The Chip On The Shoulder Of Bishop Dyer Comes From A Very Healthy Place (Exclusive)

Bishop Dyer -- formerly known as Baron Corbin in WWE -- is days away from the MLW Fightland event in Dallas this weekend and ready for the opportunity that stands before him.

Dyer spoke to The Takedown on SI and opened up about life on the independent pro wrestling circuit, the indy grind compared to the grind of WWE, and about the large chip that resides on his shoulder.

"It's been great," Dyer said of his time in MLW and on the independent pro wrestling circuit. Like, it's wild, because this is a whole world that I never experienced prior to WWE. A lot of talent in the WWE, they went through the independents and worked for different companies in Mexico to Japan to Europe to all over the US. I know several WWE superstars have have gone through MLW, so I'm kind of doing it backwards, which I think makes it really fun."

Dyer was forced to face the reality of working on the independents as a pro wrestler when he left WWE in November of last year after his contract with the company was not renewed. Dyer said that the opportunity to do so is a proving ground moment for him.

"It's a it's a proving ground for me," Dyer said. "A lot of people know me just from being Baron Corbin in WWE and they think they know what I can do. And I think it's eye opening for a lot of people that step into the ring with me and go, -- This is a different animal. This is not the same Baron Corbin we watched for years, or whatever predisposed opinion of me they have, I'm bringing new stuff to the table. It's a new hunger. A new excitement, especially getting into companies like MLW."

Baron Corbin, Bishop Dyer, And Diversity

Throughout his time in WWE, Dyer was asked to be the dark brooding babyface, a dark heel, a comedic heel, a down on his luck gambler, a rich and happy gambling Las Vegas winner, and the muscle of various tag teams. It's a diverse mix of characters that Dyer is proud of and that helped shape who he is as a wrestler today.

"Everybody wants to be a Roman Reigns -- who beats everybody up. Looks awesome. He's got the coolest entrance music, the coolest entrance, flying on his private jets home. Everybody wants that, but not everybody is going to get there. So he kind of sets the standard."
Bishop Dyer

Dyer continued:

"He (Roman Reigns) is a guy who has no ego and I've seen it firsthand. Unfortunately, when we had to do dog food. Do you think Roman Reigns wants dog food poured all over him? I didn't want to pour it on him. It smelled so bad. But he has no ego, and he's like, yeah, if it's better for the show, let's do it. So I think that that having that humility and the ability to not worry about what people are thinking is super important in getting things successful."
Bishop Dyer

In addition to not having an ego, Dyer said the reason he was able to make all of those different gimmicks and characters work throughout his run in WWE was because of a chip on his shoulder to always be the best.

"You gotta take whatever they give you and make it the best you can." Dyer said. Whether you like it -- I hated my Happy Corbin music. That was the worst music I've ever experienced. I didn't want to walk through the curtain to that music. I was embarrassed. It came down to, well, if this is what they're giving me, I'm going to do the best I can with it."

Dyer was determined to make the character work and he says it ultimately helped him create layers to who he is as a performer.

"Sad Corbin was only supposed to be a two week thing, but I was like, 'this is what you want? I'm going full tilt. And doing that, it worked, and we elongated it, and it got all the way to Summerslam with Big E. It's being able to do that and adapt to what they're asking. Nobody wants to do that role again. Everybody wants to be the big badass who can beat everybody up. But, if there's 25 of those, nobody cares. There needs to be a diversity in the talent and the characters and what's presented on screen."

About that chip on Dyer's shoulder. Oh, it's there, but it comes from a healthy place.

Bishop Dyer and Donovan Dijak — MLW Twitter

"For most of my career in WWE, I was a heel. People hated me," Dyer said. "With that came the doubt of the ability to wrestle. I was very simple. I was a heel. I wanted to be a heel -- a pure heel. And people judged you based on that. If you're not trying to be the cool heel, they're going,, 'Oh, he's boring.' He doesn't wrestle. If I do everything cool and great, then you're going to cheer for me. And that's the opposite effect of what I'm trying to gather. I want people to hate me.

"I think having a chip on your shoulder for your own personal reasons motivates you daily," Dyer said. I got two kids and they're in school. I got a coffee business. I've got other companies that I'm helping run, and I still gotta have motivation to get in the ring. I still gotta have motivation to get in the weight room -- to not eat the last chicken nuggets from my kids dinner they don't eat. Like, you gotta have that. Having that chip of just not feeling complete in my journey through the wrestling world drives me to always continue to be better,

It's been nearly a year since Dyer moved on from his days in WWE, but Dyer surprised when he spoke about the indy grind and WWE grind in pro wrestling is tremendously similar to one another.

"When you talk about Raw, Smackdown, and PLE's -- that's the fun part," Dyer said. " That is the love. The grind comes in when it's like -- tomorrow -- I have a 6am flight to Toronto, so I'm getting up at 4am. That's the grind. The grind is the tough part of kissing your kids and leaving for a few days. You know, I leave tomorrow, I come back Monday and it's like, I'm leaving my kids. Like, that's a hard grind for me. That's the hard part."

Dyer made his MLW debut as part of the Battle Riot event in April of this year. Since then, he's reigned supreme as a tag team alongside former NXT star, Donovan Dijak, as The Skyscrapers.

Which match are you most looking forward to at MLW FIGHTLAND this Saturday? 🤔

Watch them all LIVE & FREE at 10 pm ET:
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— MLW (@MLW) September 9, 2025

MLW Fightland airs live from Dallas on September 13 and Bishop Dyer is advertised for the show, but does not have a match announced at this time. Other announced matches include Matt Riddle vs. Donovan Dijak for the MLW World Heavyweight Championship, Hammerstone vs. Matthew Justice in a Texas Death Match, Shotzi Blackheart vs. Alejandra Quintanilla, and much more.

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