WWE News: Finn Balor reveals initial plan for 'Demon' character in WWE; narrates incident with Karl Anderson
What’s the story?
In a recent interview with Al Arabiya, Finn Balor spoke about the initial plans for his ‘Demon’ character in the WWE.
Balor revealed that the original plan for the ‘Demon’ character was aimed at making fans hate the character and be afraid of him -- something that had quite the opposite effect, as most fans love his Demon avatar.
Additionally, Balor reminisced about the time he discussed his idea of introducing the Demon character, with close friend Karl Anderson, who warned Finn that he’d get laughed at for an idea like that.
In case you didn’t know…
Finn Balor, whose real name is Fergal Devitt, performed for NXT from 2014 and then rose to the top of the WWE since his main roster debut last year.
He’s widely regarded as one of the best professional wrestlers today, owing to his impressive repertoire of work in Japan, and is widely appreciated by fans for his portrayal of the Demon gimmick.
The heart of the matter
Finn Balor spoke about the time he pitched the idea of him portraying the Demon gimmick to Karl Anderson: “The first time I did that, I said to my best friend Karl Anderson that I’m going to do this thing. I explained to him what I was doing and he said, ‘do not do that, you’re going to be laughed out of the building.”
Furthermore, Balor elucidated on initial plans for his Demon character in the WWE and said: “Obviously this didn’t happen (but) the whole Demon character was designed for people to hate me more, and to be scared of me, and it kind of backfired in the sense that people kind of like it now. It’s still a learning process for me.”
What’s next?
Finn Balor is presently involved in a feud with Bray Wyatt. The two are set to face off at the RAW brand-exclusive PPV, No Mercy, which goes down at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on September 24th.
Author’s take
A key reason behind Balor being unable to scare fans with his Demon gimmick could be the fact that he isn’t as physically imposing as most other demons in professional wrestling, namely Kane and The Boogeyman.
Nevertheless, Balor has carved a unique niche in the sport and may be one of the few demons in the game whom fans find charismatic rather than scary (Kane) or repulsive (Boogeyman).