Hall Of Famer Returns On WWE Raw!

Pairing could yield fruit if played correctly, but how did the first week go?

by Scott Carlson
JBL Baron Corbin
WWE.com

Baron (no longer Happy) Corbin is back on WWE television.

The former King of the Ring and Money in the Bank winner returned on Monday night, having been traded to Raw after Rey Mysterio went from the red brand to SmackDown last week. But Corbin didn't come alone.

In addition to regaining his old ring name, Baron now has WWE Hall-of-Famer JBL as his manager. Layfield re-introduced Corbin, trying to rebrand him as a modern-day "wrestling god." Considering that Corbin's recent character was a wealthy villain, tying him to JBL isn't a bad idea.

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However, Monday's rollout felt like a retread of the same Corbin we've seen on our TVs for several years. JBL sounded more like a bitter, grumpy misanthrope than a heel manager. And the loudest reaction Corbin got was fans chanting "Bum Ass Corbin" at him - a nickname given to him by former SmackDown announcer Pat McAfee.

Of course, this is just the first night for this new pairing, so there's plenty of time to tweak it. There's a good deal of potential here if played up correctly.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.