Whoever came up with this new character direction for the former Constable and King Baron Corbin needs a little bit of praise. Whether it will successfully pay off or not remains to be seen, but it is unique and a little different. After spending his entire five-year run on the main roster as a heel (and a great heel at that!), he is currently down on his luck and pathetic.

Related: King Uncrowned: How Baron Corbin Became The Worst King Of The Ring In History

It’s an interesting way to try and garner sympathy and maybe becoming a babyface, and it hasn’t been done before. It’s also something that a lot of people can unfortunately relate to. It doesn’t seem like the current creative is going in this direction, but if we can play armchair booker for a moment - with Corbin so down on his luck and having to feed his family, what if Cameron Grimes struts through Smackdown and offers Corbin a job?

The Butler Gimmick

cameron-grimes-nxt

 

When Cameron Grimes lost his rematch with L.A. Knight, he had to become the Million Dollar Champion’s butler. While this idea has been done to death over the years, Grimes has put a twist on it. He’s having fun technically doing what Knight tells him, albeit slightly skewed enough to aggravate the champion. It has also led to Grimes recently having to begrudgingly put the boots to Drake Maverick on NXT. But gimmick-wise, Grimes still has a slew of money.

What if he hired Corbin to be his own butler? Corbin would begrudgingly do all of things that Grimes doesn’t want to do for Knight and if Grimes has to lay it into a friend, Corbin could offer to do it with glee; until Grimes stops it. But L.A. Knight would take notice of his employee’s employee.

This Would Backfire For Grimes

Baron Corbin Needs Some Help

There would be several weeks of vignettes both on Smackdown and NXT. Perhaps on Smackdown, Corbin can talk to guys like Kevin Owens and others who have taken pity on him about how he has this new job down in NXT and is starting to earn a decent amount to keep the lights on in Casa De Corbin. The babyfaces would be proud of the guy and offer their support to him. In the ring, Corbin would be a babyface and start garnering support from the fans.

Related: Every Version Of Baron Corbin, Ranked From Worst To Best

But on NXT, Corbin is showing his heel side. He clearly doesn’t like doing anything Grimes has him doing (which is the dirty work that Grimes doesn’t want to do as L.A. Knight’s butler). Until the Million Dollar champion steps in and offers Corbin the job, dropping Grimes like a bad habit. From there, the two egomaniacs would feign a friendship until one turns on the other. Corbin wins the Million Dollar belt and is back to being a full-fledged jerk.

Who Does This Storyline Benefit?

Baron Corbin Is Begging For Food

It has been a very long time since a character has been able to pull off being hated and loved at the same time. Bret Hart and The Hart Foundation might have been the only ones to pull it off consistently. Obviously, Corbin isn’t going to be able to match the Harts in the ring anytime soon, but with these two storylines, he wouldn’t have to, either. He’d be his usual heel self on NXT. But on Smackdown, what if Corbin started to really enjoy having true friends? Sure they pitied him at first, but guys like KO would start to get to know Corbin and be his friend. Rather than have a suspension of disbelief that no one on Smackdown or fans watch both shows, his friends on Smackdown could try to convince him to leave Cameron Grimes alone and not be such a jerk on NXT, that they like the guy they see every Friday and not watch every Tuesday.

The WWE always like to espouse how they like to tell compelling stories. Baron Corbin heading to NXT to get a job could help round out the character and create a compelling story across two brands. Baron Corbin has built up a lot of equity being a great bad guy both on screen and in social media. It will be interesting to see if he’s got the ability to get the crowds behind him.

Should he wind up working on both shows, it would create a slew of that drama that WWE says they’re always looking to create and help to show off what creative chops Corbin has. So far, it also seems to be a way to get the guy to grow his hair back, too.

NEXT: 5 Reasons King Corbin Vs. Roman Reigns Was The Worst Feud Of 2019 (& 5 Why It Was Miz Vs. Shane McMahon