Vince Russo: “Finn Balor Can Be Money”

For whatever reason, it has become a full-time job for those critics that both read and follow me — and YOU DO follow me — to take my words, misinterpret them, and then proceed to spin them in a self-serving fashion in order to tell THEIR story and paint THEIR picture of the "clueless" Vince Russo. You know, sometimes I actually wish I was "clueless" about professional wrestling because maybe the job of me talking about it WOULDN'T PAY SO WELL and I could walk away and actually do something I enjoy!

This Vince Russo hates Finn Balor garbage all started when I simply said that by the WWE booking Balor to pin both Rusev and Reigns in the same night, wrestling as we knew it was dead. That's what I said. Those were my words. Go back and check your fact. So, the truth is, my comments had nothing to do with Finn Balor, the wrestler, at all, but everything to do with how Vince McMahon decided to book him.

Of course that led to a ridiculous, verbal attack from the Balor nimrods, who for reasons that I earlier stated, just wanted to believe that Russo TRASHED Finn Balor, and hates the guy. A guy I might add I don't even know, nor have ever met.

Fast-forward to RAW the following week. Vince McMahon's attempt to book Finn Balor coming off his ginormous victories of the previous week. In an effort to build "the push", cause that's what this is, Vince decides to put a microphone in Finn Balor's hand on a live show, when it was obvious to anyone who watched that talking is not Finn Balor's strong suit. So, here we go again: am I burying Finn Balor because talking is not what he does best, or am I once again criticizing Vince McMahon for exposing Finn Balor, knowing that his mic skills are not exactly what brought him to the dance?

Balor's promo this week certainly did not help him and it fact it did the opposite — it hurt him. Now again — and I can't believe I even have to explain this — Finn Balor does not write the show. Finn Balor did not write on the script 'insert my promo here'. He's just an actor in the play who does what the office tells him to do. This week . . . they told him to talk . . . and that was a mistake. If you're one of the homers putting over the Rollins-Balor promo from this week—you're simply lying. If you actually want to know what was OVER—watch the work that Ambrose and Ziggler did on Smackdown. It was crystal clear to anyone who knows both Vince McMahon and the WWE — the Rollins/Balor promo was scripted and micro managed, while Ambrose and Zigler were given the freedom to actually insert some emotion into their words.

So, yeah, these words will once again be twisted throughout the week, but once again I am clearly stating—the problem is not with Finn, but with the way Vinny Mac is booking him.

Here's the thing, the casuals have no idea who Finn Balor is. They don't watch NXT, and they certainly don't care about the grappling that happens over in Japan. So, what they're seeing thus far is a smaller guy, who doesn't appear to be much, coming out the entrance doing a fairly well Arthur Fonzarelli impersonation. Now, some have said to me that once Balor appears as the Demon at SummerSlam, that he will then be over with the casual fans. You know what–you're absolutely right. However, the following night when the Fonz reappears, those same new-found fans are going to be asking, "WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT DEMON GUY?" Which is what I ask every time I see Fonz Balor.

It is absolute insanity that the Demon is not Finn's weekly persona. Guy comes out with an unbelievable entrance, is menacing and never speaks. Much the role Gene Simmons has been playing as the KISS Demon for years. Think about this–do you actually understand how Vince is training the casuals to watch Finn Balor? He's saying–only watch him on the big shows when he's special, because on those shows in between—he just looks like a regular guy. Again—NOT ON BALOR—ALL ON VINCE!

You want Finn Balor to be money? Finn Balor can be money if packaged and presented properly to the masses by Vince McMahon. If the creative of his character falls short—his in-ring talent is only going to be able to take him so far. Ditto Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens on that.