Baron Corbin on where he's at in WWE.
Prior to the Aug. 19 episode of WWE Raw, Baron Corbin had been off television for weeks following WWE Extreme Rules. Corbin headlined Extreme Rules, teaming with Lacey Evans in a loss to Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins. He returns to singles competition on Aug. 26 episode, facing The Miz in the first-round of the King of the Ring tournament.
Corbin recently spoke to Newsweek, discussing where he's at in WWE at the moment.
"Having the size, look, athleticism, strength plays into it. You still need "something." You can take a guy who is big, strong and put him out there and no one cares. You still have to have that "it" factor that people love or hate you for it," Corbin said when asked what keeps him at the top of the card. "In my case, they hate me. I continue to grow. That's what a lot of these young guys in the tournament will learn. I had a conversation with The Undertaker about "how do you know when it's time to grow? When it's time to evolve?" and I got to be in the ring with Seth, Cena, Roman Reigns, The Undertaker, and Kurt Angle You walk into those matches learning from them every single time and that's what keeps me at the top of the card and roster. I'm never settling for what I have. I want to continue to grow and adapt and some people say "I'm really good" instead of looking to get better. I'm looking to be Universal Champion that's my goal. Right now I'm building a list of accomplishments that they read off before my matches. But with King of the Ring look at the names that won it. Austin with his iconic Austin 3:16 speech, Bret Hart, Triple H Booker T, these guys are Hall of Famers and to have that on my belt will be important. I want to continue to grow and grow my accomplishments."
Corbin was positioned as the top heel on Raw for months, from his role as the Constable to retiring Kurt Angle to challenging Rollins for the Universal Title. When asked how he handled the responsibilities as the top heel on the brand, Corbin said, "With pleasure. That's where I want to be. So if you want me to carry that on my back I'm more than happy to. I pride myself in being the best or the worst, which some people might think, with how they like my attitude or whatever. That's important to me. It's important to be relied on in a sense. I want to be a guy who they can say "hey put Corbin in, we can count on him knowing he could be the guy." Last year I think I had the second most matches in WWE, this year I've got more matches in WWE. So it's important for me to be in that place."
The 2017 Men's Money in the Bank winner also stated that he believes "patience" helped him get to where he's at today.
As far as the King of the Ring tournament goes, Corbin was asked what he hopes to gain from the tournament. He answered, "I hope to continue to evolve. I want my look to evolve more, that's a point for me. But right now all my focus is on King of the Ring and I'm not looking past that. I just look forward to winning it and rubbing it in people's faces every chance I get. I told my wife that this will give me a great excuse to buy an awesome pinky ring so I'm going to buy a giant diamond pinky ring to rub it in people's faces and get a chance to aggravate people. But I want people to get excited about wrestling again and with WWE. They're doing so many good things right now and its evolving with RAW having Heyman and things are changing and on Smackdown things are changing. It's an exciting time for WWE and people to get excited and love it. It's so much more fun when you go there to have a good time."
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