Former ECW superstar and Ring of Honor commentator Steve Corino made a special appearance at the WWE Performance Center this year. After that appearance, many wondered if he was going to make the move to the WWE after that. It turns out that was exactly what he planned on doing.
411mania reported that Steve Corino’s Ring of Honor contract comes to an end at the end of the year. Saturday night was the final Ring of Honor show of the year with Final Battle, and that made it the final show for Steve Corino when it comes to his Ring of Honor contract. Corino posted a photo of his wrestling boots on his Twitter page after the show thanking Ring of Honor and pretty much announcing he was leaving for the WWE.
It was pretty clear that Steve Corino was making the move when WWE.com posted an interview with him concerning the WWE Performance Center. In that interview, Corino said his goal and dream was always to transition from wrestling into coaching and the WWE Performance Center was “wrestling heaven.”
Steve Corino mentioned that he had a chance to perform in the WWE early in his career, but he moved on and has not been involved with the WWE in 22 years. He said the day he went to coach at the Performance Center, he felt like an outsider. However, he soon started to feel like that was where he belonged.
That stint was a one-week training session the WWE allowed Steve Corino to put on for their students. That one-week class was also almost a tryout for Steve Corino to prove to the WWE that he belonged there. Now, he is getting the chance to make his splash by teaching younger wrestlers promos, in-ring skills, and more.
If there was any further doubt that Steve Corino was on his way to the WWE, Jimmy Jacobs posted the following photo on his Twitter account. The photo is of Steve Corino, Jimmy Jacobs, and current WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens.
In Ring of Honor, Steve Corino was a mentor for both Kevin Owens (who was known there as Kevin Steen) and Jimmy Jacobs. They were known as SCUM and were working on a takeover angle in Ring of Honor. It was one of the biggest angles in the early days of the Ring of Honor national television days on Sinclair.
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Jimmy Jacobs is one of the writers in the WWE, working on Monday Night Raw. This was after he spent much of his career in the indies, in Ring of Honor, PWG, and more. Steve Corino spent most of the past few years as an announcer and part-time in-ring competitor for Ring of Honor. Steve Corino will be a huge loss for Ring of Honor as he was one of the most entertaining color commentators in professional wrestling.
Steve Corino was on Bill Apter’s podcast before Final Battle and refused to divulge if he had a WWE contract or not. However, he did give a timetable for when he might start in the WWE, which will likely end up being in 2017.
“I am under contract with Ring of Honor until December 31st. Then I have commitments with New Japan Pro Wrestling that go until Wrestle Kingdom on January 4th. Korakuen Hall on January 5th. Then… let’s see what happens.”
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