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What's the story?
Baron Corbin main evented Stomping Grounds in a match against Seth Rollins on Sunday night. WWE management and Vince McMahon have pushed The Lone Wolf hard recently, almost all the way to the Universal Championship. Why is he so popular with the WWE heirarchy?
In case you didn't know...
Since his 2015 debut, Baron Corbin has been placed in prominent positions by the WWE creative team. He has had multiple title opportunities, including an Elimination Chamber match in his first year.
Corbin has also been an acting Raw General Manager and retired Kurt Angle at last year's Wrestlemania. It is clear that he is a popular figure with management.
There are also down moments, particularly when it comes to the Money In The Bank briefcase. Baron Corbin received and lost the briefcase in a very short space of time, leading to much speculation that Corbin was causing issues backstage in the locker room.
Despite all of this, Triple H particularly singled out Baron Corbin to receive a water gun attack during this year's Hall of Fame; showing a very friendly relationship between Corbin and his boss.
The heart of the matter
Since his debut, Corbin has been a very popular figure amongst WWE creative.
"The management love Corbin. He doesn't injure people, he's really easy to hate and Vince loves the End of Days."
The End of Days, curiously, is yet to be kicked out of in over four years on the main roster; a very rare level of protection for anyone in WWE.
On March 28th, surveys went out to WWE Network members to establish why Baron Corbin was unpopular amongst WWE fans. This was in the build up to his Wrestlemania match with Kurt Angle.
"The hate that Corbin was getting, we were all very proud of him. It usually takes years to get the hate he can get in one promo," the source continued.
Vince McMahon and Triple H don't always agree on who they throw their full support behind. For Baron Corbin to be one of them means that his push is unlikely to end any time soon.
What's next?
The Universal Championship could still be in Corbin's future, despite the level of unhappiness this may cause. Logically, he is also an ideal opponent for new United States champion Ricochet.
We can be certain though that, with the popularity that Corbin has within WWE and the lack of popularity that he has with WWE fans, it might be a long time before we can all agree on whether more Baron is good or bad.
