Baron Corbin says he never asked WWE to bring him back following his departure from the company in 2024.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio, the reigning WWE United States Champion discussed the process that eventually led to his return. While Corbin remained in contact with Paul “Triple H” Levesque and others from WWE, he said those conversations never involved asking about another opportunity with the company.
“I think the coming back process was awesome because I never once in that year and a half that I was gone reached out,” Corbin said. “You saw that interview with Hunter like, guys are always texting me, ‘I wanna come home.’ I never did that. If they want me back, they’ll call me. I’m not gonna beg for a job.”
Corbin made it clear that he still had a good relationship with Levesque during his time away, but intentionally kept their conversations personal rather than professional.
“I love that place and I had communication with Hunter in the time I was gone, but it was never like work,” he continued. “I’d text him like, ‘Hey, congrats on this or how’s the family, how are the girls?’ Those kind of things.”
Corbin also remained in contact with several WWE talents, but said he never crossed the line into asking about a potential return.
“Even a few other people there, I stayed in touch with a couple of talent. But, that line was never crossed of like, ‘Hey, what would you think about me coming back?’ Eventually, they did reach out.”
According to Corbin, WWE first approached him about potentially returning in December 2025. Even then, Corbin wasn’t desperate to immediately jump back into the company, as he was enjoying rebuilding himself on the independent scene.
“We had a conversation in December that was very brief,” he revealed. “It didn’t go anywhere because it was like, ‘Hey, what would you think about, would you be interested in that?’ I think the reply was, ‘I’d be open to a conversation but I’m not pressed, I’m doing things out here.’”
Corbin said his time away allowed him to rebuild his reputation, win championships and gain experience wrestling around the world that he didn’t have before his original WWE run.
“I’m building back the reputation behind the name, I’m racking up those wins, I’m getting titles outside of here, traveling the world,” he said. “Kinda doing the thing that I missed that a lot of people get to do before they come to WWE. I’m upping my game.”
He added, “I wrestled in Mexico and Europe and Australia and all of those places, it leveled out my in-ring ability, which was amazing.”
Corbin ultimately returned to WWE on the July 10 episode of SmackDown, beginning a program with Trick Williams that eventually saw him defeat Williams to capture the United States Championship.
Corbin will be back in action this weekend at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event in Atlanta, Georgia, where he faces hip-hop star Lil Yachty. If Yachty wins, Williams will receive a future rematch against Corbin for the U.S. title.
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