WWE: It’s too early to return to The Demon side of Finn Balor

Roman Reigns continues to stand out as the top aspect of WWE programming. Not only has his character done well with fans, but his continued defense of the WWE Universal Championship on WWE SmackDown is an added boost to his popularity. Last Friday it was Finn Balor who fell in his wake, but WWE is of course going back to that matchup for Extreme Rules on September 26. While this isn’t surprising, one thing that should not happen is the immediate return of The Demon.

One of the reasons Balor’s initial NXT and main roster WWE runs were so popular was due to the emergence of The Demon. The face paint, mannerisms, and other aspects of the character resounded well with fans but left the “normal” version of Balor in the dust. That was unfortunate because anyone familiar with Balor’s work in New Japan as Prince Devitt knows that his abilities range much further than the face and body paint he’d adorn. Unfortunately, the WWE tends to hitch everything to tropes within its characters and the same could be said about The Demon.

After being defeated by Reigns on Friday there was a moment where the heartbeat and red lighting familiar with Balor’s alter ego was heard while Reigns walked away from the ring. It’s a subtle nod to the character, and subtly isn’t something that WWE does very often.

It’s been more than two years since The Demon has been seen on WWE television. Since then, Balor’s NXT title run gave glimpses into a different shade of his character that should become the backbone of who he is. Now that he’s a part of the main roster, rushing back to The Demon seems like an attempt to rush back to what seemingly made him popular during the early portions of his WWE run without any long-term planning to back it. There’s an opportunity for the WWE to do something different, perhaps an angle akin to the “Faces of Foley” gimmick from Mick Foley’s heyday decades ago. But again, that would require concerted future planning from the WWE, something that doesn’t seem to be a practice within creative.

It would be an interesting long-term angle to see The Demon return, but WWE has shown an inability to effectively book some characters, instead of making them an empty trope of the wrestler. Finn Balor has shown that he’s one of the top names in the ring and this run has revealed an intriguing new component to his persona. Now isn’t the time to return to The Demon King, but it sadly looks that exactly what is going to happen on the main roster.