Vince McMahon wanted current WWE star to walk around with Kurt Angle's Olympic gold medal
The creative process in WWE has often been pretty unpredictable, especially when Vince McMahon was in control, resulting in stop-start pushes for many talents. Baron Corbin recently opened up about the creative ideas that didn't get time in WWE, including one involving Kurt Angle.
When the Olympic hero returned to WWE, Baron Corbin was his most prominent on-screen rival. The two on-screen authority figures feuded for a while, which led to a match at WrestleMania 35.
Corbin revealed that as part of his storyline with Angle, Vince McMahon wanted him to claim he was a gold medalist, too. Like many pitches that never reached television, Corbin walking around with an Olympic gold medal also got lost in the long list of unused ideas.
"I mean, there's always plans like when I worked with Kurt Angle. Vince had these ideas of now I have the gold medal," Corbin told Chris Van Vliet. "I'm the gold medalist, like, it was super awesome. And then it just didn't happen. Like something changed, and we went in a different direction."
Baron Corbin broke through as a promising main roster star by winning the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32.
After the monumental win, he began a program with Dolph Ziggler, which he believed was WWE's way of elevating him. Corbin recalled that despite having many high points in his WWE run, the company did not capitalize on the momentum.
He explained:
"But the same with the Andre [Battle Royal], like the next week, you know, you work with Dolph. If you're new on the roster, you work with Dolph. Dolph is one of the best on the entire planet at elevating guys, and I did that, and then, you know, The Lone Wolf did well and had Money in the Bank [and] was US Champion all of those things. And I think there's been a few times where there's that moment, and it's like, but how do we capitalize and then, you know, things change?"
Baron Corbin feels the 'Sad Corbin' character could have gone on for longer in WWE
He might not have won the world title, but Baron Corbin has proven his versatility as a performer, taking up different personas to stay relevant and helping put the spotlight on many babyfaces in the process.
The 39-year-old star honestly felt that his Sad/Happy Corbin character arc could have been extended for another six months.
Corbin praised WWE's current writing team and said that the group had some great minds that consistently produced fresh plans. However, due to the erratic nature of professional wrestling, Baron Corbin had no qualms about admitting only some ideas would be successful.
"Now, they've got a lot of really talented writers that write these shows, and maybe it's something idea that they think is better than what they had. We go with that, and maybe it doesn't work. Maybe it does. It's just It's random. I mean, sad Corbin was random. I think we could have run that for another six months, and it just really looked horrible. My hair would have been so bad."
Corbin also opened up about hitting the End of Days on Becky Lynch and whose idea it was, which you can check out right here.