Before jumping over to WWE and establishing himself during NXT’s “Black and Gold” era, Finn Balor was a major name in New Japan Pro-Wrestling as Prince Devitt, where he also introduced his alter ego: the Demon. Though Balor carried it over to WWE, the persona hasn’t always been well-utilized, and the veteran himself has admitted that he’d used the gimmick as a “crutch” in past interviews.
“The Demon’s a touchy subject for me,” Balor admitted during an appearance on “What Do You Wanna Talk About? With Cody Rhodes.” He then recounted how the original iteration of the character was created shortly after his heel turn in NJPW, which he said was an “uphill battle.” Balor felt he needed to contrast himself against the titan babyface, Kota Ibushi. “I’m thinking like, ‘How can I make this look different?’ And I want to take everything away from the fans that they physically recognize me for.”
Balor originally thought of wearing a bodysuit like Jushin Thunder Liger, before later getting the idea of Ibushi wrestling a “shadow” to contrast his white gear. “That kind of slowly developed into the Demon in the weeks leading up to the [Tokyo] Dome show,” he recalled. Ahead of his reveal, Balor told Karl Anderson about his idea, who ended up laughing at it and suggesting nobody would take him seriously. “And I done it, took off, and it was cool.”
