WWE: Could WWE NXT Star Baron Corbin Be The Next Bill Goldberg?
WWE has managed to sign a lot of interesting names over the last few years, many of whom have become major stars on WWE programming. WWE has also hired many indy names that have done quite well down in NXT. Many think that at least 5 to 10 of those men and women will be future megastars for WWE. However, WWE likes to find that one diamond that is not quite understood yet, but has the potential to become something special.
Many feel that that man is Baron Corbin.
We haven’t seen a lot of him, but he is a person that fans are eating up right now at NXT. He has the same sort of feel of a guy like Bill Goldberg. Goldberg was one of WCW’s only home grown wrestlers. He played football for several years, but he ended up retiring early and needed to find work. He played for the Atlanta Falcons so he saw a lot of WCW talent. Sting and Lex Lugar would work out in the same gym as him, and so obviously they would talk. Goldberg got into wrestling through them and went to WCW’s Power Plant.
He was put on TV randomly one day and then pushed slowly. WCW did well with him, but he lacked a lot. Goldberg went out and had one to two minute matches that were interesting but not something WCW could draw a lot to for a main event. A match with William Regal proved that Goldberg needed more polish and so WCW ended up putting him in longer matches slowly. Clearly, the entire time fans were loving Goldberg and he was fun to see. The intensity he had was amazing and the fact he didn’t talk a lot made you think of him as mysterious, which only added more intrigue.
The slow build he had was awesome and he was literally the guy in WCW, over guys like Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and others. Eventually political issues within the company killed what was once the legend of Goldberg and he never recovered from it.
Now we have a man who looks like he could be WWE’s new Goldberg. They come in with a similar story. Baron Corbin is a former football player. He has little training, but a look that is ideal for WWE. He is currently having shorter matches, but he is doing this with crowd support that not even guys like Sami Zayn have.
While Sami has universal love from most fans, Corbin is getting love from those same fans as well as those who barely know what NXT is. That is interesting because the last person to get this type of treatment with the same reception was Goldberg, really.
While WWE has had powerhouses come in and squash others, they have not done so with a good reception. Most of them were limited in the ring and foreign, so they were not of interest to many fans. WWE ended up making them monster heels as a result.
Brock Lesnar had similar luck, but he was not well-liked. WWE tried to remedy this by keeping him with Paul Heyman as often as possible, but also letting him show his personality. This helped and hurt Lesnar. He was a heel starting out, so WWE liked making him into a monster. Unlike others, he could wrestle well. The fans were not sold on him, so WWE had to feed him major stars like Undertaker and The Rock for him to be believed. It worked somewhat, but it was not until his face run that WWE was able to do much with him. Now WWE is allowing him to be a monster heel again, which works for him.
Meanwhile, Baron Corbin has no manager. He has no major move-set to speak of. This is good up to a point, but makes you wonder. Will he be exactly like Goldberg or will he expand and become the star Goldberg could have been.
What he has is the same thing Goldberg has: the right look, size, intensity, and appeal. Fans naturally gravitate toward that. There is something about a person sometimes that you cannot explain but you want to know more. Corbin does this. He gives you something that you want more of. A lot of guys his size are not able to do this. Especially those with limited move-sets. The only person who could do that and do it well, early on, was Goldberg. So could Corbin be the same star that Bill was? Or will he break through even further than Goldberg?
They do look different. Where Corbin is covered in tattoos, a bit taller, etc., both have intensity and unexplained charisma that people like. Everyone who has seen Baron has the same thought: this guy could be special. He could be WWE’s next diamond. It all really starts with how you come out and how you leave. He moves around in the ring well and he has kept the mystery going. People love mysteries. The NXT fans, who are classically hard to please, are loving him. He is getting massive cheers and hearing chants of “Corbin’s gonna kill you” by many.
He does not have a joke following like Bo Dallas but rather a following that feels he is a star in the making. This is all reminiscent of Goldberg. The following is growing for Corbin and he is appearing like WWE’s next break out star. WWE could use a new big man as guys like Kane, Undertaker, and Big Show have or will be entering their final years in a wrestling ring. A tall powerhouse is in need in a world where that sort of style is not as big as it used to be. Like Goldberg, Corbin came along at a time when people want to see someone like him. That being said, WWE has probably noticed his appeal to fans and could send him up to the main roster sooner than we think. Will he big as big as Goldberg? Time will tell.
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