At WWE Sunday Night’s Main Event, Lil Yachty surprised fans when he survived five minutes in the ring with wrestling veteran Baron Corbin. According to the rapper, the match itself came as a surprise to him as well.
During an interview with Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Yachty revealed that he never planned to wrestle for WWE, but rather cement himself as a manager potentially near the level of the legendary Paul Heyman.
I didn’t expect to come to WWE and wrestle,” Yachty said. “I want to be the best manager ever. That was my thing. I mean, not ever. All respect to Paul Heyman. I want to be the second-best manager ever. Wrestling was not in my cards. It’s not one match, not two matches. I was like, I’m gonna come manage and have fun. Maybe even try to be one of the brand managers, like be a SmackDown or Raw manager.
Yachty’s match against then-WWE United States Champion Baron Corbin at SNME marked his official professional wrestling debut. And by surviving five minutes, the “drive Me crazy!” singer earned an instant title opportunity for his friend Trick Williams.
When asked how his in-ring debut came together, Yachty pointed to WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, whom he believes might have simply wanted to see how he’d fare in between the ropes.
I think Triple H just wanted to see it,” Yachty said. “I really do. I would love to know actually. If I had to guess, I’m sure someone just threw it out there in the writers’ room, and I could just imagine Triple H just wanting to see me get my ass beat or something, because I don’t even know how we got here.
In the months leading up to Sunday Night’s Main Event, Yachty spent much time training alongside Williams and WWE’s coaches at the Performance Center.
