NXT Champion Finn Balor recently spoke to Vicente Beltrán of ViBe & Wrestling, and among the topics they discussed was why his Demon persona didn't necessarily work on the main roster. While that was a hit in New Japan Pro Wrestling and NXT, the way Vince McMahon utilised it on RAW and SmackDown didn't quite hit the mark.
One of the key problems was that it became predictable that when Balor was the Demon, he more than likely wouldn't lose, and that led to fans wondering why that persona wouldn't come out in big matches. For Balor, the bigger problem was that it just wasn't special enough.
"The ‘Demon’ was designed as something special," he explained. "It was one of those things that should have been saved for breathtaking occasions, but it ended up being advertised in the media and that was one of the main reasons why it didn’t work. The surprise factor was completely gone and the ‘Demon’ became Finn Balor’s savior, which was also to my detriment because I could not develop my own character separate from the ‘Demon’. I think it hurt both of us, Finn Balor and the ‘Demon.'"
Now, it remains to be seen if and when we'll see The Demon again, but it will no doubt be used a little more effectively in NXT than it was on WWE's main roster.
What do you guys think?