Naughty Or Nice: Baron Corbin In 2017

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Backstory

Similar to my recent Jinder Mahal column, I will discuss Baron Corbin’s 2017 and will decide if he has been naughty (bad) or nice (good). Simple and straight forward concept. Let’s get to it…

Baron Corbin: Naughty Or Nice?

Lone Wolf Starts 2017 – A little tricky to decipher how Baron Corbin began the year. He was in matches against the likes of AJ Styles, Dolph Ziggler, Kalisto, John Cena, and others. Well built up, even in defeat. More shockingly enough, Corbin was actually the guy who ultimately eliminated Braun Strowman from the Royal Rumble match. Not a lot of folks remember that. It was a big honor given to him. Arguably, even bigger – Corbin was then thrown out by The Undertaker. Nothing to sneeze at there. While not on television, Baron was also given the chance to headline live events in early 2017. I would say this was NICE run before WrestleMania 33.

Mania Out Banters Big Banter – I thought it was a foregone conclusion that Corbin would win the IC Championship over Dean Ambrose at WrestleMania 33. It’d be a cool followup to his 2016 Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal victory. However, I gave the small caveat that the only way I could see Ambrose retain is if he was headed to RAW soon, with Kevin Owens and the United States Title going to Smackdown LIVE. Yes, I really said that…and yes, that is what happened. I didn’t like it too much and still don’t. Corbin should have won at WM33 and got the IC Title. A step back for the man and a pretty pointless loss on his Mania record. That 1-1 does not look as sweet as 2-0. Very NAUGHTY.

Underdog From The Under Ground Gets Under His Skin – Well, Corbin stuck around on Smackdown LIVE after the Superstar ShakeUp. This is when rumors began circulating that he was in line for the Money in the Bank briefcase come summer time. A believable rumor at the time considering who the other options were. One of those was Sami Zayn. He was my personal choice. Would make a perfect Daniel Bryan-2011 kind of story with him winning fair and square and wanting to do right by the briefcase. Never happened that way with Bryan but was the original tease. Either way, Corbin spent time hanging around the mid-card for awhile and actually lost to Zayn at WWE Backlash. Not very nice but not exactly naughty either. More to come.

Corbin Cashes In…Or Out? – The rumor turned out to be true. Baron Corbin won the annual Money in the Bank ladder match for the blue brand and earned a future WWE Championship bout. Any time, any place. Big things were in the future for Big Breakfast. His rise through NXT and WWE may have been a tad bit shocking but deserving at the same time. Well, that was the positive part of the deal. The negative? Just days before Summerslam, Corbin stunned everybody by cashing in his briefcase at the end of Smackdown LIVE and lost in a matter of seconds. A quick distraction from John Cena was all it took. Yeah, the two were feuding for the second/thid biggest event of the year, but it was not really treated as such. Cena joked around the entire match, which kicked off the show and well, Corbin was defeated with ease. A rough week.

The Rise And FALL – The dog days of summer came to a close, but luckily, the Fall season proved to be much better for Baron Corbin. To be clear, Corbin may have stumbled in his Cena story line, but the man was far from forgotten about. He hung in there with Shinsuke Nakamura and was constantly on TV in a prominent position. There is talk that an “incident” led to his poor Summerslam week; we don’t need to discuss that though. What matters is the followup, and WWE did a good job with that. Battling both AJ Styles and Tye Dillinger at Heck on a Deck, Baron Corbin walked away with the United States Title. I suspected he would and predicted such an outcome beforehand. It was the right move and one that is still paying dividends months later. Victories over Sin Cara on Smackdown and The Miz at Survivor Series showed why there is so much potential for The Lone Wolf. Back on track, I’d say…

John Cena In 2003 – I leave you with this thought. Baron Corbin in 2017 is John Cena in 2003. Fun showing at the Royal Rumble, good spot at Mania, top feuds but mostly losses, and ends the year on a strong note. That was Cena 14 years ago. Spotlight at the Rumble, rapping deal at WMXIX, and story lines with Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle…losing to each of them. However, by the time December rolled around, it was clear the man was due for a big 2004. That is Corbin currently. Yeah, a lot of times he has lost in the end, but consider this his trial run for the main event. Did he pass the test?

You tell me! Baron Corbin in 2017 – naughty or nice?

Podcast Debut

One of my goals in 2017 was to make my podcast debut. On Thursday December 7th, I crossed off yet another item on my to-do list for the year. Shout out to Matt and D for the great discussion. Topics included WWE today, stock market, video games, movies, television, steroids and the Wellness policy, Survivor, Flat Earth, old school WWF, and more! Lasted a little over an hour, so it is an easy listen. Plenty of wrestling talk folks and my beautiful voice heard for the first time ever. Here it is…

Cheap Plugs

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