Baron Corbin’s been going through a rough time, but as the phrase goes, it could always be worse.
There doesn’t seem to be any ending in short sight for the former King of the Ring. WWE likes this gimmick of a sad sack enough enough to have featured it for several weeks and will probably continue it for weeks to come.
With that in mind, in what ways could WWE continue to dehumanize and beat down on The Lone Wolf? Here are some ideas:
1) Forced to Take Odd Jobs
This week, Corbin popped up on Monday Night Raw to face (and lose to) Drew McIntyre. The rationality was that he was brought over in this stupid brand-to-brand invitational—an excuse made up by WWE to allow them to arbitrarily bring people between shows, supposedly 4 times, but they ignore that whenever they want.
Even more so, it was justified that Jinder Mahal had paid for his services in an attempt to take out McIntyre. Corbin failed and likely didn’t earn his proper payment.
What if he has to start taking other odd jobs from other Superstars? Perhaps, even more demeaning ones?
Cameron Grimes is currently LA Knight’s butler after losing to him. Corbin could be in a similar position, doing tasks like cleaning up the locker room, carrying people’s bags, being a punching bag for someone who wants to vent their frustrations or even a human shield for heels like The Miz and John Morrison who want a bigger guy to offset Damian Priest.
2) Someone Kicks Out of the End of Days
To the best of my knowledge and recollection, nobody has kicked out of the End of Days yet. It’s odd, but Corbin’s had one of the most protected finishers out there, alongside Kenny Omega’s One-Winged Angel.
This wouldn’t hit home as hard as some of the other things on this list, as most people wouldn’t know that information. However, if WWE were to put more emphasis on it to remind people, then it might work.
The other problem with that, and why I don’t see it happening, though, is that it requires him actually winning matches again with it to illustrate how nobody has kicked out. In order to do that, he’d be on the upswing, which goes against this whole gimmick.
The only way I could see them pulling this off—and it wouldn’t be worth it to sacrifice the move’s streak, in my opinion—would be for them to run a video package about how he used to be great and run down his accolades. They could mention his Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal win, his Money in the Bank, United States Championship and so on, as well as pinpoint the fact nobody’s kicked out. Then, of course, someone does.
3) Corbin Goes Undrafted
While reports originally indicated the 2021 WWE Draft was set for a few days after SummerSlam, it now appears to be pushed back a little further. Still, it should be coming up sometime in September or October, and if this gimmick is still going on by then, Baron Corbin could find himself without a home in an entirely different way.
Going unpicked isn’t new. Others have been in a similar position in the past, like Heath Slater. Corbin could be the next in line for that and it would be fun to track his story throughout the draft, trying to appeal to both Raw and SmackDown representatives about how he’s a valuable player and badmouthing the other side in an attempt to gain favor, only to be caught speaking ill of both brands.
Then, he can even pop up on a show like 205 Live, begging for a spot, claiming he’ll lose the weight if need be, or he can appear on Main Event and point out how nobody watches the show, but he’ll take a role on it if it means he gets to stay employed—although that one might hit too close to home for the reality of some Superstars.
4) Corbin Suffers an “Injury”
Real injuries aren’t something to mess with, but fake injuries can be the source of quality entertainment.
This past week on Raw, we saw The Miz get up from his wheelchair to show that he’s no longer injured and was just milking it. Maybe it’s time for Corbin to suffer some sort of kayfabe injury that can get worse over time.
Imagine if he “breaks” his finger. Then, his hand. That leads to his whole arm in a cast. Then, the other arm. So on and so forth.
It’s cruel, but that’s the point of this. People are kicking a guy when he’s down and laughing at him because his character is a jerk, so it’s considered okay to relish in his punishment.
5) Corbin Loses to Enhancement Talent
Eventually, Corbin could fall victim to the typical WWE booking philosophy of “Wouldn’t it be funny if he lost to people a lot smaller and more inconsequential than he is?”
At first, it can be against strictly weaker talent on the roster, like Humberto Carrillo and Riddick Moss, who haven’t accomplished much. Then, he can start losing to developmental guys in the NXT system who haven’t made a name for themselves yet in WWE, like Trey Baxter and Andre Chase. Eventually, maybe he’s even losing to local talent if WWE is still on tour for live events at that time.
6) Corbin is Stuck in Catering
Last, but certainly not least, is if he’s just stuck meandering through the halls with nothing to do and no means to make money.
The philosophy behind matches is that the winner gets more money. People are willing to lose by disqualification if it will further their personal rivalries, but everyone should theoretically want to win every match. But what happens if you don’t get booked on the card? You don’t even have a chance to earn that money.
Corbin could beg people like Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville for a match, even if he’s going to lose, just to earn some money, only to find himself walking around catering, hanging out behind the scenes doing nothing.
Like the Main Event idea, this may be too much of a reflection of how many Superstars actually are, so they may not want to do it and upset the boys backstage. However, we’re in an era where most fans are either too casual to get the reference or we know exactly what the joke is. If you have a sense of humor, it will work perfectly, and if you don’t, you should get some thicker skin, essentially.
Hell, they could even play around with Corbin’s Catering in some fashion and make it a joke that he’s there by himself and nobody wants to sit at the same table any time they do show up, too. He could drop his food and just be a total loser even in that realm, too.
What are your thoughts on Corbin’s current state of affairs? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
