Wrestler Retrospect: Finn Bálor

In the world of professional wrestling everyone has a character.  Whether it's a subtle one like say Kevin Owens or an over the top persona like Bray Wyatt, every wrestler has a gimmick.  I know of very few that have two.  Which is what makes Finn Bálor very unique.

Although his entrance and move set are practically the same, it's the character in which he does it that makes it unique.

Most of the time he's the a James Dean-esque type loner.  Making his way to the ring in a leather jacket that he makes sure to keep the collar popped on.  He throws his arms up during certain points in his entrance music that the crowd follows along with.  Just this entrance alone is pretty exciting and engaging.  We find ourselves throwing our arms in the air at the right moment along with Finn.



The interesting thing about Finn though is that he keeps a different character for "special" occasions. These occasions mostly happen at pay-per-view type events.  The same music hits to a very different setting.  Instead of the bright lights and the leather jackets, we're treated to a dark arena with smoke covering the stage.  We're then treated to what Finn has called his Demon King persona.  Finn is painted all over much of his head and upper torso  Finn, airbrushed in the gaping maw of a monster, crawls onto the stage and down the ramp.  Still throwing his hands up at the appropriate time it's a much different character and atmosphere.

It's one of the things that keeps the fans coming back.  To see how different the paint, and entrance, will change each time.

Before signing with WWE Finn was known for painting himself for matches.  If you Google Prince Deavitt, Finn's name on the independent circuit, you'll see him painted up like everything from Venom to the Joker.

WWE was smart in creating the demon persona, the look of very similar to Venom, this way they can keep the character vague enough that he can tweak his look, but they don't have to pay for rights to certain characters.

Don't get me wrong though.  The Demon is not the only reason to watch Finn.  His wrestling speaks for itself.  He has a pretty entertaining arsenal of moves.  Everything from a spine shattering dropkick to his opponent into the turnbuckle to a blink and you'll miss it reverse bulldog dubbed the Sling Blade. He's very engaging.

His rib shattering off the top rope finisher is something to behold as well.  Hes dubbed it the Coup De Grâce, and I'll admit I wasn't a fan of it at first.  There's not much to it other than Finn climbing to the top rope and jumping down onto his opponent feet first.  It probably didn't help that when he debuted, he and his partner at the time used it together.  Once he made it his own it kind of grew on me.  Now I wait to see the simple devastation of the move in action.



He began interchanging his finisher with a move he's named the 1916.  A lifting DDT, the move is also simple in it's elegance and devastating in it's execution.  Sadly he's used the move very little since his main roster debut.  Hopefully it'll be something he'll start using again due to it taking less time to setup and execute, unlike the Coup De Grâce.

Finn has used these elements to quickly rise up in the WWE.  It was shortly after debuting in NXT that he won the brands championship and went on to hold the longest title reign with it.  After finally moving up he was on the fast track to the newly created Universal Championship.

He sadly had to relinquish the title the next night as he received a shoulder injury from a powerbomb into the outside barricade during the match.  If you ever want to see something bad ass look up said match and watch Finn pop his own shoulder back in place after the maneuver, then go on to win the match.  You can't script that.

Finn has been one of my favorites since his premier.  The Irish born superstar has a charisma about him that's hard to define.  His duality of character lends itself to his normally quiet demeanor.  It's like that quiet kid you never expect to snap and take out the school bully.  Finn has a presence that makes him engaging to watch.  Because of that I see him around for a long time.

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