DCW Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Does Balor have a character? he's incredibly timid on the mic for for someone with a supposed demonic side. Seemed a bit of a rubbish idea to put him in a suit as well. He hust looked like any other boring champion WWE have had over the last few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator Onyx2 Posted July 24, 2015 Awards Moderator Share Posted July 24, 2015 The latest Botchamania (280) has Mantaur's entrance set to Balor's music. Had me in fits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted July 25, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted July 25, 2015 Does Balor have a character? he's incredibly timid on the mic for for someone with a supposed demonic side. Seemed a bit of a rubbish idea to put him in a suit as well. He hust looked like any other boring champion WWE have had over the last few years. The suit was something I thought about too. While he looked very smart, it made him look too normal and emphasised how small he is. I looked at him and thought 'I look bigger than that'. I don't like that in my wrestlers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted July 25, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted July 25, 2015 Most the divas are bigger than Balor. He's fucking tiny. I am not sold on Balor at all. If it wasn't for the cool body paint he would have literally nothing to set him apart from anyone else and even that doesn't make much sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbacon85 Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 He's pretty well built though right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted July 25, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted July 25, 2015 (edited) Depends on what you consider to be 'well built'. He's shredded, but small. He has a physique you would expect to see on a legitimate athlete, like a UFC Lightweight. Everybody buys into those guys being total bad asses, but not into the idea that they could beat up any of the Heavyweights. For the record, I really like Balor, or at least want to, but there are aspects of his character and presentation that just aren't clicking with me at all. I'm just not buying what they're selling to me at the moment. In the ring he's good and he has a genuine likeability that you don't get in many guys. Edited July 25, 2015 by Arch Stanton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbacon85 Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Agreed, an excellent wrestler, one of the best I've seen live. I must say, I was astounded by how much presence and charisma he had in a live setting. Confidence just shy of arrogance, but this was back in the Bullet Club days. What do you think he needs to do to connect more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lenin Posted July 25, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted July 25, 2015 He was brilliant live in the town halls etc. But for WWE he's going to have to work a bit harder to impress folks. There's nothing physically that he does that is radically different from anyone else and that will be hard to overcome. And ultimately the booking will make or break him. If they want to make a star they will need to take a long term view to build him and he'll need to absolutely nail his segments to get people onside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sexy Dad Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 (edited) Town halls? Try harder. I am a Balor fan but I do have to say that I'm on Team Owens for this one. Kevin being on NXT and the main roster at the same time has bought some real importance to his work the past couple of months and he adds a big time feel that Balor can't do as just a guy we see a couple of times a month on NXT. If NXT is to continue to grow outside of Full sail I think Kevin Owens is the man to lead that opposed to Balor. A program with a returning Hideo Itami is waiting in the wings too and I wouldn't want to see that shelved as it's the most interesting thing I can see for Hideo to return to. Edited July 25, 2015 by Sexy Dad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CavemanLynn Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Agreed, an excellent wrestler, one of the best I've seen live. I must say, I was astounded by how much presence and charisma he had in a live setting. Confidence just shy of arrogance, but this was back in the Bullet Club days. What do you think he needs to do to connect more? Personally, I think they missed a trick with Baylor, especially him in that series of vignettes about him. He's clearly a bit soft-spoken and geeky, so they should have played that up from the off instead of being a kick throwing hardcase like Itami and however many other 'serious' wrestlers. He needed to get his arse kicked more, squeaking victories with quick bursts of offence when he's all but dead, scratching his way up the ladder on sheer will rather than 'taking his opponent to the limit'. Then at the big match, after numerous TV taping kickings, he lets on about having to go to his 'dark place', and at the PPV, Demon Balor debuts, where he straight-up murders his opponent with the offence we know he can do. TV taping after the win, he's back to being meek lil Finn, thanking everyone and his PPV opponent, whilst warning everyone he doesn't want to go the dark again. I've said this over and over again, I know. He'll get over as is and make a shitload of merch money (that action figure mockup in the Toys thread was mega) , but it still seems like a creative misstep what they've done with him, or at least a missed opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reznor Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 (edited) Personally, I think they missed a trick with Baylor, especially him in that series of vignettes about him. He's clearly a bit soft-spoken and geeky, so they should have played that up from the off instead of being a kick throwing hardcase like Itami and however many other 'serious' wrestlers. He needed to get his arse kicked more, squeaking victories with quick bursts of offence when he's all but dead, scratching his way up the ladder on sheer will rather than 'taking his opponent to the limit'. Then at the big match, after numerous TV taping kickings, he lets on about having to go to his 'dark place', and at the PPV, Demon Balor debuts, where he straight-up murders his opponent with the offence we know he can do. TV taping after the win, he's back to being meek lil Finn, thanking everyone and his PPV opponent, whilst warning everyone he doesn't want to go the dark again. I've said this over and over again, I know. He'll get over as is and make a shitload of merch money (that action figure mockup in the Toys thread was mega) , but it still seems like a creative misstep what they've done with him, or at least a missed opportunity. This scenario, or variations of it, has become generally accepted online as the can’t miss best way to use Balor. Unfortunately, it's bollocks imo and the reality of what would happen would be very different to what you guys envisage. The only thing that's interesting about Balor is how he’s presented - the theme, the logo, and most importantly, the makeup. That doesn't say a whole lot for his skills as it's all the WWE's doing. The mechanical stuff can keep him reasonably popular with the NXT crowd who knew him from before, but he hasn’t shown anything that suggests he can capture the imagination of the masses if he was brought up. He isn’t even particularly suited to his ‘gimmick’ as he’s essentially a conventional looking, clean cut guy who doesn’t give off any sort of weird, enigmatic or alternative vibe at all. Anyways, the point is that very few people are likely to care about plain old Finn Balor. The kids would only ever want to see the ‘demon’, so it makes no sense to run the sort of gimmick where fans have to endure shit they’re not interested in for a month or two in order to get the payoff. Especially when it’s done in some sort of routine and cyclical way like you’re advocating. People would just be disappointed at paying their money or tuning in only to be met 9 times out of 10 with a bland, robotic fellow who does workrate instead of a vibrant, exciting comic book antihero. Then again, character-wise he’s so unconvincing that even in gimmick, he’s basically just the same but with paint and fancy entrance. Edited July 26, 2015 by Reznor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CavemanLynn Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 That scenario would have introduced him and defined Finn as distinct from the Demon. NXT is where to experiment, iron out and establish new gimmicks in front of a savvy but supportive crowd where Finn can get comfortable being himself. I actually think when to a main roster debut it should be done the other way, a mystery tag partner deal with an established face promoing about having a dark ally to take on a heel monster team. Then avoid showing normal everyday Finn - stick with creepy vignettes hinting at a creature lurking in shadows in arenas. There's been plenty of demonic possession horror films over the past few years to cadge ideas from. Then once the Demon is established, faze in Finn the human, by which time he should be able to carry himself as himself a bit better. As another note on the Demon persona, it'd be quite cool if he ended up with a roster of different Demons to call on, with certain different traits and even signature moves. Different base colours and entrance attire. Whole toy sets just of Finn Balor seems like money to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Marcus Louis really shouldn't be a jobber. What a look! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted July 27, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted July 27, 2015 Can you imagine the pop these guys are going to get in Brooklyn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members GlennCullen Posted July 27, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted July 27, 2015 (edited) If they don't have them finally win the tag belts on that show they're crazy. The reaction's going to be great. Edited July 28, 2015 by KJHenley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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