Before jumping over to WWE and establishing himself during NXT’s “Black and Gold” era, Finn Balor was a major name in New Japan Pro-Wrestling as Prince Devitt, where he also introduced his alter ego: the Demon. Though Balor carried it over to WWE, the persona hasn’t always been well-utilized, and the veteran himself has admitted that he’d used the gimmick as a “crutch” in past interviews.
“The Demon’s a touchy subject for me,” Balor admitted during an appearance on “What Do You Wanna Talk About? With Cody Rhodes.” He then recounted how the original iteration of the character was created shortly after his heel turn in NJPW, which he said was an “uphill battle.” Balor felt he needed to contrast himself against the titan babyface, Kota Ibushi. “I’m thinking like, ‘How can I make this look different?’ And I want to take everything away from the fans that they physically recognize me for.”
Balor originally thought of wearing a bodysuit like Jushin Thunder Liger, before later getting the idea of Ibushi wrestling a “shadow” to contrast his white gear. “That kind of slowly developed into the Demon in the weeks leading up to the [Tokyo] Dome show,” he recalled. Ahead of his reveal, Balor told Karl Anderson about his idea, who ended up laughing at it and suggesting nobody would take him seriously. “And I done it, took off, and it was cool.”
Finn Balor hasn’t been happy with how ‘the Demon’ has been utilized in WWE
Finn Balor then tried to recall if there ever was a moment in the gimmick he’d consider his favorite in his current promotion, but expressed that there always had to be a reason for him to devolve into the Demon when it came to WWE, which he didn’t agree with.
“In my mind, it was always just a cool entrance. … You know, Braveheart puts on the battle paint and he goes to war, and that’s the way it was for me,” he explained. Balor felt that WWE officials instead wanted it to be more of a transformation, which he believes took away from Finn Balor as a character. “So, then it became the point where Finn wasn’t good enough, only the Demon could win. So then, like, Finn was lesser than the Demon, when they’re supposed to be the same, right?”
That was just one of several issues Balor had with the Demon presentation in WWE. He also wasn’t thrilled that the appearances were advertised ahead of time. “I like it to be a surprise, like: ‘Oh, s**t! The Demon’s here!’ … And it just comes out and kicks ass,” he noted. “But favorite moment would probably be [NXT] Takeover: UK.” That entrance was Jack ‘The Ripper’ themed, with Balor successfully defending the WWE NXT Championship against Samoa Joe.
Although Balor doesn’t believe that the Demon has been used to its full potential in WWE, he admitted that he’d love to go back to utilizing the persona; however, he would want more creative control.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “What Do You Wanna Talk About? With Cody Rhodes.” and provided a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
