While Finn Balor‘s “Demon” persona may still be one of the most intriguing gimmicks in WWE today, it rarely appears on television anymore.
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Balor’s body-paint transformation, which is rooted heavily in Venom and Carnage imagery from Marvel Comics, is often used when he’s in a serious feud or is competing on a major stage. He used it frequently during his run as NXT Champion, brought it out to win the Universal Championship in his debut on a main roster pay-per-view, and has used it as a last resort against the likes of Bray Wyatt and Baron Corbin. And since The Demon acts more ferociously than his regular week-to-week persona, Balor is almost guaranteed to win every time he uses it.
But because it’s been used so infrequently since his jump to the main roster in 2016, Balor admitted in a recent interview he’s forgotten how to perform as The Demon without ample practice.
“I do it so infrequently now that I forget how I move as the Demon,” Balor said on a recent episode of the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast. “I forget the subtle differences in the entrance and the mannerisms of how the Demon works. Now, when I go out there, I’m Finn Balor, but that’s just Fergal. It’s just me, the human. But when the Demon goes out there, I need to transform into a different person. That mindset, because I’m not tapping into it so often, that’s a huge challenge for me. I gotta figure out how to do that every time, again. I’m very comfortable being Finn, but when it comes to the Demon, I have to re-educate myself. That’s an added challenge because of how infrequent we are doing it.”
While Balor’s 2018 has been somewhat eventful, he hasn’t had much in big matches. He lasted 57 minutes in the Royal Rumble back in January before being eliminated, lost in the No. 1 contender’s Elimination Chamber match for a shot at Brock Lesnar, lost a triple threat Intercontinental Championship match against The Miz and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania, lost the Money in the Bank ladder match, lost a Universal Championship match against Roman Reigns the night after SummerSlam and was one of just wrestlers on Team Raw to get eliminated from the men’s Survivor Series match. The one time this year he did bring out the Demon, he wound up beating Baron Corbin in just 95 seconds at SummerSlam.
Balor is booked to take on Drew McIntyre at TLC on Sunday.
