There was a time when Baron Corbin was one of the top dogs in the WWE Universe; he pinned Roman Reigns, retired Kurt Angle, and held court atop the roster not just as the King of the Ring in a very subtle tip-of-the-cap to Game of Thrones but also as the United States Champion in 2017.

2023, at least so far, has not been Corbin's year, at least not on the main roster.

After moving past his Happy days, leaving Madcap Moss to flounder 0n his own in a short-lived – at least on television – pairing with real-life girlfriend Emma, Corbin was paired up with JBL, but despite having a Hall of Famer in his corner, it never quite stuck; the duo never picked up much traction with fans or seeingly Paul “Triple H” Levesque backstage, and the union ultimately ended with Ron Simmons' former partner dropping his client like a bad habit, but not before burying him on the mic to make sure no one would take him seriously again.

While Corbin has since found a new opportunity in NXT, when asked about his JBL pairing by Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick on After The Bell, the former Indianapolis Colts offensive lineman admitted it was very hard for him to get his head above water, as he felt like he was slowly drowning in a gimmick that wasn't working.

“There was a sense of panic there for me because everything I had done up until then had worked. I made things work. I had one promo in my career where I was in the ring, in the middle of it, and I was going, ‘There is nothing that is going to make this good. We're not saving it.' It was a segment with multiple people. I felt the crowd going, ‘Dude, this is not good.' You feel it in your gut. We got to the end of the JBL stuff, we were trying to make it work; I think there were a few things that went against us. Opportunity, timing, a few other things. You could feel it. I felt like I was in that movie where I was stuck in the middle of the ocean and waiting to be eaten by sharks. I was drowning, in a sense. That's when we had that conversation, ‘What do we do?'”  Baron Corbin said via Fightful.

“That's when this NXT opportunity came up, and I was like, ‘H*ll yeah. Let's go. Let's go down there and do this.' It's been a lot of fun because I got to come in the door and run with Carmelo for a little bit, have the Lone Wolf entrance, and that was special. You could feel the energy in the building when that music hit, had the jean vest on; it was a little nostalgia, the social media numbers were off the charts, and it was just an entrance. We had one h*ll of a match, Melo is a special competitor, and I think he's going to have a bright career.

“That was a match where I think, it had been awhile since I've gotten to just go – (Seth) Rollins and I have had some amazing matches, Roman (Reigns) and I, Braun (Strowman), I've had these long matches with guys who are extremely talented, Kevin Owens, Sami (Zayn). It had been a minute since I had gotten that opportunity, and we tore it down. I reignited a little fire in my gut that says, ‘I'm going to shove this in everybody's face that doubted me over the last year' or who said negative things inside our world and outside our world. It was an opportunity, ‘I can hang with the best there is. I can go with anybody. I can run 30 minutes with Seth, Roman, Melo; it doesn't matter. When that bell rings, I can go in the ring.' Now it was getting that attitude to match the in-ring ability and the emotion. The emotion is back full throttle. It reignited something in my gut to ‘burn the ships,' let's take this mother down.”

Will things shake out better for Corbin in NXT than on RAW? Only time will tell, but after JBL scorched the earth for Corbin on his way out the door, some time away will only benefit his case should he return to the main roster in the future.

Booker T believes Baron Corbin is off to the right track in NXT.

Discussing his opinion on Baron Corbin's recent move to NXT and the vignettes that have been run to hint at a new, character-less version of the performer on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T said he's excited to see what the 38-year-old brings to the developmental table.

“I really liked the vignette. It really puts him in a different light,” Booker T said via Wrestling News. “I think on the main roster, sometimes man, you could get stuck in a rut and, I hate this term right here, ‘We ain't got nothing for you.' When you start hearing that, you know it's a problem. So for Baron Corbin, to be back in NXT, to be able to reinvent himself all over again, those packages, man, they go a long way, and for me, I've always been a Baron Corbin fan. Always been, just because he's been that heel's heel for me. He hasn't been the guy that wanted to get any fanfare being a heel. He's always just tried to play his role and play that role to the best of his ability. Going through the character changes, you know what? That could be a detriment sometimes. You know, going from that Lone Wolf character and then end up being Happy Corbin. It can water things down a little bit. I think the Lone Wolf character, especially on NXT, being back on NXT where it started all over again, where it originated, I love the idea.”

Though Corbin isn't technically playing the “Lone Wolf” character this time around, even if it feels that way, leaning into that direction is a smart call, as it was by far the most successful endeavor in WWE and could be the ticket he needs to get back to the big leagues if you will.