Becky Lynch angle led to a WWE star receiving death threats in real life, warnings about getting stabbed
Professional wrestling fans can sometimes get carried away emotionally while watching a kayfabe WWE angle. Baron Corbin has revealed that he received death threats when he hit his finisher on Becky Lynch several years ago.
Baron Corbin has been one of WWE's most underrated heels over the past few years. Even though it's well-established that the talents are playing characters, there are still some people who take pro wrestling a little too seriously and go after the superstars, especially on social media.
Corbin teamed up with Lacey Evans to face Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins at Extreme Rules 2019. The former US Champion hit Lynch with The End of Days during the match, shocking the world as WWE doesn't allow its male stars to attack the female competitors.
As recalled by The Lone Wolf on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, he, too, was caught off guard when Vince McMahon informed him about the spot with Becky Lynch.
"And that was Vince's idea. I was shocked when I got to the building. And it was in Philly, which I knew they were gonna go nuts for. That was Vince's idea. And it was just like, what? Like, it's crazy," said the WWE star.
Baron Corbin said that following the Extreme Rules angle with Becky Lynch, he got death threats, to the extent that some were even ready to stab him. In hindsight, Corbin cherished the kind of heat he received:
"And like the death threats after, were all worth it. Totally worth it. Oh, dude, you have no idea. My Instagram messages and Twitter and all of those things. People were like, dude, I'm gonna stab you the next time I see you for what you did to Becky. I mean, if I get stabbed? Yeah, if I get stabbed? Yeah, definitely arrest that guy."
Baron Corbin explains the art of being a good WWE heel
As noted earlier, the former Money in the Bank winner has consistently been presented as an antagonist and done admirably well with different personas on NXT, RAW, and SmackDown.
The Lone Wolf understood that professional wrestling was about pushing the boundaries and making people question whether a storyline was actually legit. A compelling heel will create a scenario where fans would be left confused despite kayfabe being a known thing.
Corbin stated that when he assaulted Lynch, it conjured feelings of real anger amongst a section of the fanbase who were ready to beat him up if they ever met in person. That, indeed, is good heat!
"But like, Yeah, cuz people, man, like people buy into what we do. Like, that's the art of what we do. Can we suspend disbelief? Can we make people think what we're doing is 100% real and that people bought into that moment? They're like, a grown man put his hands on a woman. I want to fight that guy. Like invoked this rage and people. And it was awesome."
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