When Baron Corbin decided to use his status as a free agent to become a fixture of the NXT locker room on the regular, it turned a few heads around the WWE Universe.

Sure, it's no secret that WWE is looking to use main roster talent to help bolster the ratings of its developmental brand, as last week's edition of NXT had about a half-dozen main roster stars from John Cena to The Undertaker come through the Performance Center for one reason or another, but Corban's utilization has been different. No, while the initial novelty of his addition to the Black and Gold Brand may have goosed the ratings ever so slightly, he's on about angle four now since making his way back to Orlando in June, with any “special attraction” status officially worn off in favor of a full-time spot as one of the boys.

And the best part, at least for Corbin? Shawn Michaels has pretty much allowed him to use the time as he so chooses, revamping his character as he sees fit as an NXT-only Superstar while working angles with young stars.

“I think that's something I've always had as well. They put me in the ring with Kurt Angle. They put me in with Cena. They put me in with The Rock because they trust what I can do. They know whatever I do, it's going to be 110%. So the free agent [status], same thing. I was like, ‘What is this? What does this mean? Am I out of a job? What are we doing?' They were like, ‘No, we just don't know what story we want to put you in yet, so we don't want to pigeonhole you and have you on RAW or SmackDown. That was kind of the way it was originally told me. ‘We want you to be able to float because when we figure it out —' because the character was obviously coming off the JBL stuff, it wasn't working. So it was like, ‘Okay, well, what are we doing?' It kind of came up at Draft time, and they did that. So then I was asked, ‘Hey, would you be interested in going to NXT and working?' I said, ‘Absolutely.' It's an hour and a half up the road from me. I'll be able to go do the show, go home, and get my bed,” Baron Corbin told Fightful.

“So when they presented it to me, I just saw it as an opportunity. I didn't know what the opportunity was, but when I went down there, Shawn [Michaels] is going, ‘Hey, what do you want this to be?' I go, ‘Well, here's what I would love to do. I would love to not be on RAW or SmackDown.' Because I was also working at Cameron Grimes at the time on SmackDown, so I was doing NXT and SmackDown. I said, ‘I would love to just be here, and let's redo my character. Let's let me tell you what I think I am.' He's like, ‘I love that. Let's do you. You have full control, essentially, on what you want to do, and they keep me in parameters, obviously, but they're letting me just kind of reinvent myself as me, and I think we're presenting a really cool thing to the fans in NXT.”

Is it a bit surprising that Corbin has been afforded so much creative control as a member of NXT? You bet; WWE is notoriously rigid with its creative plans, as fans have seen first-hand with everyone from Max Dupri to the fact that Seth Rollins still has a “Freakin'” between his names. Still, if Corbin really wants another chance to become a top-tier WWE Superstar once more, HBK might just be giving him the best chance to do so on his own terms.

Baron Corbin acknowledges how he can help the NXT roster.

Speaking of all the opportunities presented to Baron Corbin as a member of NXT, his time back in developmental isn't a one-way street, with the young stars coming up through the system getting just as much of a benefit from working with the former “Lone Wolf” as he is from his expanded opportunities on Tuesday Night, as he noted to Sean Ross Sapp in his Fightful interview.

“It's also elevating those guys, you know? It gave Ilja [Dragunov] a guy to work with from the main roster. Trick [Williams], who I think is an amazing superstar with Carmelo [Hayes], and they, think, are going to try to do their own thing a little bit, and then Melo,” Corbin added. “I want to bring them to that next level. I think going and working with them. They understand there's a different speed, a different way, a different crispness. There's a different promo with the main roster to NXT. When you can go down and do that, and they feel it because they're not going to know until they experience it. If you take a guy from NXT and you just drop them into the main roster, it's like sink-or-swim, like, are they gonna make it? But if they've worked with three or four proven Superstars, they know they can transition.”

For better or worse, having strong WWE performers in NXT is an important part of the developmental ecosystem, as having vets in the locker room who can help to teach the younger Superstars how to do things is just as important as learning which camera to talk into during a promo or how to properly hit a Canadian Destroyer – not that WWE Superstars really use that maneuver despite employing Petey Williams. Having someone like Corbin, who has truly experienced the highs and lows of the WWE Universe, around as a sounding board is an incredible resource for stars like Carmelo Hayes and Baron Corbin, who see nothing but opportunity in front of them.