pride in that and I think it So when people say yeah, workhorse like I am, and I'm all about that, that's what I take pride in."

On scrapped plans:

"I mean, there's always plans like when I worked with Kurt Angle. Vince had these ideas of now I have the gold medal. I'm the gold medalist like, it was super awesome. And then it just didn't happen. Like something changed and we went in a different direction. But same with the Andre, like the next week, you know, you work with Dolph. If you're new on the roster, you work with Dolph, Dolph is one of the best on the entire planet at elevating guys, and I did that and then, you know, the Lone Wolf did well and had Money in the Bank was US champion all of those things. And I think there's been a few times where there's that moment and it's like, but how do we capitalise and then, you know, things change? I don't know if somebody gets hurt, like I've had moments, we're supposed to have a match with somebody that gonna lead and you know, they get dinged up and they got to, you know, we got to go this way now. So it kind of, you know, hurts that flow, but that's the nature of the business. That's the nature of the beast. And you know, they've got a lot of really talented writers that write these shows and maybe it's something idea that they think is better than what they had. We go with that and maybe it doesn't work. Maybe it does. It's just It's random. I mean, sad Corbin was random. I think we could have ran that for another six months and just really looked horrible. My hair would have been so bad." 

On retiring Kurt Angle:

"People even ask me, like, if he came back for one more match. Would you be mad? No, he's one of the greatest of all time. Like, did we make something of me retiring him? You know? Yeah, it's awesome. It's something I'll have in my belt forever. But like I would love to see Kurt compete again, like just one of those things I was listening to him on Rogan's podcast today. And I'm like, I love that guy. Like he's just so good. And the things he's done and fought through and accomplished and changed his life around to like, you know, be a better father, husband, wrestler, everything, competitor. And I mean, that was a huge moment. That's something I will have forever. I have a six foot poster in my house of it like because it was just such a cool thing. And to get the win. Like, I thought for sure, going into that I was like, man, we're gonna send Kurt out on a high horse hand raised, me laying flat on my back. I was like, that's gonna be awesome. And then they're like, Hey, man, you're going over and I was like, huh? Can you say that one more time? And like for Kurt to do that, like Kurt could have said no. I would have respected Kurt for that would have made sense. It would have been, you know, I would not have been any bit upset for that. Like I'm working Kurt Angle at WrestleMania. A guy who was in the Hall of Fame a guy who was a gold medal, a guy who has been in the ring with every superstar you can imagine from Taker to Brock to me just the list goes on and on and on. And I'm having a singles match at WrestleMania with this person."

On The Rock and John Cena returning:

"Yeah. And now you've got Batista. Like whispering Hey, man, I got nothing to do right now. You know, part of me is like, Hey, guys, come on. We're all trying to work here. Just because you guys are taking a little breather, obviously not by choice. But you guys are you know, then they're going hey, let's go. Let's go back to this thing that's so amazing. I'm going Ah, you rascals, you know it's but it's amazing for the business. It's amazing for the superstars for a Grayson Waller. Like, I don't think he ever sat there and be like, Man, I'm gonna be in the ring with John Cena. Like, that's just not something you think about this day and age, because you don't, Cena is a movie star. What he's doing is incredible. And the level he's reached is amazing. So you're like, No, he's not going to come back and wrestle. And if he does, it's going to be Roman. And it's going to be Seth. But he's like, John is so giving back to this, this industry, this business, because he loves it with every bit of what he does. And I've soaked up an immense amount of knowledge from John and I see John on a regular basis because I go to his gym, and we talk or we've been to dinner and his mind for this is just leaps and bounds above 99% of the people in this in this industry. And so when you soak up that information, now he's passing it on the guys like Grayson Waller, and, you know, stepping in the ring with Solo, and all of these guys, they're getting an opportunity to be in there with greatness, where they may never have thought they were going to do that. I never thought I was gonna stand in the ring with The Rock on the very first smackdown on Fox and do an eight-minute segment and take a Rock Bottom and a spine buster. Like that was never my wildest dreams. And then it happened. And then I spent the afternoon talking to The Rock, like how do I capitalise on this? What can I do about this? How do I get embedded like, asking information that I can apply and use that will benefit me?"

On advice from The Rock:

"Absolutely. Just with like, there's the ability that those guys have, which I take a lot of pride as a heel is listening to the crowd for my timing, and where John and Rock are the absolute best and you can hear it, they look up and they just listen, what am I hearing, and then they can dictate what they're doing to that and amplify it where some people don't hear it and just run over it. And you could have made a moment out of you know, you hear these rumblings and you're going okay, man, they for me as a heel, like, if I'm in the ring with Cody Rhodes and I'm starting to hear that rumble and I'm going okay, man and they want to see him do something. So what can I have him do? Okay? He beats me up and does something and then I cut him back off and go not this time, you know. But that's I've learned that ability from Rock and from Cena, like, Listen, don't, don't rush things, take your time. And then you can do the same in promo you start to you have to be able to multitask. And some people just don't, and they miss out on an opportunity to get a better reaction or those things. I'm trying to implement that with the guys in NXT. Like, slow down like it is a faster-paced show. And that's what's cool about it, it is different if it's the same product, we're just gonna watch Raw and SmackDown. It needs to be different needs to stand out in its own way. And it is that fast pace. It is that exciting, physical, constant movement thing, but I'm going hey, you can still listen while you're doing these things. And if you hear that, you can take it from a six to an eight. And now all of a sudden you're going from an eight to a ten. Like, you can do that. And that's two things I've just learned from those guys, you know, to listen and take your time."

On Baron Corbin’s finishers being invented by accident:

"Not a joke. Same with deep six too. We were playing around at the Performance Center, we have a CrashPad ring. And we can go in there and try things and a kid named Sami Callihan. I was playing around with him in the ring. And he does this thing where he springs off the bottom rope and catches you for a DDT. And I was just messing with him. And he jumped and I caught him. And I did the End of Days on him. And we both sat up and looked at each other like wait a second. What was that? Yeah, like, that's something cool. And then I just did it. And I was like, dude, and I filmed it. And at the time I sent it to Billy Gunn. I was like, Yo, I think this is my finish because I was really trying to find a finish at the time. He's like, That's awesome. I'm going to use it tonight against The Shield. And I said, Don't you dare, I will fight you when you come back. And he didn't he was just messing with me. But so it was a complete accident. And it's just been something that really kind of put me on the map. It's a cool, unique first time ever seeing this finish. And then I protected it with every bit of my might."

On advice from The Undertaker:

"I talked to Undertaker one time when he came. And I was just asking him questions. And I think I stumped him on one when I asked him like, how did you know when it was time to evolve? And it was like he was perplexed. He was like, that's a good question, he's talking to all of us. And I felt real good that I asked that awesome question. I was like, but I was genuinely curious. Like, especially because I've had to evolve several times in my career. And then afterwards, because I asked that question, he pulled me aside and was like, Dude, what, uh, you know, and I was like, well give me some other just little tidbits, and he's like, protect your finish. Don't let people kick out of it. He's like, there'll be a right moment sometimes. For you to do that. Hopefully, it's 10 years into your career. He's like, That's what I did. And so I took that to heart. I mean, obviously, when Taker is telling you something you listen. Same with all those guys that we've listed today. So I did I protected it. I mean, when I worked with John Cena at SummerSlam. He said, What do you want to do? And I said, Well, I can tell you the one thing I don't want to do. I don't want to kick out your finish and I really would appreciate it if you wouldn't kick out of mine. He said done. And I said then let's have an awesome opening show match. He’s like, can we keep it all in the ring and said absolutely. And then we did and I take a tonne of pride in that match because I liked the old-school mentality of building the card. And that night we built the card like we kept it in the ring. We didn't kick Out of finishes, we put on one heck of a match. That was on first that was a first match. And so with the end of days, that was something I took to heart, like even with Roman, with Seth, with The Shield. That was always something I was like, Hey, man, I just want to protect it. We can do whatever you want. That's the one thing I'm asking that we don't do. And Romans like, Yeah, we don't need to do that. We don't need to kick out of it, Seth, same thing, like those guys are so talented and so creative that we can get the reactions we want without doing that. And I've never kicked that anybody else’s finish because I'm not going to ask you to not kick out of mine. But hey, let me kick out of yours. Sure. It's just something I've always done. I've never kicked out of anybody's even when someone is like, Hey, man, let's do that. I go, Hey, let's find a different way. I don't want to kick out of your finish, you know. And so, to me, I'm not going to ask somebody to do that. Not kick out of mine. And like, Hey, man, you know, it's just I think, to me a respect thing. So that was what the end of days was built in. We've only had one person in my career kick out of it."

On hitting Becky Lynch with End of Days:

"And that was Vince's idea. I was shocked when I got to the building. And it was in Philly, which I knew they were gonna go nuts for. That was Vince's idea. And it was just like, what? Like, it's crazy. And like the death threats after were all worth it. Totally worth it. Oh, dude, you have no idea. My Instagram messages and Twitter and all of those things. People were like, dude, I'm gonna stab you the next time I see you for what you did to Becky. I mean, if I get stabbed? Yeah, if I get stabbed? Yeah, definitely arrest that guy. But like, Yeah, cuz people, man like people buy into what we do. Like, that's the art of what we do. Can we suspend disbelief? Can we make people think what we're doing is 100% real and that people bought into that moment? They're like, a grown man put his hands on a woman. I want to fight that guy. Like invoked this rage and people. And it was awesome."

What is Baron Corbin grateful for:

“My wife and kids, the opportunities and being able to have a conversation.”