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Post by héad.casé on Feb 1, 2022 13:05:50 GMT -5
“I really, really want to work on the heel aspect of Finn, at like RAW/SmackDown level, because I have kind of done it in Japan, we tried to do it in NXT, but it kind of went a different direction. And I would really love to have a real heel run.” “I feel like I had got a bit stale and I was kind of like, I was just tired, I was exhausted. I was kind of just worn out of dealing with the politics in the office and the writers and everything that goes with it. I just like, had enough. When I returned to NXT, I really feel like that rejuvenated me in the ring. “One thing I feel that helped and you know all the negative effects of the pandemic, taking the fans out of the equation in wrestling makes you kind of change the cadence and the tempo of the match. Because you’re not trying to perform for a large audience, you’re literally performing in a one-on-one environment, and you can really work more on the details of the match. You’re not so reliant on hearing that audible response from the crowd. “You know, so I would produce a match to get a ‘yay’ or a ‘boo’ or a ‘oh, holy shit.’ When you take that element out of it you can get back to the nuts and bolts of what I actually learned in Hammerlock, and what I learned in Japan, and just gritty wrestling. I really feel that despite all the negative things that the pandemic brought us, it brought me that one positive thing that I can get back to wrestling for me and the way I like to wrestle. It’s now kind of finding that balance of how can I keep that art form of the way I like to wrestle in front of big crowds when you’re on a limited time frame with TV wrestling? So it’s trying to find that balance is going to be the most difficult thing.” www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2022/02/finn-balor-desires-a-real-heel-run-on-wwes-main-roster/
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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Feb 1, 2022 13:07:46 GMT -5
May as well try a heel run at this point. It’s not like he’s doing literally anything.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2022 13:10:05 GMT -5
Finn's last NXT Title reign is my favorite NXT reign of all time. Every match was a total banger and I liked that they usually weren't finisher kickout fests iike Cole's tended to be (don't get me wrong, I like Cole's reign too). It's sad how fast they managed to cool him off when he returned to the main roster.
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Post by Fade is a CodyCryBaby on Feb 1, 2022 13:10:09 GMT -5
I really hope and want the guy to wind back up in Japan.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Feb 1, 2022 13:41:23 GMT -5
Love the man (you can probably tell), but I'm not sure it's in him to be the level of heel that will make fans hate him - to get the level of heat to take him beyond "you people" promos and cackling that seem to mark most WWE heels these days.
For starters, he's already behind the eight-ball as far as his character scope is concerned. He's naturally a babyface - all that stuff he's done as an ambassador for WWE has pretty much sealed that for him. He may have withdrawn from all that extra work, but he's too well known in the business as being one of the good ones.
Secondly, the nature of heeldom has changed and, while every heel will have his or her fans regardless, there are some lines that larger companies will not cross. Racial and ethnic stereotypes are a no-go. Certain heel actions that would have marked a monumental heel turn or cemented one's position as a heel would absolutely not fly today. There are networks to think about these days. Heck, Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter's work got letters from angry viewers. So, the heel path is far narrower than it used to be, and even then there's no guarantee that Finn wouldn't get the babyface heat anyway (within those limitations.) Have the Demon return and take him over? That'd be one possibility _if_ he could tolerate 3-5 hours in the makeup room or, more practically, wear a bodysuit and mask. Even then, though....
Finally, all this assumes that he's even heard which, as we've seen and now we've heard, appears no longer to be the case. With Trips and Steph no longer in the picture Finn is very much not on Vince's radar. These interviews seem to be a signal that he's on the chopping block, especially now that he's no longer on TV, apparently.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2022 13:44:49 GMT -5
It's weird man. Finn became so marketable that it completely nullified any other creative aspects he wanted to do. Happened with him, happened with Bryan, happened with Cena of course, happens with a lot of talent. It just shouldn't be this way.
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Totorob101
Hank Scorpio
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Post by Totorob101 on Feb 1, 2022 13:52:53 GMT -5
Guy needs to get out as they will keep wasting his prime years away,guy is to talented just like Ali to be used in this way.
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Post by sportatorium on Feb 1, 2022 13:53:15 GMT -5
Anyone can work heel. Problem is WWE won't let wrestlers be truly despicable & when they do, it becomes painfully stupid (eye for an eye match). Balor could have worked heel just by being a thorn on someone's side and never relenting. The other problem is they don't have babyfaces either.
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Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Feb 1, 2022 13:54:48 GMT -5
I remember he went heel in NXT and then like a lot of folks down there, they just became tweeners which rarely works. Just got full on with it.
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Post by Cyno on Feb 1, 2022 14:37:39 GMT -5
I'd love to see the return of Prince Devitt. The guy was the first leader of Bullet Club for a reason. He can be a great heel.
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nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
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Post by nisidhe on Feb 1, 2022 14:49:04 GMT -5
I remember he went heel in NXT and then like a lot of folks down there, they just became tweeners which rarely works. Just got full on with it. The question nowadays is how, at least in WWE. He's at a point now where he's going to be cheered no matter what. A heel turn for Finn is going to have to stand out and mark him as one to hate. I'm not sure the networks will be able to handle what's needed to happen. A shortcut would be to put Paul Heyman as his manager, but he's already being passed between Roman and Lesnar like a wine goblet at a Led Zeppelin concert, and it would be seen as a shortcut. If he wants to turn heel and make it work, he's going to have to risk a hell of a lot of goodwill to do it, and what he may need to do may not be something he could readily walk back. I'm not sure he has it in him to be the black swan.
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Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Feb 1, 2022 14:54:27 GMT -5
I remember he went heel in NXT and then like a lot of folks down there, they just became tweeners which rarely works. Just got full on with it. The question nowadays is how, at least in WWE. He's at a point now where he's going to be cheered no matter what. A heel turn for Finn is going to have to stand out and mark him as one to hate. I'm not sure the networks will be able to handle what's needed to happen. A shortcut would be to put Paul Heyman as his manager, but he's already being passed between Roman and Lesnar like a wine goblet at a Led Zeppelin concert, and it would be seen as a shortcut. If he wants to turn heel and make it work, he's going to have to risk a hell of a lot of goodwill to do it, and what he may need to do may not be something he could readily walk back. I'm not sure he has it in him to be the black swan. It's tough but I think it's certainly possible. Bryan got booed pretty loudly after he turned heel despite being one of the most beloved babyfaces on the roser.
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nisidhe
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Post by nisidhe on Feb 1, 2022 16:07:23 GMT -5
The question nowadays is how, at least in WWE. He's at a point now where he's going to be cheered no matter what. A heel turn for Finn is going to have to stand out and mark him as one to hate. I'm not sure the networks will be able to handle what's needed to happen. A shortcut would be to put Paul Heyman as his manager, but he's already being passed between Roman and Lesnar like a wine goblet at a Led Zeppelin concert, and it would be seen as a shortcut. If he wants to turn heel and make it work, he's going to have to risk a hell of a lot of goodwill to do it, and what he may need to do may not be something he could readily walk back. I'm not sure he has it in him to be the black swan. It's tough but I think it's certainly possible. Bryan got booed pretty loudly after he turned heel despite being one of the most beloved babyfaces on the roser. That's true, but most fans' first view of Bryan was as part of Nexus, beating down John Cena and (perhaps more famously) choking out Justin Roberts with his own tie. Finn came into NXT as a much-anticipated partner to KENTA, then moved on to battle primarily heels. Throughout his main roster run, he was absolutely a babyface, an image strengthened by social media. Yeah, he turned heel on Gargano and Ciampa during his return to NXT, but it was clear that _somebody_ didn't want to commit fully to that positioning - and crowds were cheering for him anyway. I won't fault him for wanting to turn heel - Christ knows WWE doesn't know how to book or present babyfaces - but a) WWE is addled with heel characters currently and b) I'm not sure _anyone_ can or would do the kinds of things that may be necessary to come across as a heel, at least as one who isn't cookie-cutter and isn't going to deviate from what Vince demands. It would be an extraordinary turn to see the Extraordinary Man who Does Extraordinary Things by going full Jake Roberts on a crowd, but I'm not sure anyone would want to go as far as that these days. And that would be my baseline for a Finn Balor heel turn - otherwise, he'll be back as a babyface in three months and nothing will change.
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King Devitt
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Post by King Devitt on Feb 1, 2022 19:59:28 GMT -5
This is going to be a monkey's paw for him.
WWE will let him turn heel, but Vince only understands 1 kind of heel. The cowardly one. Well actually two kinds if you're big and muscley, you can be badass heel (Lashley or Roman spring to mind).
So instead of the vicious cocky bastard we saw glimpses of when he went back to NXT, just dialing up to 11, he's going to get to play chickenshit "you people" heel Balor instead. Which won't work. He'll be even more frustrated creatively, and it will probably be worse for him.
I want to be proven wrong, but Vince's track record speaks for itself. Dude should have had the company built around him instead of Roman. Or at the very least been the face equivalent to Roman's heel.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2022 0:02:01 GMT -5
He should've beat Roman for the title.
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Post by mrtuesday on Feb 2, 2022 6:59:33 GMT -5
The problem with a heel Finn run is that fans don't want to boo him.
It'll be like Austin in 2001. He wanted to do something else, and be a heel. But the fans didn't want to boo him. Austin tried everything, and nothing stuck.
Punk and Bryan also had this same problem. No matter what they did, the fans refused to boo them.
Finn tried the PrXnce thing, and it didn't work. The fans refused to boo him. I get he has a creative itch that he wants to scratch. But turning heel isn't going to work.
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Post by Feyrhausen on Feb 2, 2022 8:18:12 GMT -5
The problem with a heel Finn run is that fans don't want to boo him. It'll be like Austin in 2001. He wanted to do something else, and be a heel. But the fans didn't want to boo him. Austin tried everything, and nothing stuck. Punk and Bryan also had this same problem. No matter what they did, the fans refused to boo them. Finn tried the PrXnce thing, and it didn't work. The fans refused to boo him. I get he has a creative itch that he wants to scratch. But turning heel isn't going to work. One major difference. Austin rethought the heel turn when he started getting the merchandise checks. Finn wont have to worry as much because the talent gets screwed there now anyway.
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asuka007
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Post by asuka007 on Feb 2, 2022 9:12:13 GMT -5
Finn also has not been allowed to accomplish enough on the MR that many fans would be willing to boo him I think.
He’d still very much in that “he deserves better” area for many.
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nisidhe
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Post by nisidhe on Feb 2, 2022 10:07:47 GMT -5
The problem with a heel Finn run is that fans don't want to boo him. It'll be like Austin in 2001. He wanted to do something else, and be a heel. But the fans didn't want to boo him. Austin tried everything, and nothing stuck. Punk and Bryan also had this same problem. No matter what they did, the fans refused to boo them. Finn tried the PrXnce thing, and it didn't work. The fans refused to boo him. I get he has a creative itch that he wants to scratch. But turning heel isn't going to work. The Prinxe was anticipated, you see - it was supposed to reflect, at least in fans' eyes, a harkening back to Bullet Club and that mix of comedic and vicious that Prince Devitt displayed in Japan. The problem was that Prince Devitt and Bullet Club primarily worked in Japan because it was the first faction to a) consist entirely of gaijin (at the beginning it was, anyway), and b) present its heeldom as steeped in open contempt for and hostility towards the Japanese identity. It flouted rules; nay, it mocked them; it spat out its grievances with Japanese culture and demonstrated throughout that it had no regard for any of the conventions set out in the Japanese wrestling ring. Stateside, particularly under the Young Bucks, it was a new "cool" faction akin to the nWo, but in Japan it was groundbreaking and, to some extent, shocking. That Prince cannot work here - too many fans latch onto "cool" heels and cheer the hell out of them anyway, and its ability to shock audiences is pretty nil in the States where TV networks want as broad a reach as possible and where interest groups can create unprecedented levels of chaos anywhere they feel they can express a grievance. Even Bret Hart's anti-American schtick in 1997 got mixed reactions and, as time went on and Shawn Michaels continued to be the "face" of the USA side, became justifiable in the minds of most fans. There's one other aspect that may have missed most people's notice. Most WWE superstars these days do _nothing_ to connect with the live audience. There's little if any actual play to the crowd. I remember an interview with the Honky Tonk Man where he talked about picking out and taunting specific audience members and really working in a heel move to magnify their reaction. There's little of that anymore and it feels often that the live audience on TV may as well not be there. Finn as a heel could stand out more that way, but WWE may not want that level of engagement because of fears that it might bring on the crazies. It's for that reason that I think a) any heel character Devitt chooses is going to have to be so hated, so dark and so morally bankrupt in order to stand out that it might not be workable on national TV; b) it would have to be almost, if not at that level in order to get the desired reaction from fans; and c) that reaction from fans might come with a set of real-world problems for Finn that even a large corporation may not be able to mitigate.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2022 13:56:37 GMT -5
I saw someone raise a good point yesterday that I didn't even consider for some reason. How do you think he felt about what happened with Kross after how hard he worked to try to get him over?
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