Vince Russo's The Brand

Hello everyone and welcome to the first edition of my new column series entitled An Alternative Viewpoint where what I will do is re-book/re-write an angle (or in this case put a character into an angle and develop that character where WWE has failed to). And today’s subject is Finn Balor.

When you take a look at a guy like Finn Balor and how hard he has worked to get to where he is and how WWE completely dropped the ball in making this guy into a larger than life character, it’s quite a shame honestly, because the Demon King persona he has offers a lot of storyline and character development potential if their creative staff would actually put some thought and effort into writing for him. But hey I don’t mind doing their job for them while we all speculate what could be.

To start off on his NXT run, I honestly would not have had him do his Demon entrance at all, just allude to the fact that Balor is a demon in Irish mythology and have speculation as to why he chose that name for himself. He would have had the same success in NXT that he does now, just allusions to his demon name and what it means, maybe some instances where some of the larger competitors push him around which makes him more aggressive.

His success in NXT would catch the attention of Mick Foley as he has a soft spot for guys like Balor and would draft him early against Stephanie McMahon’s wishes. She would try to tell him that it’s a bad decision in that he can’t hang with their main roster guys and that he’s wasting an early draft pick on him. Foley tells her to trust him, that there’s something about Balor he can’t quite put his finger on but knows that he will be a big star in the future.

RAW 7/25/2016

Balor would have been the one to take the pin in the four way match which would have been won by Rusev who would then later on in the main event be defeated by Reigns. Commentators would make mention of the fact that the guy Foley put his faith in for an early draft came up short on his debut. In a later segment Stephanie would question Foley’s decision again and Foley would tell her that it’s just first night jitters and that he knows that Balor will be something special and for her to trust him. In another segment later on, Balor would be in the locker room disappointed in himself but Foley would tell him not to worry about it and no matter what, he’s got his back.

RAW 8/1/2016

Balor would participate in a battle royal to determine the #1 contender to the US Championship and by sheer luck end up becoming the winner. After the match there would be a quick backstage segment with Foley and Stephanie and her telling Mick that for his sake he better hope that Balor’s luck doesn’t run out at SummerSlam. Later on in the show Rusev would be asked his thoughts on Balor becoming the number one contender to his title and Rusev would blow him off, making sure to reference the size difference between the two and saying the following line about Balor-“Guys like you don’t beat guys like me.” Later on there would be a backstage segment where Balor is interviewed and he brings up that he does have something inside of him that he doesn’t like, something that when he’s pushed, comes out of him and makes him something he’s not and he’s been being pushed around since he came to WWE and NXT because of his size and warns Rusev to not do something he might regret.

RAW 8/8/2016

On this show, Rusev would go one on one with Neville. Prior to the match, there would be a pre-tape with Rusev and Lana where Rusev would say that he’ll demonstrate to Balor what happens when people like him try to take on people like Rusev. He would then bring up Balor’s comments about what’s lurking inside of him and Rusev would reply that he is a world class athlete and he wants to see what is inside of Balor and he’ll try to push him by what he does to Balor’s NXT friend Neville that night. During the Neville vs. Rusev match, Rusev would dominate Neville who would get swatted away with any offense he tried to mount. As Rusev is dominating he would be calling Neville Balor’s name to taunt his SummerSlam opponent. Eventually Rusev would finish off Neville with the Accolade. In that same night during a backstage segment, Balor would respond to Rusev’s desire to see what’s inside of Balor and he’d tell him that he’s playing with fire and if it’s released, everyone will burn and prove tonight that guys like him can beat guys like Rusev when he takes on Sheamus. That night, despite a valiant effort he would be defeated by Sheamus. After the match, Foley and Stephanie will be shown to be watching on a monitor in the gorilla position and Stephanie would ask Foley when RAW will start seeing some dividends in Balor. Foley would start to show some doubt in his confidence in Balor.

RAW 8/15/2016

That night Balor would be in a backstage vignette where he promises to show footage of what happens when someone like Rusev were to push him too far as that has happened to him when he was a child. He’ll make sure to mention that what he’ll see is just the tip of the iceberg and that he’s never been pushed further than what they’ll see tonight in the footage. Later on at the top of the first hour that footage would be shown and it would have taken place at the school Balor went to in Ireland and it would be larger children picking on one smaller child who eventually snaps and starts swinging wildly and make guttural noises that frighten the other children who run off. And the first time in the video that we see the smaller child’s eyes is at the end and they would be completely black. The commentators would clearly be a bit disturbed at what they had just seen. In another backstage vignette, Foley would approach Balor and bring up his losses since coming up to the main roster and give him a pep talk to try and help him for his match coming up after the break. Back from commercial the match would be Balor and Neville vs. Sheamus and Rusev and they would end up losing with Rusev pinning Balor. During his final backstage segment of the night, Balor would again be approached by Foley who is now expressing regret after being chewed out by Stephanie that the draft pick for Balor was completely wasted and says as much to Balor, even mentioning that Balor should maybe save face and drop out of the US Title match at SS so Foley can try to find a replacement, who suddenly snaps and starts throwing things around and knocking things over and screaming in frustration and refuses to drop out of the match which would shock and surprise Foley.

SummerSlam 8/21/2016

During the pre-show Rusev would be interviewed and he would say that he loved the fire that Balor showed when he was confronted by Foley that past Monday and that tonight during their match he is going to do everything he can to release that demon inside of him as he needs a real opponent to showcase his superior fighting skills against, not the small man he beat in the tag match. There would be a backstage vignette of one of the interviewers trying to talk to Balor and he would clearly be distressed, screaming at the interviewer to get away from him and he’d look like he’s trying to keep his emotions in check. That night for their match, Balor would come out looking like he’s calmed down but still clearly tense. During the match Balor would be wrestling much more aggressively than usual but most of the match Rusev would be pounding Balor, demanding to bring the demon out of him and he’d eventually win via ref stoppage in the Accolade. After the match Rusev would continue his beatdown all the while holding a microphone and yelling insults toward Balor into it. When he’s done with the beatdown, trainers would come out to try and help Balor to his feet. When he’s to his feet, he’d suddenly snap and start laying out the trainers and then stare into the camera and we would see that his eyes are now completely black before he heads to the back and the commentators are in shock at what they just witnessed.

And that concludes part 1 of the first addition of An Alternative Viewpoint. The next one will start at the first RAW after SummerSlam and would feature the first appearance of Demon Balor. Hope you enjoyed it.