WWE veteran to be honored during WrestleMania XL Weekend

WWE is headed to Philadelphia for WrestleMania XL weekend in less than ten days. It was just announced that another world champion will be honored that weekend.

Steve Corino currently works as a NXT Producer and WWE Performance Center coach. The 50-year-old began wrestling in 1994, and had even made some appearances for the Stamford-based company as a jobber. He then made his name in the original ECW, where he held the World Heavyweight Championship once. Mr. Wrestling would go on to find success in TNA and ROH, as well as other promotions in the United States and Japan. He took a guest coaching gig with WWE in November 2016, then signed to work full-time at the Performance Center in January 2017, and has been there ever since.

The King of Old School is set to be inducted into The Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame, Class of 2024. GCW announced the induction tonight, noting that Corino will be inducted by his son - NWA star Colby Corino.

Corino joins legendary tag team The Briscoes, late indie star Trent Acid, and late CZW superfan Kevin "The Whack Packer" Hogan as names announced for the Class of 2024 so far.

GCW and Orange Crush will host the third Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Sunday, April 7 at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown hotel, which is also the site of WrestleCon. General Admission seats are free to fans who have the packages for WrestleCon and GCW's The Collective. The ceremony will air at 12pm ET via YouTube.

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What happened with Colby Corino's WWE deal?

Colby Corino began his pro wrestling career in 2009 and by 2014, he had signed a contract with ROH.

The 27-year-old son of WWE's Steve Corino previously worked three matches for the company as an enhancement talent. He fought Mike Kanellis to a draw on 205 Live in March 2019, then lost to Erik on RAW Underground in August 2020, and lost to Mansoor on 205 Live the following month.

Corino became a free agent after his exit from NWA in early 2023. It was reported that he had signed with WWE, but then the deal apparently fell through and he was back to being a free agent by March of last year.

The Last Bastion of Professional Wrestling previously spoke with Matt Koon and confirmed that he had a verbal offer from WWE, but before they mailed him the contract, a background check had to be completed. Colby wasn't worried of anything new coming up as the company knew about his prior legal issues. He began planning the move to Florida, and even signed an apartment lease.

Corino supposedly began to worry when he didn't hear back from the background check. With less than one week until the big move to Florida, the rising star reportedly received a phone call informing him that he failed his background check due to something that had happened seven years prior. He was told to fix the issue, and he did, but that didn't change the situation. Colby clarified that the WWE door was closed for the time being, but not for good.

"I don’t have all the information that I want about the situation, but I know that, for right now, it’s not a closed door, but it’s a ‘not right now’ thing," Colby said. [H/T - Fightful]

Corino returned to the NWA just a few months after his WWE deal fell through. He won the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship from Ricky Morton's son, Kerry Morton, at the NWA 75th Anniversary Show, and held the strap for 214 days until dropping it to Joe Alonzo earlier this month.