The REAL Reason WWE Is Pushing Finn Bálor

The character’s promise is untainted…but also unrealised.

Bálor, high on his NXT run, told Rolling Stone in 2015 that he was grateful to WWE for fine-tuning it. “Before, I was doing it for the sake of it, whenever I wanted to. When I came here, they helped me figure out why I do it. The company has bent over backwards to help me figure out why I do things, and when.”

You’d suspect, years removed from the honeymoon, that Bálor cannot possibly credit the main roster arm of that company with the same fawning respect. The opposite is true now: WWE has booked Finn Bálor for the sake of it, tossing him in the maw of various hoss characters in forgettable, inconclusive feuds that have not advanced his career in any meaningful way. Bálor almost reluctantly left New Japan having agonised over the decision. Does he—should he—feel any loyalty to WWE whatsoever? And, a more pointed question: which entity is best positioned now to siphon that creativity than All Elite Wrestling, willed into existence by a man who, in 2018, got the NWA World Heavyweight Title more over than Finn Bálor?

One could make the argument that WWE hasn’t shown a mere reluctance to promote Finn Bálor effectively, but are incapable of doing so. Irrespective of the cause, it’s time they, too, embraced Finn’s dark side. He didn’t leave New Japan for the payday; he left because he felt ready to star as an all-rounder on the biggest stage possible.

Since the second biggest beckons…