When Baron Corbin was called up from NXT, he made an immediate splash by winning the Andre the Giant Memorable Battle Royal. However, once that character had run its course, WWE saddled him with the career-killing "Constable Corbin" persona.
Eventually, he'd ditch that by becoming King of the Ring. However, he'd later be repackaged again, this time as "Bum Ass Corbin," a down-on-his-luck version of the character who very quickly got over with fans.
His next evolution saw him become the less popular Happy Corbin, and WWE paired him with JBL in an attempt to give the former United States Champion a WWE Hall of Fame manager. The partnership didn't work out, leaving JBL to bury his new protégé on his way back to Bermuda following Corbin's embarrassing losing streak.
The decision was ultimately made to send Corbin back to NXT where he had a successful run as Bron Breakker's tag team partner. However, when he was called back up to the main roster, Corbin was paired with Apollo Crews and released by the company weeks later.
Talking to Chris Van Vliet, Corbin admitted that his WWE release "hurt," particularly after what had proven to be a successful run in NXT.
"I had gone to NXT, reinvented myself and put a lot of work into it, even though I didn't agree with some of it," he recalled. "I had a conversation before I moved to NXT. Bruce Prichard was like, 'You know, it's just not working, we want you to go down there, reinvent yourself, new moves, lose a little weight, blah, blah, blah.' And I did and I think it was maybe not meant for me to succeed as well as I did down there."
As for his eventual main roster return, Corbin said, "When I got up there, I feel like someone was holding me down, in a sense of that wasn't supposed to work, because I would go out and do dark matches, or when I did wrestle on TV the crowd was insane for me. It was the best reactions I'd had in years since I was the King or the Constable."
"There were times with the JBL stuff I think it could have worked if we'd done it differently, which we'd pitch several ideas. He sent in amazing pitches and they just died in the wind somewhere," he said of that failed partnership. "But I'd stand out there and go you could feel it's not working. I'm not getting the reactions I want or anything like that, to where six months ago, I'm telling you, the reactions were everything was there."
Corbin would go on to talk about the various WWE Superstars who reached out to him, including Randy Orton. "Randy's like, 'Dude, I honestly thought you were gonna be here another 10 years? I don't understand it.' He's like, 'Do you mind if I talk to Hunter about it?' I don't know if he ever did, but he's like, 'Somebody doesn't like you.' I feel like I know who it is, and that's besides the point."
Elsewhere in the interview, the former United States Champion explained how the rug was frequently pulled out from under him (including what ended up being a rare unsuccessful Money in the Bank cash-in attempt).
While he says there were originally plans for him to become WWE Champion, the company pushing Jinder Mahal to its Indian audience scuppered the whole thing, meaning he's ended his WWE career having never won the big one.
"I wanted to be World Champion. I wanted to have that accolade on me for the rest of my life," he admitted. "That's a cool thing to tell people when you're 60 or tell my kids, 'I was a World Champion in WWE, here's a picture of it.' Whether it was a day run like Kane had or whatever, I wanted that moment and I did it for a lot of people."
"I built Braun to go. I mean, not that these people needed building, but I worked with these guys. Braun went on and then he won the title from Bray Wyatt. Seth Rollins, I worked with him, he went to SummerSlam with Brock Lesnar. Roman Reigns did that. He went to WrestleMania. I'm not getting those big moments, but I had a lot of great, big [moments]. There were so many," Corbin concluded.
Finally, the former WWE Superstar shared this about how it all ended for him in the company:
"I wish it hadn't ended like it did. I wish I had more opportunity to continue with this babyface thing. Nobody wants it to end. Any job, it's not fun. But it's also exciting at the same time, because now I can literally do whatever. I can try to create something new. I can go in different directions. I think the most frustrating part for me is not understanding why there's an ulterior motive there. Because, again, I've been a company guy through and through. I've never said no to doing something. I've made everything work that I've been given, not complained, have never once complained online."
You can watch the full interview below.