Baron Corbin thinks crowd would’ve turned him babyface if ‘Bum Ass Corbin’ persona lasted longer

Baron Corbin looks back at the 'Bum Ass Corbin' persona and feels he would've been a babyface if it lasted longer

Photo Courtesy: WWE

Corbin is not against the idea of being a babyface. 

The 2023 WWE Royal Rumble Premium Live Event emanated from San Antonio, Texas and prior to the event, Busted Open Radio welcomed Baron Corbin onto the show for a sit-down interview. 

As they were looking back on and discussing some of Corbin’s past on-screen personas, he dove into the ‘Bum Ass Corbin’ character. He started off by saying it was a weird feeling to notice the crowd beginning to get on his side. He believes that if it lasted longer, the crowd would have turned him babyface. 

One of the reasons it was halted was because Vince McMahon had his vision for what was next for the character. Corbin added that he is not against becoming a babyface but it would have to be a natural turn. 

So it was so funny, when I was doing the ‘broke-down, bum ass Corbin,’ people were starting to cheer and it was almost like a weird, kind of uncomfortable feeling for me when I would come out because I would walk down the aisle and there would be people holding money out. I mean I probably could have made $500, a thousand a night with people holding out $20s. I had people shoving it in my car windows when I’d leave the venue, it was wild and I think that if it had lasted longer, it probably would have full-fledged turned me to the other side and I think that’s one of the reasons we cut it earlier than we probably should’ve. Vince [McMahon] had a vision to change it and become ‘Happy Corbin’ and I think he wanted to do it before it turned me to a baby and it was a weird feeling having that reaction. I would do it, I’m not opposed to it… It’s not in me to ever be a rah, rah, cheer for me guy. I think if it’s something for me that would be a natural kind of evolution of people going, man, he deserves his due. Let’s get this guy and let’s run with him a little bit. He’s busted his ass and he’s put on 100-plus matches a year, he’s always there. I’m always a guy that you can call and, ‘Hey. We got Drew McIntyre on Raw tonight. Who can put on an amazing match and go to war with him?’ ‘Ah, grab Corbin. He can do it.’ Even if it’s a cold match, I can go out there, I can get heat, I can perform and I can make it believable I can beat anybody on this roster and I think that if it ever does change that way, it will be one of those things where they just wanna put a little respect behind it as the fans and they finally start maybe appreciating it but who knows? Miz did it for a short run there when he was with Shane [McMahon] — was a good guy. That was the only time ever in his career. It really is (hard to like The Miz). 

Corbin is currently paired with JBL on the Monday Night Raw brand. Along with JBL, Corbin receives advice from William Regal who is back in WWE and he touched on that during the conversation. 

And Regal’s the same way. [William] Regal is back with us now and Regal comes up and he always says, ‘I know I can tell it to you straight because you’re not gonna get butthurt’ and they (both Regal & JBL) can.

Baron entered the Rumble at the number nine spot and was eliminated by Seth Rollins. 

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Busted Open Radio with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions. 

About Andrew Thompson 9831 Articles
A Washington D.C. native and graduate of Norfolk State University, Andrew Thompson has been covering wrestling since 2017.