Arn Anderson reveals mistake WWE made with Baron Corbin

Arn Anderson believes Baron Corbin should not have lost his first WWE pay-per-view singles match against Dolph Ziggler.

In 2016, Corbin won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32 on his WWE main roster debut. A month later, he lost to Ziggler in a kickoff show match at WWE Payback 2016.

Anderson, a WWE producer from 2001 to 2019, discussed WWE Payback 2016 on the latest episode of his ARN podcast. The WWE Hall of Famer could not understand why Corbin was not booked to win the match.

“It’s pretty much the story of the company,” Anderson said. “You would never hear me fuss about Dolph Ziggler getting a win, but you don’t get one against Baron Corbin, which is his first pay-per-view after ‘Mania, which [where] he won a huge, huge match. You gotta build on that. I mean, that’s your launching pad. The next time you see him in a single match, that’s where you’re gonna find out. And with a guy like Dolph, Dolph wouldn’t have had a problem putting the guy over. It was just the right thing to do.”

.@HEELZiggler finally has @BaronCorbinWWE in a precarious position! #WWEPayback pic.twitter.com/5rYon2T7Rq

— WWE (@WWE) May 1, 2016

Baron Corbin defeated WWE Superstars, including Damien Sandow, Fandango and Zack Ryder on weekly television shortly after his WrestleMania 32 victory. He also defeated Dolph Ziggler at two pay-per-views after WWE Payback (WWE Extreme Rules and WWE Money in the Bank).

Arn Anderson thinks Baron Corbin's loss reflected WWE's booking at the time

Baron Corbin was a surprise entrant in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Around the time of Baron Corbin’s debut, WWE Superstars were allowed to perform on both RAW and SmackDown on a weekly basis.

With at least five hours of main-roster programming every week, Arn Anderson thought Corbin should have been presented in a more creative way.

“Offense is very solid,” Anderson added. “And to beat him with a schoolboy? Phew. Example after example after example of what I’m talking about, Conrad [host Conrad Thompson]. You’ve gotta put a rocket on a guy’s a**. If you can’t have a guy look good for the first 12 weeks that he’s on television, if you really have plans for him to be a star, then something’s the matter with your thinking.”

A rookie mistake by @BaronCorbinWWE leads @HEELZiggler to roll up the #LoneWolf for the victory! #WWEPayback pic.twitter.com/Qz7s96AZ68

— WWE (@WWE) May 1, 2016

Baron Corbin won the majority of his matches on RAW and SmackDown in his first three months on WWE’s main roster. However, many of those matches only lasted a few minutes, meaning his television time was often limited.

Please credit ARN and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.