As soon as Baron Corbin arrived on the WWE main roster scene at WrestleMania 32, he made an immediate impact by winning the third annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
This came after a dominant run in NXT that saw him annihilate virtually everyone who stepped foot in his path of destruction and suffered a minimal amount of losses in singles competition, most of which came in high-profile matches. Although he never once held (let alone contended for) the NXT Championship, he never needed the gold to solidify himself as one of the promotion's biggest bad guys, both figuratively and literally.
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Corbin was never the best wrestler in NXT, especially compared to the likes of Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens and others, but who said he had to be? His string of squash matches, that sometimes clocked in at under 15 seconds, were enough for fans to take notice of him. After establishing himself, he started having longer matches with the likes of Samoa Joe and Apollo Crews.
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That eventually earned him a spot on the main roster, and there are few ways one can make a bigger impact than by debuting on the grandest stage of them all and winning a match dedicated to the memory of the legendary Andre the Giant.
Sadly, it didn't take long for WWE to ruin any momentum he had going by turning him into just another guy on the roster.
At first, I thought his feud with Ziggler would prove to be beneficial for him because it would allow Corbin to go over an established Superstar from the get-go. Little did I know that he would lose to the bleached-blonde Superstar on the Kickoff show at Payback, and their feud was all downhill from there.
Although Corbin came out on top in their final face-off at Money in the Bank (which was easily the best of their series might I add), so much damage had already been done that he was hardly better off afterward than he was prior to the program. Over a month has passed since the pay-per-view and Corbin still remains as directionless as ever.
But fear not, as WWE can still salvage The Lone Wolf now that he is part of the SmackDown brand.
I was ecstatic when Corbin was selected by SmackDown's Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon in the 2016 WWE Draft a few weeks back because there in no doubt in my mind that he would have been overshadowed by the star power (Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, etc.) on Raw. At least on SmackDown, he has a chance to emerge as one of the brand's top heels behind AJ Styles.
His SmackDown stint is already off to a strong stint as he took part in the Six Pack Challenge to crown a new No. 1 contender to the WWE World Championship at SummerSlam on the July 26 episode. While he didn't have his hand raised when the contest concluded, he didn't look the least bit out of place when sharing the squared circle with the likes of AJ Styles and John Cena, among others.
Speaking of whom, I firmly believe Cena would be an excellent dance partner for Corbin at some point in the second half of 2016.
Does Cena have the greatest track record when it comes to putting over younger talent? Probably not, but you can't deny that Corbin would instantly gain credibility simply by being placed in a program with the former 15-time world champion, regardless of whether he comes out on the winning end of it or not. It would surely beat the heck out of having him flounder and compete in meaningless squash matches every week.
This company has been sorely lacking a monster heel for years. Mark Henry was a gem of a villain during his “Hall of Pain” days, as was Big Show when he held the World Heavyweight Championship for a time in late 2012, but that was years ago. Henry, Show and Kane have all seen their television time drastically curtailed recently, and rightfully so. They represent the old age, and as we enter the New Era, it is only appropriate Corbin fill the void they left behind.
As SummerSlam quickly approaches, the question turns to what WWE does with him going forward. The aforementioned feud with Cena would be something fresh for both guys, but he is currently tied up with Styles.
It's possible he sets his sights on someone like Kalisto who could bump around for him, but it might be best to continue to build him up until the time comes to put him in a prominent program.
Despite his first few months on the main roster being less-than-stellar, Corbin is by no means done for. He has only scratched the surface in terms of what he is capable of achieving, and with the blue brand's roster being as thin as it is, he could and should, be destined for major happenings on Tuesday nights.
