Baron Corbin Says He Had To ‘Reset’ After WWE Exit, Talks New Attitude Upon Return

Baron Corbin said that when he left WWE, he had to do a “reset” and get back to what made him successful before making his return to the company. Corbin made his return on the July 10th episode of Smackdown after exiting the company in November 2024 when his contract expired. He captured the WWE United States Championship in his first match back at WWE SummerSlam.

Corbin spoke with Sam Roberts on WWE Now about his return and how he came in with a new mission and attitude. You can see the highlights below:

On His Emotions Around His Return:

Yeah I mean, it’s been a crazy day. This is what I’ve done for a long time, right? Like 14, 15 years now total. And today felt like my first day, like it was weird. The air, the excitement, the nerves. At one point I was like, you know, our producer was talking to us and I was like, ‘I need a minute to go drink some water because I feel like I’m going to vomit.’ Just that, because like the — it’s so amazing to get back and get another chance. And you go, ‘Alright, well, I only have so many years of an opportunity left,’ right?”

On His Goal When He Went to the Indies:

“So it’s just like the excitement, getting back and going, ‘Alright, I need to reset everything everyone thinks about me.’ And I had that year and a half away where I think they forgot about a lot of it. And it’s like, ‘Alright, I’m coming back.’ My time off, I was busy killing people in jujitsu, choking them, snapping arms, taking heads, whatever it was. Doing some more, like really sharpening my skills for physicality to get back to what I do, and what I did originally when I came in as a Lone Wolf.

“It was like, ‘No friends. I’m whooping everybody’s ass that gets in my way.’ And that’s where I found the most success, right? I mean, that’s where I had a US championship. That’s where I won the Andre. Like that’s where I won Money in the Bank was that attitude. I’m going, ‘I got to go find that.’ And that year and a half away, I was able to find that, able to figure it out. Weed out all the s**t in my life that I didn’t need. Forget the cars, forget the whatever it is. And it’s like, ‘What do I do best? I fight. That’s what I do.'”

On His Attitude Now That He’s Back:

“And so it’s like, when I got the call to potentially come back, I was going, ‘Alright, I’m gonna hurt everybody they set in front of me. Every single person. Good guy, bad guy, friend, foe. Doesn’t matter. I’m gonna hurt him.’ And I mean, we chatted for that BloodSport. It’s like, ‘This is what I’m good at. I’m good at just fighting.’ And so I weeded out all that other stuff and I came back on a mission. In three weeks, I accomplished this at SummerSlam in front of 40,000 people.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.