During a recent interview with Digital Spy, “King” Baron Corbin commented on the criticism he gets online, changing up his look, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On the criticism he gets online: “I’ve always had thick skin. I’m lucky I guess because people can’t hurt my feelings. Social media is kind of a double-edged sword because you do deal with so much negativity it’s ridiculous. But I also think that those people are going to be negative regardless. There’s nothing you can do to please these people, but the good thing is they’re also telling you what they don’t like, so you can use that in your character. Like I put on a suit vest and everybody on social media said, ‘He looks ridiculous, why does he have a suit vest? I hate the suit vest.’ So what am I going to do? I’m going to wear the suit vest. That’s my job, my job is to irritate you and you’re telling me how.”
On changing up his image from his long-haired look: “Cutting the hair felt good. I was ready to cut my hair. It becomes very taxing to have to go through the process of dealing with long hair, it can be a nightmare sometimes. But having to put on the suit and tie and go to work, it kind of felt like I sold my soul to The Man and I think everybody does it at least once in their life, where you have to just accept the role or position in a job where you have to wear a suit and tie. So you have to put that suit and tie on, but you’re still the same thing underneath and I think that allowed me to just elevate to the level where I’m at. It’s gotten me to the top of the card, it’s gotten me in title matches. So there was a good reason to do that. I’ve still got the tattoos underneath, I’m still carrying the spirit. But yeah, every once in a while you’ve got to put on a suit and go to work. So that’s what I had to do.”
On wrestling in a dress shirt and trousers: “It was so hot. I had to stay in the dress shirt so I started searching all these companies for the right dress shirt because I would tear them and as soon as I would start sweating they stick to you and it was ridiculous. But I finally found a good one, but the jeans were really hot too. So it was just a very hot experience every time I was out there, but I got used to it after a few weeks. And now I’m free of the dress shirts. I feel fantastic.”
On the backlash to his change in character: “For me, it was the best thing I could have done. I think it gave people an opportunity to hear me, it gave me an opportunity to kind of find my own way with the microphone. When I was just that kind of angry metal biker it was something that maybe not everyone could connect to, good or bad. People enjoyed the look and thought I was cool, but when I got the microphone and got to go, I got a chance for people to really hate me and that’s hard to do nowadays. You always have a fear of overexposure and I think it was the right amount for me to really get under people’s skin, so I think it was done perfectly and it just really helped me to grow as a character. Now I’m not worried if they give me a long promo, I know I can do it because I opened Raws with segment-long promos. I think they just threw me in the fire to see what I can do and I think I crushed it,” he continued. “Now I’m much more confident with everything I’m doing because I hadn’t really done anything like that before. So, you know now I’ve sung a lullaby on Raw, I’ve done eight promos in one night and sometimes they change 30 seconds before you do them, so really helps you just to be on your A game.”
On winning King of the Ring: “(The King of the Ring) has got such an iconic history from Stone Cold to Bret Hart to Triple H, these guys have done amazing things with it. So I’m definitely looking to bring it back and make it a more prominent role on TV year-round because I think it is. I think it’s a really neat achievement for guys to try to get and I think you can do a lot with it. It gives you some freedom character-wise and ability-wise to what you can do and how you can act and it gives people either something to love or hate.”
On his title goal: “I want to be in a championship match at WrestleMania. So that’s the goal and I think being King Corbin I can get that done. I can achieve that, it puts me on a level that I can compete for a title at Wrestlemania because I think that’s the next step up. I don’t want to move backwards or laterally, so I want to find a moment whether it’s taking the Intercontinental title from somebody, the US title or the World Heavyweight. It’s what I want and I want to be in that prime spot and to keep rolling.”
