When Colby Corino’s contract with NWA expired at the end of 2022, all signs pointed to him going to WWE.
A December report indicated that the star was expected to report to the Performance Center shortly after finishing up his previous commitments, but in the end, the deal between Corino and the sports entertainment giant was never finalized.
Speaking in a new interview with PWMania, Corino revealed that he was well on his way to being hired with WWE when the results of a background check changed the course of his future plans.
“At the time, I thought there was a lot of truth behind it. I was offered a deal, and everything looked good, contingent on the background check. So, I signed all the paperwork, and I wasn’t too worried about it because they did a background check on me when I went for my first tryout about two years prior.
“If anyone’s known me for a while, I don’t have the cleanest of history. This was always taken into consideration by WWE, so I didn’t think I had anything to worry about there. But they ran it and found something from the first time I was arrested seven years ago. They asked me to go handle that and we’d be good to go. I went to go handle that, and things changed on their end a little bit.”
During the time Corino was handling the issue brought up by the background check, WWE announced that it would be merging with UFC into a new $21+ billion entity under parent company Endeavor. Endeavor reportedly put a hiring freeze into place, and according to Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net, this is the reason Corino’s deal fell through.
“I’m Going To Have A Very Cool Year” – Colby Corino On His Future Outside WWE
When it comes to his future now that WWE is off the table, Corino says he loves the freedom of independent wrestling and has some things in the works that he can’t yet discuss.
“My goal has always been to just make enough money through wrestling. It’s what I love to do. It doesn’t matter where; as long as I can put food on the table, then I’m happy. I have a good thing going with CWA, I love coaching, and I just love the freedom of indie wrestling too. I have some really cool stuff that I can’t really share right now, but I’m going to have a very cool year.”
h/t PWMania