"Someone Was Holding Me Down [In WWE]... They Had the Power To Kill Creative" - Tom Pestock

Former Baron Corbin shares insights on WWE spell - and the forces working against him in the Fed.

Baron Corbin WWE
WWE

Tom Pestock believes somebody with the power to "kill creative" was holding him down in WWE, hurting his momentum whenever he got over.

Pestock, who wrestled for WWE as Baron Corbin, shared his thoughts during an interview on Insight with Chris Van Vliet. Speaking of his final few months in WWE, the former Mr. Money in the Bank said that Bruce Prichard had advised that he return to NXT to reinvent himself, which Pestock felt went well:

“I felt like in my WWE career, I was in uncharted water. In a sense, I had gone to NXT reinvented myself, and put a lot of work into it, even though, like, I didn’t agree with some of it. I had a conversation with NXT. I was sat down. I’m gonna be polite. We talked about it, walking in. Bruce Prichard, I’m gonna be polite. He was like, you know, ‘It’s just not working. We want you to go down there, reinvent yourself, new moves, lose a little weight, blah, blah, blah.’ And I did, and I think it was not, maybe not meant for me to succeed as well as I did down there. But they’ve got such an amazing system there, with the talent they have, with the producers they have, and with the coaches they have and the writers. It’s impossible not to succeed down there, like impossible. And I think I killed it, and it couldn’t be denied."

Pestock joined the NXT roster in July 2023, having been left as a free agent in the WWE Draft two months prior. In January 2024, he was paired with Bron Breakker, embarking on a successful, well-received tag run as the Wolf Dogs. This spell ended in April, when Pestock was drafted to SmackDown.

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Upon returning to the main roster, Pestock felt that despite things going well in NXT, somebody was holding him back from prospering on SmackDown:

"When I got up there, I feel like someone was holding me down in the sense of like that wasn’t supposed to work, you know, because I would go out and do dark matches, or when I did wrestle on TV like the crowd was insane for me. It was the best reactions I’d had in years since I was the King or the Constable. Like, when I was getting all that heat, this was the opposite. I was getting people chaining my name. Like there were times in matches where Apollo would be getting beat up and, you know, he they’d be chanting my name, and he’d just look at me, he’s like, ‘You’re over.’ Like, it would be crazy. Every night it would be crazy."

Pestock named William Regal and Brian 'Road Dogg' James amongst those praising his crowd reactions. In light of this, when a writer talked about pushing him as a heel, Pestock had his mind on trying out his first babyface run in WWE. But despite his increasingly powerful, supportive crowd connection, Tom stated that SmackDown's head writer insisted he stay heel, citing an incident when he was told to go out and flip a middle finger despite the audience cheering him earlier.

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On this frustrating situation, the former Corbin said:

"So I’m like, man, there’s still something there, maybe unresolved, that I could get back and accomplish as that babyface with the cheering. And I think it made me hungrier to succeed being told, ‘Ah, man, we’re gonna go a different direction,’ like, after already being told, like, ‘Hey, we want to go change everything, and you do it and it’s successful.’"

Further creative issues arose during Corbin's brief spell with JBL as his manager. Calling Bradshaw "unbelievable", Pestock said JBL himself sent in "amazing pitches" which "just died in the wind somewhere."

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Pestock stated that despite doing everything asked of him, he was constantly told that creative was "going to go in a different direction." He was frustrated, feeling like there was nothing he could do, and received support from Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, and CM Punk.

When Pestock left WWE, Orton purportedly shared Tom's view that somebody was working against him:

"But Randy’s like, ‘Dude, I honestly thought you were, like, gonna be here another 10 years.’ He’s like, ‘I don’t understand it.’ He’s like, ‘Do you mind if I talk to Hunter about it?’ I don’t know if he ever did, but he’s like, ‘Somebody doesn’t like you.’ And I’m like, ‘There’s nothing I can do to change that.’ I feel like I know who it is, and that’s beside the point. But they had power enough to either kill creative or whatever it was, and they got to go to bed with that at the end of the night. That’s on them.”

Pestock departed WWE after an eventful 12-year run when his contract expired on 1 November 2024. He returned to the ring under his real name at GCW's The People vs. GCW show on 19 January, losing to shoot-stylist Josh Barnett in a Bloodsport match.

On 21 January, Pestock filed a trademark application for 'Bishop Dyer', forecasting a new ring name.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.