Baron Corbin says grinding on the independent scene isn't something to brag about.
Whereas many wrestlers rose to stardom on the independent scene before they landed with WWE, Corbin signed with the company in 2012 following the end of his football career. He honed his craft in NXT before he eventually moved to the main roster in 2016. Since then, he has won the WWE United Stated Championship, the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, and the King of the Ring tournament, among other accolades.
After he spent several weeks away, Corbin returned to WWE on the October 7 episode of WWE Raw alongside JBL. Since then, he has established himself as a force to be reckoned with on the red brand. He briefly clashed with Johnny Gargano, a standout on the independent scene before he came to WWE, and JBL repeatedly stated that guys like Gargano had played Single-A ball, while Corbin went right to the big leagues.
Appearing on the November 16 episode of WWE's The Bump, Corbin was asked why he looks down on wrestlers who came up on the independents. He stated that working there isn't something to brag about, and he never had to.
"[Gargano has] done some great things for somebody that nobody expected anything from. A lot of these guys, it’s a bragging right. Ten years, I’ve been wrestling for 15 years. Why is that a bragging right? I made a phone call, and the WWE brought me in for a tryout and signed me within the week. That’s how it works. I don’t need to go work for a hot dog and popcorn in your local gymnasium. That’s not what I do. It’s not a bragging right for me to go, ‘Ah, I drove around in my buddy’s Honda Civic for six hours to go to this show and then drive 12 hours to this show and the car broke down and we ran out of gas, and we didn’t money to eat. That’s not something you brag about," Corbin said.
He continued by describing how guys like Gargano and Kevin Owens give fans who want to be WWE Superstars false hope, as the industry is meant for elite athletes. He then stated that he stands out in a room, whereas hundreds of people look like Gargano and Owens.
"These guys come in and that’s part of their story. They’re giving hope to hope to people who sit in the audience and go, ‘Ah, I wanna be Johnny Gargano.’ How many little kids see that? Because they have no hope, they have no goals, they have no dreams, and they wanna see a guy like that and they go, ‘Oh, man, if this little guy or Kevin Owens, this guy, I relate to him. We’re similar, we do the same things, we like the same things. I can become a WWE Superstar.’ No, you can’t. Look, this job is not for everybody. My mailman is a nice guy. This job is not for him. This is for elite level athletes, world renowned competitors, and guys when you walk into a room, they look at somebody like me and they go, ‘That guy is somebody.’ If they’ve never watched WWE before, they go, man, look at that watch, look at the diamonds that he’s wearing, look at that suit. That guy is somebody important, whether they’ve seen me or not. You walk into a room with Johnny, with Kevin, with AJ Styles, and you’re just like, oh man, there’s some people in the room hanging out. I saw 500 guys like that at the mall today. There’s a difference," Corbin said.
Corbin previously stated that Triple H was trying to bring back the edge to his character. Check out his comments here.
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