Booking Finn Balor And The Demon As Separate Characters
Finn Balor could use a repacking to help elevate him back to main event status. WWE Creative can fulfill this need by booking Balor as two separate characters at the same time.
Some of the most intriguing characters in professional wrestling are those that blur the line between good and bad. They are the “shades of grey” characters that keep people guessing because no one can actually predict exactly what they will or will not do.
There’s a story there for former WWE Universal champion, Finn Balor. At one time he was a big signing for the company and quickly tapped as the organization’s first Universal champ. But he’s never been able to rebuild that position after the shoulder injury that forced him to lose that belt. However, if WWE Creative would take an intriguing change with his character, there’s hope for Balor rising above his current position in the future.
It’s clear that Balor is a face. He comes to the ring with fans chanting his name, smiling at nearly every moment and sticking to the rules when he’s in between the ropes. But, the WWE has acknowledged the “darker” side of his character through The Demon that he becomes when he wears the face and body paint to the ring.
However, that character isn’t much different from Balor without the paint. Same move set and the same music – nothing other than the aesthetics separate the two. And that is where we will begin when it comes to correcting Finn Balor’s character.
Instead of The Demon being nothing more than a daunting task for makeup, WWE Creative should look building The Demon as a totally separate character from Balor. To up the ante even more, WWE Creative should look at booking Balor as a face when he doesn’t have the paint, but make him a heel when he’s wearing The Demon makeup.
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On one side you’d have Finn the babyface; a character that is exactly what he is today, catering to the masses and fulfilling all of the typical stereotypes of face wrestlers. But the other side of him would be The Demon – a character that’s willing to take the most heinous steps needed to get back that Universal title.
WWE Creative should write this idea as if both characters are aware of each other and speak of each other as separate people – creating the “storyline” as to which version of Finn is the real person?
Has he always been the man that wants to do things the right way? Or is he really the dark figure that is The Demon, more alike what we’ve seen of him in NJPW and other organizations.
Now, this isn’t the first time that the WWE has attempted to do something like this. Think back to Mick Foley’s characters of Mankind and Dude Love. There were multiple instances in which Foley would appear as all three characters on the same card. Back then, it was seen as more of a comedy gimmick. This idea for Balor should be taken as a serious stride to help push him toward a heel character; especially since the Raw brand is struggling with a dearth of good heels on the roster.
It would be interesting to see how not only WWE Creative would book a split personality character with Balor, and then there’s the question to whether or not he has the range to play such a role. But the diversity in how he could be booked as both a face and a heel at the same time is interesting. One week he’d come out to save Seth Rollins from an attack by Drew McIntyre and Dolph Rollins, then the next he could be the one to sneakily attack Rollins – the success of all this depends on how well WWE Creative could present the two faces of Finn as separate characters.
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In the end, creativity is a major aspect of what makes professional wrestling character development so intriguing. When we think we’ve seen it all, here comes a new twist to a character that makes them the talking point of the industry. While it will be a challenge, WWE Creative has an opportunity to try something special with Finn Balor by breaking The Demon out to a completely separate character – the light and dark sides of the former Universal champion.