Daniel Bryan Upset That It Took So Long To Get Finn Balor On The Main WWE Roster
The injury to one of WWE's surging superstars Finn Balor has brought up a number of topics amongst [...]
The injury to one of WWE's surging superstars Finn Balor has brought up a number of topics amongst the wrestling community, but recently Daniel Bryan rose another point in a recent WWE interview with Micahel Cole.
While he laments the fact that Balor will be out for 4 to 6 months, he doesn't place any of the blame on Seth Rollins or the move that caused the injury. Bryan rather looks at stars starting their runs in NXT and staying there for long periods of time as the main issue (via WrestleZone).
"That kind of stuff happens. The most tragic part to me is that it happens as soon as he gets up here. And I think of the things that really upsets me about the whole situation is that Finn Balor should have been up here a year and a half ago. And I understand that NXT is a very important part of our programming and a very important part of the Network, but he was a Superstar when we signed him. Some people have to adjust to the WWE style, but that takes no more than – for a guy like Finn Balor – that takes no more than six months. He's in the prime of his career right now. He just turned 35 the day he debuted on Raw. He should have been here a year and a half ago."
The lifespan of a wrestler can vary greatly, and a lot of that depends on their move set, their athletic ability, and who they're facing on a nightly basis. Bryan is right that Balor was a star before the WWE ever brought him on, but that doesn't necessarily mean that NXT wasn't a better fit for him than the main roster when he started his WWE run.
Bryan's qualms don't end with Balor though, as he thinks the NXT to main roster system is inherently flawed and believes it has robbed other stars of treasured time on the biggest stage in WWE.
"Samoa Joe should already be here. Shinsuke Nakamura should already be here. Those are guys in their primes, and their down in NXT when they should be here; either on Smackdown Live or on Raw. The longer we wait, the more bumps they take, the more bruises they get and the more susceptible they are to injury. Everyone knows there's a finite amount of hits you can take in your career, and you don't know what that number is, and the more times you take those hits down in NXT the less hits you're going to be able to take while you're here."
Again, Bryan has a point about the number of hits wrestlers take, but the problem with his overall point is that the main roster and those who run it were not ready for a Finn Balor when he officially signed to the company. Using Bryan's logic, Balor would have been introduced with no real introduction, since that doesn't really happen on the main roster like it does in NXT, and so audiences who aren't familiar with the wrestling scene outside of the WWE would have approached him with the same apathetic attitude they've shown towards other big name acts coming to the WWE.
The reason he was drafted to Raw and the reason people cared about him on the main roster was due to NXT. If you want to shorten the time of transition that is fine, but after the main roster's treatment of other NXT stars as well as talent from other promotions, what makes one think they would have treated him even remotely right without the guidance and investment that NXT provided.