Baron Corbin compares Shawn Michaels and Triple H as WWE bookers (Exclusive)
Baron Corbin has worked under Shawn Michaels and Triple H's creative leadership in WWE over the last year. In an exclusive interview, the former United States Champion addressed the differences between the two regimes.
Triple H replaced his father-in-law Vince McMahon as RAW and SmackDown's creative figurehead in July 2022. Since then, Michaels has been the lead booker of WWE's developmental brand, NXT.
Corbin told Sportskeeda Wrestling's Senior Editor, Bill Apter that the former D-Generation X members shared glaring similarities and also wanted to see very similar things on wrestling shows.
"I mean, I think the cool thing is they're fairly similar. They both have a similar mind for the show they're trying to create. They wanna have action. They wanna have car crashes. They wanna have dominant superstars. Guys that can hand out beatings and guys that can go. I think that's something that's really amazing," he said. [1:25 – 1:45]
Baron Corbin reinvented his character on Michaels' NXT between June 2023 and April 2024. Comparing that spell to his main roster run, the 39-year-old confirmed he had more creative freedom in the developmental brand.
"When you're in NXT, for me, and it's not the same for everybody, for me I had a little bit of an advantage where I came in and they were like, 'Hey, what do you wanna do? What do you wanna accomplish when you're here? What do you wanna create?'" Corbin said. "And so I got to do that. The main roster, you have a little bit of freedom but you don't have that kind of freedom. It is much more handled by all of the great writers that we have." [1:45 – 2:05]
Watch the video above to hear Corbin issue a challenge to his former WWE rival, Drew McIntyre.
Baron Corbin on why NXT stars have more freedom
Nowadays, most RAW and SmackDown wrestlers have already spent several years in NXT honing their on-screen personas before debuting on the main roster.
For that reason, Baron Corbin thinks stars of the white and gold brand are given more opportunities to experiment with characters and ideas than main roster talents.
"I think a lot of it, too, is because those guys, they're finding themselves, they're finding who they are, what they're about, what they wanna stand for, and what kind of character they wanna bring and pitch. When you get back to the main roster or when you come up for the first time, you're kind of established in the character that you're doing. So they have an idea for what you're doing already versus you trying to just dip your feet in the water and figure out where you wanna go." [2:14 – 2:35]
Baron Corbin is currently tag team partners with Apollo Crews on SmackDown. Before returning to the main roster in April, he held the NXT tag titles with Bron Breakker for 55 days in early 2024.
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