"The Demon" version of Finn Balor has only made a couple of appearances on the WWE main roster, but if it were up to Karl Anderson it may not have all.
Balor, who made paint a part of his act long before signing with WWE, said that he originally pitched the idea to his "good brother" and fellow Bullet Club member Anderson. While he ended up busting out the gimmick for his major matches, Anderson thought that Balor would be a laughing stock.
?Honestly, the first time the Demon came, and it wasn?t referred to as the Demon at that point?I just wanted to use body paint The first time I did that, I said to my best friend (WWE Superstar and fellow NJPW alum) Karl Anderson that I?m going to do this thing. I explained to him what I was doing and he said, ?Do not do that, you?re going to be laughed out of the building.? Obviously, this didn?t happen. That the whole Demon character was designed for people to hate me more, and to be scared of me, and it kind of backfired in the sense that people kind of like it now," Balor told Al Arabiya English.
It wasn't just Balor who embraced the face paint. Luke Gallows, who now teams with Anderson in WWE, also made face paint a part of his character in New Japan Pro Wrestling. This in addition to another Bullet Club member in Tama Tonga utilizing paint as well.
Balor would also detail how he decides on the paint design.
"What happens is, on the morning?it?s like art. You can?t predict how you?re going to paint the painting in advance. If I?m going to draw something, I don?t know the day before what I?m going to draw. It?s just very much an interpretation of how I?m feeling that day, and what I think is the coolest thing in my brain at that very moment. I?ll have a couple concepts here and there, maybe I?ll do this, maybe I?ll do that, but the actual decision won?t come until about six o?clock when I sit down and start getting painted," he said.
Karl got called out on this after Finn's quote went public, and he's a big enough man to admit that he was wrong.