Baron Corbin Says He Doesn’t Care About Fan Reactions

In an interview with the Phoenix New Times, Baron Corbin spoke about his run on Smackdown, possibly facing Braun Strowman and criticism from fans. Here are highlights:

On punching AJ Styles in mid-air on Smackdown: “I just react to what’s in the moment, and he was flying through the air, I said, man, it’s a good time to punch you in the face. So I did, and it worked out pretty well. You know, we just go out there and go to work. It’s what we do. We’re professionals and we’re out there to compete with each other and we just deal with what we have and react. To become very successful you have to be able react to anything. Like [Mike] Tyson always said, you need to have a plan going into a fight and once you get punched in the face, everything changes, and so I just go out there and do what I do to the best of my ability and being a pro helps that and I consider myself one of the best there is, so I proved that night in and night out.”

On facing Braun Strowman at Wrestlemania: “You know, I want to keep taking Smackdown to the next level, so if they want to put me in there with a Raw guy, I’ve got no problem with that. And add him to the victories of Smackdown. We had a Smackdown victory at the Royal Rumble and at Survivor Series, Smackdown walked away the winner. And so I wouldn’t mind keeping that going.”

On not caring about fan reactions: “No, because I don’t really care. And that’s why I’m good at what I do, that’s why I’m good at my job, that’s why I’m successful. I’ve never really cared what people think of how I’m doing or what I’m doing. If they have a problem with it, they can either change their mind or they can tell me how they feel, but it’s just falling on deaf ears. And that’s what’s funny right now, too, is all these people who hated me and then I go out there and I think we steal the show at TLC [with Kalisto] and now people are like, “Oh wait, Baron Corbin’s good.” I don’t want them to change their opinion because someone else did. All those people who are negative can stay that way. It doesn’t fill my pockets more with their respect. Their respect doesn’t pay my bills. So I’m just going to continue to go out there and do what I do every single night.”