Finn Balor discusses his character evolution in WWE
WWE's Finn Balor Credit: Mike Marques
If you didn’t know whether Finn Balor was a fan of D-Generation X, then you need only check out a photo of him during last Halloween. There was Balor dressed up and posing as Shawn Michaels, while his sledgehammer-wielding wife stood behind him in her Triple-H costume.
As a teenager growing up in Ireland, and dreaming of one day becoming a pro wrestler, Balor said D-Generation X’s “cutting edge” act represented a “huge change of direction for the industry.”
“As a fan, I was gripped week-in, week-out by what they were doing in the ring, by the antics they were having backstage, by the promos,” said Balor, who along with his “Balor Club” cohorts got to share a ring with DX at the Monday Night Raw 25th Anniversary special in the Manhattan Center in 2018.
On Monday, D-Generation X reunited for its own silver anniversary when Raw came to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. And Balor, who these days heads up the villainous Judgement Day faction, suggested he may once again go face-to-face with his former wrestling idols.
“Perhaps, we might be able to recreate something like that with the Judgment Day this week,” Balor teased. “But it might not be as friendly as it was at Raw 25.”
Off-screen, Paul “Triple-H” Levesque has long been a booster for Balor, from their days working together in NXT. With Levesque recently taking over WWE’s creative reins from his father-in-law, Vince McMahon, some fans are expecting big things for Balor, who believes the new regime has brought “a welcome change in the locker room.”
“It’s been an exciting time, obviously, for everyone. A lot of change. It, perhaps, reinvigorated the locker room, put people on a little bit more edge. People, maybe, who were comfortable are not as comfortable anymore. And people who, maybe, didn't see any light at the end of the tunnel are now starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel,” Balor said.
“Nobody ever has it exactly the way they want it. I will have frustrations just as much under Triple-H as I will under Vince McMahon, as I will under Santa Claus, if he was running the WWE. We all have things that we want to change,” Balor said, “Obviously, I have a good relationship with Triple-H over the years working in NXT. But a relationship doesn't mean anything in business. This is business, and I’ve got to go out there and handle business every night in the ring. And no history or familiarity or relationship is going to change that. I got to WWE with my performances. The performances are the key. Nothing else.”
Among the differences Balor acknowledged having with WWE management over the years has been the use of his “Demon” character—a horrifying, face-painted version of himself that is typically reserved for special occasions—or, at least, should be, Balor said.
“There were a couple of occasions where I was, I don't want to say ‘forced,’ but advised to do it against my own wishes. And I feel like that's kind of the times when it hasn't been executed as well as it should have been, or hasn't been handled the way I like it to be handled,” Balor said of his alter-ego. “For me, it wasn't really a character. It was more of an entrance and a showcase of just a different side of Finn. And it wasn't supposed to be any more than that. And it kind of grew and evolved over the years, and then people put their own interpretations on it. And when you work for a company as big as WWE, with so many different departments that need to be appeased, between the media side and the advertising side, toys, the merchandise, the T-shirts. All these departments can have their own view on what should be seen on screen. Because, for them, it might be more financially viable. But, really, in the long run, it might actually be harmful to the character. And I think it's very important for us to play the long game, as opposed to just trying to cash in.”
And even though “The Demon” is a crowd favorite, and the Judgment Day leader isn’t playing for fans’ cheers these days, Balor believes “there is a way we can make it work.”
“The timing needs to be spot-on. And it doesn't feel right, right now. It actually feels terrible to execute the Demon, right now. In my opinion, it would be a step in the wrong direction for the Finn character,” Balor said. “I definitely have some ideas of how I can execute it in the future.”
Balor’s immediate future is a return to the Barclays Center—the scene of one of the most important, and ill-fated, nights of his career. At SummerSlam 2016 in Brooklyn, Balor beat Seth Rollins to become WWE’s first Universal champion. But, because he suffered a shoulder injury in the match, Balor relinquished the title the next night, and spent six months on the disabled list.
Still Balor said he “wouldn’t change anything” about his first world title reign.
“Everything happens for a reason. And perhaps I wasn't ready for that at the time, and that was the universe's way of pushing back and saying, ‘No, slow down a little bit. Hold your horses. It's time to kind of grow up before you take on this responsibility,’” Balor said. “At the time, I'd been wrestling a long time. I hadn't really had a break. I hadn't really had a moment to step back and observe what I had achieved already in the business . . . how far I'd come from being a 17-year-old kid in Ireland with a dream to then, all of a sudden being in the main event in the pay-per-view for WWE in Brooklyn.”
Balor added that there was also the possibility that he would have flopped as champion, and been “let go a couple years later.”
“Who knows? It might have been a lot worse of a story had I not got injured,” Balor said.
Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.
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