‘RAW’ drafts Finn Balor, the 1st pick from NXT

Here is all you need to know about Finn Balor, who is now officially a member of the RAW roster thanks to Tuesday’s WWE brand split draft.

Two years ago, Finn Balor arrived in NXT and almost immediately took over WWE’s developmental brand. He didn’t win the title until a year ago, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was the most impactful, must-watch talent that was working out of the WWE Performance Center.

He came to NXT an already-talented and successful wrestler, but now Finn is a legitimate star, one beloved by fans and fellow wrestlers alike. He’s gotten better and better and better since the moment he signed with WWE, and not just in one or two areas — Finn has improved in every area, and now that he’s coming up to the main roster, people will see exactly what NXT is capable of producing.

But Finn Balor isn’t just Finn Balor. There’s another side to him that only comes out when the stakes are high and the importance is huge — the Demon. At first glance, it may just seem like Balor gets covered with demonic body paint and changes his entrance, but there’s more to it than that. When the Demon comes to play, it means that Finn is digging down for that something extra that the biggest stars in professional wrestling use to really put on a show — and it means that Finn is no longer Mr. Nice Guy, that he’s going to go all out and be as vicious as he needs to be to win.

And when Finn brings out the Demon, it never disappoints. He’s only lost once out of all the matches he’s used his alter ego in, and that was a cage match against the ultra-vicious Samoa Joe. Against everyone else who felt the Demon’s wrath, from The Ascension to Tyler Breeze to Kevin Owens, no one else could ever find a way to beat Finn as the Demon, and even Joe took three tries at it before he got the job done.

Of course, Finn Balor hasn’t always been Finn Balor. Before he joined the WWE, he wrestled for New Japan going by the name Prince Devitt, and while he was there he formed and ran one of the best stables the industry has seen in recent years: the Bullet Club.

Remember a couple of months ago in a backstage interview, when Kevin Owens was asked about AJ Styles and the Club? He said that AJ wasn’t even the real leader of the Club, that someone else formed it and AJ took it over after they left. That someone was Prince Devitt, AKA Finn Balor, and Finn combined with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows to take over Japanese wrestling and create something that still thrives after they’ve left.