Happy Corbin details how his new name came about.
WWE’s Happy Corbin has undergone several name changes since 2019. He was known as ‘King Corbin’ and then ‘Sad Corbin’ and now he’s ‘Happy Corbin’ on WWE programming.
The name change came from Vince McMahon, Corbin shared during his appearance on the Out of Character podcast. Corbin initially found out about a potential name change through social media when he saw a story on Twitter about WWE trademarking the name ‘Happy Corbin’. When he inquired about the name change, he was told there was nothing to it and then several weeks later, he was Happy Corbin.
That [Happy Corbin name] was 100 percent Vince [McMahon]. I heard it actually on Twitter. They were like, ‘WWE just copy wrote Happy Corbin.’ I was like, ‘What? That’s where we’re — what?’ And so like I was confused and I came and I asked and [they’re] like, ‘Ah, we don’t really know what you’re talking about’ and then sure enough, a couple of weeks later, they’re like, ‘Hey, your name’s Happy Corbin now’ and I was like, ‘Huh, so Twitter knew before I knew?’ And that’s how you find out about a lot of stuff. It’s so funny. So I had no idea, same with my music. I showed up to work and they’re like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna rehearse your entrance.’ I’m like, ‘It’s no different.’ They’re like, ‘No, you got new music’ and I was like, ‘Huh? Since when!?’ Like I had no idea so it was just pretty funny. You got to be able to work on the fly a little bit.
Prior to donning the ‘Happy Corbin’ name, he was known as ‘Sad Corbin’ and that character came into the fold after Corbin lost his King of the Ring crown to Shinsuke Nakamura. He doesn’t think ‘Sad Corbin’ was supposed to last as long as it did, but it became entertaining and Corbin started to enjoy it.
I honestly believe that the ‘Sad Corbin’ wasn’t supposed to last as long as it did. I think it was supposed to be kind — from what I understand, it was kind of supposed to be a two-week thing of like, ‘You’re gonna lose the crown, you’re gonna get a little bit pissed’ but it became very entertaining and I had a lot of fun because it was like polar opposite of anything I’ve done and I think that’s what’s fun about this job for me is it doesn’t become monotonous when you continually evolve and that was just like a hard left from anything I’ve ever done and it was just this miserable guy with a dirty shirt and the worst part was not being able to cut the hair or the beard because Vince [McMahon] is like — I get a text message at like 2 AM from Vince. It’s like, ‘Don’t shave or cut your hair’ and I’m going, ‘Okay, where’s this going?’ After like three weeks, I’m going like [scratching his beard]. I got like the [George] Costanza hair going and I’m like, ‘What am I –’ and the best part is I’m visiting schools for my daughter. They’re like private schools so my daughter’s two-and-a-half and I’m going in and my beard and hair, you can’t wear a hat into these places so I look ridiculous and I’m going, ‘I have to apologize for how I look. It’s my job’ and they’re just like [side-eying me] because it’s private schools, not cheap and they’re judging me the second I walk in. Yeah, it was just really funny.
The former United States Champion is not sure how the idea of Happy Corbin came about. He thinks there could have been a situation where he made Vince McMahon laugh and that kicked it off.
Corbin shared that Vince often tells him that the crowd does not like him, so that’s going to be amplified if he’s happy all the time.
It’s funny because they come up with these ideas and I think it’s just being around Vince [McMahon] for years or Triple H or those — they kind of start to learn your personality so they tailor characters I think. They get these ideas, tailor that character based on their interactions with you over the years so, could’ve been something with Vince where I’m making him laugh or just having fun, being one of the guys with him and he’s like, ‘Ah man, I got this idea where you’re just over the top happy’ and he always tells me, he’s like, ‘People don’t like you. They’re really not gonna like you when you’re really happy all the time’ and so, it works. I think — and like I said, it’s just fun man.
Corbin and his partner Madcap Moss were featured on the most recent episode of SmackDown and their appearance was to set up Moss versus Drew McIntyre at WWE Day 1.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Ryan Satin’s Out of Character podcast with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
