5 Biggest Winners & Losers From WWE SmackDown Live (9 Aug)

5. Winner: Baron Corbin

Baron Corbin hasn’t enjoyed the easiest of transitions from NXT to the main roster. He showed early promise after winning this year’s Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but his feud with Dolph Ziggler quickly settled into a tedious holding pattern of dull singles matches and 50/50 booking.

His stock wasn’t particularly high heading into the Draft, but Corbin’s finally starting to stand out from the pack. With him, The Miz, Apollo Crews, and Kalisto seemingly comprising the new-look Intercontinental Title division, there’s real potential for Corbin to ascend as SD’s premier midcard bully heel. His size, look, and attitude make him perfect for the role, and while he’s not the most exciting wrestler in the world, all Corbin really needs to do is push the competition around and act as a gatekeeper to the card’s upper reaches.

Corbin barely appeared this week, but his contribution was simple and effective. The cameras cut backstage just before the main event to catch Corbin beating the tar out of Kalisto, whom The Lone Wolf blamed for costing him his IC Title shot in last week’s contendership match. That’s all WWE need to do to get Baron Corbin over.

He’s not the type of guy who’s going to benefit from long, drawn-out matches and talking segments: Corbin’s better off keeping it brief as a bullish aggressor, and this week’s segment was the perfect example of this.