While WWE's creative team made some major missteps with The Demon on the main roster, it was always entertaining to see Finn Balor embrace his inner darkness whenever he unleashed that persona for big matches.
While the gimmick was better utilised in NXT, it also became something of a crutch as fans grew used to the idea of Balor winning whenever he made his transformation. Then, there was the fact Vince McMahon's creative input basically ruined the whole thing!
Talking to What's The Story, Balor reflected on his time as The Demon and explained why it's been so long since we last saw him (the hope among fans had been that the gimmick might return on Triple H's watch).
"I would like to keep Finn as a heel and The Demon as the babyface and not blur the lines at all," he explained. "But it’s so hard and I feel like The Demon’s kind of something that we haven’t executed very well the last couple years and I’d rather not-not do it than do it in a way that I’m not happy with so, and look, in six years time, they can throw me out there in Demon paint and I’ll do the entrance."
"But now, Finn’s having too much fun and I feel like I can give a lot more layers as a heel Finn than The Demon. The Demon’s just very straight-forward. He’s like a bulldozer," Balor continued. "He just goes straight for the kill, where Finn’s a little bit more sneaky and there’s more story arcs you can tell with Finn versus a supernatural Demon."
Elsewhere in the interview, the current World Tag Team Champion elaborated on his decision to sign a new five-year deal with WWE.
"I’m super excited. You never know. I remember when I was 20 and I was like, ‘If I make it to 30 I’ll be doing well.’ Then, you’re in your 40s and I’m like, ‘S**t, do they want me to keep doing this? Am I able to keep doing it? How is the body going to feel?'" Balor said.
"We sat down, had a couple of conversations and the feelings were mutual. I wanted to stay, they wanted me to stay. We hashed it out and I couldn’t be happier. It was a weird time. It was six months to when my contract was coming up. ‘S**t, is the end of my run? Is it time to move on?’ Ten years is incredible."
"I’m ten years in with another five years to go, fingers crossed they don’t fire me. It’s a pretty wild journey," he concluded.
All signs point to an implosion in The Judgement Day, likely with WWE pulling the trigger on a babyface run for Damian Priest. That means Balor will likely stay heel and closes the door on The Demon returning...for now, at least.