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WWE’s Happy Corbin received regular death threats from vile trolls after Becky Lynch exchange
Corbin tries to embrace the hate as part of his character (Picture: WWE)
WWE superstar Happy Corbin has revealed he was bombarded with death threats after hitting Becky Lynch with his finishing move on screen.
The former United States Champion – who debuted as Baron Corbin before becoming King and eventually taking on his new moniker – took out The Man during their storyline involving Lacey Evans and Becky’s real life partner Seth Rollins, but some fans took it as more than just another part of the show.
Opening up on the intense abuse he gets as an on-screen villain from fans on social media, he told FOX Sports’ Out of Character podcast with Ryan Satin: ‘To me, it’s a compliment.
‘But some people read that and they catch feelings with that stuff, because a lot of them are very personal attacks. Dude, when I hit Becky with the End of Days, I was getting death threats! On a regular basis.’
Corbin – who noted no one ever says anything to him in person – admitted even his own mother is shocked when she sees the comments he receives.
He added: ‘Even my mom reads them, my mom’s like, “Why would they say it?!” I’m like, “mom, they’re saying it to a TV character, not to me personally.’
Although the SmackDown star admitted it’s ‘hard’ to deal with sometimes, he knows it’s a statement on his talent as a heel that people get so riled up by his character.
He explained: ‘It’s hard because there are people that have 11 accounts, and through all those 11 accounts they’re telling you you’re the worst thing ever, you’re the worst wrestler they’ve ever seen, blah blah blah.
‘I take a lot of pride in what I do, and when you see that – it does get to 95% of people. That’s why people don’t wanna be the bad guy, they want people to talk good about the on the internet…
‘But then wanna be the cool bad guy because they still want the internet to say, “This guy is awesome”. But then you’re not really a bad guy, are you?’
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Corbin has his life away from the cameras with his wife and daughter, and he admitted if it wasn’t for his work life, he’d wouldn’t be on any social media platforms.
‘You have to have very, very thick skin. I think my ability to just disconnect from it – when I’m done wrestling or if I hit the Lotto tomorrow, I would go, “Instagram’s gone, twitter’s gone”, because it’s not my way of life,’ he said.
‘I’d rather be in the woods on 500 acres, riding mountain bikes and blowing stuff up and grilling food with my family. I don’t live and die by the internet, so I think there’s where I’ve been able to disconnect from it because it is non-stop.’
*WWE SmackDown airs Friday nights at 1am on BT Sport 1.
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