Baron Corbin recently spoke with Justin Barrasso for Sports Illustrated Extra Mustard’s Week In Wrestling; you can read a few highlights below:
Corbin talks about family being a big part of who he is, despite not having TV time to flesh out his character that much:
Yes, and that does play a role in what I do and who I am. I have a huge portrait of [my father] and my grandfather on my thigh. It helps remind me every day of where I came from, who I am, and what I’m about. Family is very important to me, and I’m honoring the people who created me.
When I go to the ring, I’m providing for my family. There will be a time when I take care of my mom, because my dad is not here anymore. If I’m standing across the ring from Roman Reigns, then he’s trying to take an opportunity away from me.
People like to think the character in the ring is very different than the person out of the ring, but for me, it’s not. I am extremely tough and extremely physical, and that is because my father taught me to be tough, physical, and not to take no for an answer. I learned to get what I wanted through any means necessary, and sometimes that means you have to get your hands dirty.
My dad brought me up not to accept second place. I lost a karate tournament once and got a trophy for fourth place. My dad tossed that trophy out the window on the way home. That played a huge role into who I am and my attitude now. He taught me that life is not fair, and it’s not. He passed away when I was in college.
Corbin talks about finding out he got moved to RAW in the WWE Superstar Shakeup:
I had no idea I was headed to Raw until my vignette aired, and I said, ‘It looks like I have a new home.’ Immediately, it lit my fire of competition. It’s a new locker room to impress and challenge. I want to challenge them so they’ll challenge me. I want to step in the ring with Roman Reigns and have him realize, ‘This guy thinks he’s better than me.’ The competitive nature that all true, successful athletes have gives you the drive to be the best. When someone out-performs you, it just makes me push further.
Coming to Raw, you see Roman on the cover of magazines and he’s the guy who’s headlined WrestleMania four years in a row. Plus, there’s Brock Lesnar, who was a UFC world champion and is our Universal champion, and Braun Strowman, who’s made a name for himself, and Seth Rollins, who is a former world champion. Those guys are in that locker room, and I’m going to shake things up. I’m going to cause some mayhem and become Universal champion. That’s the only goal. If Seth Rollins gets in my way, I’ll take his IC championship, as well. I’m there to be number one.
I want to be the guy that Vince can go, ‘I can put the company on this guy’s back and we will be just fine.’ That’s that attitude I’ve carried since I was little. People look at Raw like it’s the flagship show, and I want to be the top superstar on the flagship show. That may ruffle a few feathers, and that’s just fine.
Corbin comments on learning from his failures, such as his unsuccessful Money In The Bank cash-in attempt:
Life is not fair, and so many people now want everything to be fair. It’s just not that way. You make a decision to better yourself or worsen yourself every day. I don’t believe you ever stay the same. You either get better or you get worse. The day that I lost the Money in the Bank contract was not a day when I bettered myself. So what can I do to get to the next level?
Three weeks later, I won the United States championship. So, if you dwell on mistakes, you’ll continue to fall. For me, I learned from playing football to have a short-term memory. Every play is a new play. That’s the same in WWE. John Cena cost me that Money in the Bank briefcase, so I took AJ Styles’ United States championship. Every time you get stuck behind a wall, there is another opportunity to find. That’s why I will end up Universal champion, WWE champion, and a grand slam champion winner like Seth just did. You can’t let failure get in the way of your ultimate goals. Failure happens, it happens to everybody. What are you going to do to show them they’re wrong? I’m going out in front of millions of people proving myself every day. John Cena does it better than anyone, he overcomes adversity. That’s what I pride myself on. When I lost that briefcase, it just fueled a fire to accomplish something else.
