Baron Corbin became a free agent in the 2023 Draft, and ended up returning to NXT, where he is developing his character.
In the main event of NXT Gold Rush, Baron Corbin had the opportunity to face Carmelo Hayes for the NXT Championship after his defeat, Baron Corbin has been developing his character, in which he is trying to start over, forgetting all his past. In an interview with Corey Graves' After the Bell, Baron Corbin spoke about this "restart in NXT
"Then this opportunity came up on NXT and I was like, "Hell yeah! Come on, let's go ld." And it's been really fun, because I was able to walk through the door and feud with Carmelo Hayes for some time. And we had that "Lone Wolf" entry and that was special. You could feel the energy in the room when the music was playing and I had my denim vest on. It was a bit of nostalgia. Social media numbers were off-series.com that. And that was just an entry. Then we had a spectacular fight and Carmelo is a special fighter and I think he's going to have a brilliant career. But this was a fight in which he had not had the opportunity to compete for some time."
