Would forming the Bálor Club with Gallows & Anderson help or hinder Finn's career?

[Just Zay'n]

Last week on Raw, Finn Bálor managed to pull off the impossible and win not only a fatal four way match featuring some of WWE's best, but also the main event against Reigns, to become the number one contender for the Universal Championship. Despite the brilliant performance given by Finn, there are a lot of people on here that aren't convinced Bálor's in ring skill compensates for the whole "not a heavyweight and thus shouldn't be competing for the heavyweight belt" thing.

Enter the Club. Some people have speculated that Bálor has actually debuted as a heel, and the Club will be interfering at SummerSlam to help him steal the title. This would be an extremely bad decision for the upcoming PPV. But not in the way that you might think - Bálor is very effective working as a heel, and him starting off as a heel wouldn't hinder him from becoming the number one star later on down the track.

There are three issues here. The first being that regardless of Finn's experience, and spending the last 16 years in the ring - he's new to WWE, and not everyone actually knows him. Combined with his smaller build, getting assistance from the Club would let the casual audience know that Bálor actually can't compete with the big dogs without some sort of catch, or cheating.

The second reason is the credibility of the Club. Say what you want about their experience in NJPW, and the years of experience garnered, but these guys are pretty much doing the same thing the Shield did in their earlier years, going around and beating up whoever's in the ring at the time - while their allegiance is up in the air with Styles drafted to Smackdown, waiting to be revealed at some point. However, these guys just haven't had the same impact as the Shield. They're not as intense and they're not as good on the mic as Ambrose and Rollins (however they're great in the ring, and the Magic Killer looks like a strong move).

The point is, from my perspective, the audience just doesn't buy into them as a hugely dominant force (especially when compared with the Shield) - and so association with Bálor could cause people to take him less seriously.

The third point would be the nullifying of the Demon Bálor gimmick, which is almost certain to be debuted on WWE's second biggest stage where it has the most exposure (aside from WM of course). If Finn's new (to the casual audience) appearance is supposed to be one of the main aspects of the match with Rollins, then it would've had no part to play (kayfabe) in helping Bálor win, if the Club just wins for him. You want people to think Finn's extreme, dark side is being unleashed in matches with the paint on - as opposed to just being the same guy with paint on.

So yeah, I think a Bálor heel run with the Club at his side would be a BAD idea. There are other ways to turn him heel. Losing to Seth on the debut of Demon Bálor wouldn't do much for his credibility. Beating Seth on the debut of Demon Bálor with help from the Club wouldn't do much for his credibility. I think the only thing here is to have Finn beat Seth clean!

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Balor joining with Gallows and Anderson would turn him heel. That means the top face has to be either Reigns (not over), Lesnar (doesn't show up), or Zayn or Neville (not ready). Balor shouldn't beat Rollins clean because no one deserves that big of a push this early. Rollins shouldn't beat Balor clean because you don't want Demon Balor to lose his first match, and you almost have to debut Demon Balor on the second biggest show of the year.

IMO the best case scenario is for Gallows and Anderson to turn on Balor and side with Rollins. Basically, the announcers mention Balor, Gallows, and Anderson's alliance in NJPW. Backstage, Gallows and Anderson offer to reform the Club with Balor. Balor denies, and Gallows and Anderson want revenge. Simple but shocking and effective.

 

[therockiswwf]

I'm not sure anyone has ever really paid attention to the heavyweight part of the championship name. Probably more of a coincidence that usually heavyweights win the title at this point.

Balor should not win. Debuting and winning the title that quickly would be horrible. The guy has not had time to connect with the crowd (3 weeks is not enough time to build that). Casuals do not care about him yet. This is a much bigger problem than his credibility. Balor has said about 5 words his entire time on the main roster so far. This would be very very very dumb.

If there is one guy you can lose to and be fine, it is the WWE champion. Losing to Rollins will not kill him. I'd hold the Demon way off until he is actually ready to win the title and then use it.

If they turn Balor heel at SS with the Club, Rollins would become a face so I don't see this happening at SS. I think Balor should be left alone for awhile and build his character. Then form the Balor Club if needed. Right now it is too early in his character development to say he needs the Club now or not.

 

[Just Zay'n]

I'm not sure anyone has ever really paid attention to the heavyweight part of the championship name. Probably more of a coincidence that usually heavyweights win the title at this point.

Balor should not win. Debuting and winning the title that quickly would be horrible. The guy has not had time to connect with the crowd (3 weeks is not enough time to build that). Casuals do not care about him yet. This is a much bigger problem than his credibility. Balor has said about 5 words his entire time on the main roster so far. This would be very very very dumb.

If there is one guy you can lose to and be fine, it is the WWE champion. Losing to Rollins will not kill him. I'd hold the Demon way off until he is actually ready to win the title and then use it.

If they turn Balor heel at SS with the Club, Rollins would become a face so I don't see this happening at SS. I think Balor should be left alone for awhile and build his character. Then form the Balor Club if needed. Right now it is too early in his character development to say he needs the Club now or not.

I'm not quite sure how your first paragraph is actually a thing, when something known as a Vince McMahon exists.

Holding the Demon off until he's ready for the title would be way too predictable. Also, is it not very very very dumb that he's made it to this point in the first place? Pinning guys like Rusev and Reigns, on your first night, CLEAN, is arguably on the same level as winning the damn title itself (especially since Rollins isn't one of those bigger, powerhouse type wrestlers).

Really, me bringing up the Club was just in response to some people thinking they'll get involved at SS. Which they shouldn't. Unless they side with Rollins as BSE suggested, which would actually be awesome.

 

[Xemmy]

Balor is great and he really cemented himself on Monday. I think you're absolutely right about why they should be kept apart, but I think it would be good for the club too. Before they get with Finn, they need to elevate themselves, and Finn needs to have a reason to freshen up his character. Personally, I think the Club needs to keep up their fued with New Day, and eventually be the ones to take the belts off of them. Let the Club dominate the tag division for a while and make them a credible threat again.

Meanwhile, Finn's going to get himself over with that entrance and his in-ring ability. I do not think he needs the title for that. Let Seth Rollins win it. He's the man, and he needs to prove it given the loss at Battleground. Balor can take a loss. Hell, he could even take two. Let one finish be screwy, and then the next be clean. Give him a reason to bring out the Demon and finally win the title.

When all that starts to get stale THEN we can have Bullet Club reform.

 

[therockiswwf]

I'm not quite sure how your first paragraph is actually a thing, when something known as a Vince McMahon exists.

Holding the Demon off until he's ready for the title would be way too predictable. Also, is it not very very very dumb that he's made it to this point in the first place? Pinning guys like Rusev and Reigns, on your first night, CLEAN, is arguably on the same level as winning the damn title itself (especially since Rollins isn't one of those bigger, powerhouse type wrestlers).

Really, me bringing up the Club was just in response to some people thinking they'll get involved at SS. Which they shouldn't. Unless they side with Rollins as BSE suggested, which would actually be awesome.

Vince let Bret and Shawn run around with the title for a long time. They weren't heavyweights.

I thought what happened on Raw was dumb (way too soon for Balor to be winning something like this). Balor has not had time to connect with the crowd yet. Casuals have no clue who he is and what he did on Raw will not fix that. We have no idea what his character is or who he is. Not everyone watches NXT. Lesnar worked when he won the title quickly because he was visually impressive. Plus they had a strong roster around him to help carry the load. Balor is not visually impressive and the roster around him is not strong enough to carry the load.

Edit - As for The Demon thing. He can't lose on the debut of that.

 

[Just Zay'n]

That goes back to my original post - surely, we're gonna see the Demon at SummerSlam? It's their biggest show after WrestleMania. And like you said, they ain't having him lose with the demon paint on.

 

[L@RISANO]

Many have been begging for an 'over' babyface character at the Top of the card and how it is refreshing to have such.
With Ambrose over on SD and the prospect of Authority Rollins again, personally, I hope the Demon Balor debuts at SummerSlam and rides this obvious wave of momentum he has. Ntm, RAW needs credible Main Event talents beyond Reigns and Rollins at this time.


As for the Bullet Club stuff... I think both Balor and G&A have to establish themselves in the next few months and sometime down the line when guys like Zayn, Owens and Cesaro, for instance, have stepped up a notch, then the Bullet Club can start to take shape, ntm, a glorious Rollins face turn if he loses at SummerSlam.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

At this point, I don't know if it would help or not. I know that if I'm a new fans that never saw finn bàlor before last week, I'm not impress with what I saw last week since while he had 2 great matches, he looked like a mid carder that got lucky winning the big match. So it's all about how they booked him from now until summerslam. If you booked him too look like and mid carder then even if yo put him with the club, it won't change a think because with the club, he will get compare to aj styles and that not a good thing because aj is a way better all around character then finn is. Aj can cut a promo face or heel and that something that finn isn't good at.

So in the end, I would have given the time for finn to find himself on the main roster before putting the rocket to his back but wwe needed somebody to take reigns place at summerslam and bàlor got the call. Now it's up to him to find his voice and prove that he deserve that main evnt spot.

 

[noTORRIEus]

I thought what happened on Raw was dumb (way too soon for Balor to be winning something like this). Balor has not had time to connect with the crowd yet. Casuals have no clue who he is and what he did on Raw will not fix that. We have no idea what his character is or who he is. Not everyone watches NXT. Lesnar worked when he won the title quickly because he was visually impressive. Plus they had a strong roster around him to help carry the load. Balor is not visually impressive and the roster around him is not strong enough to carry the load.

This is Monday morning quarterbacking at it's best. Balor has 1 (one) Raw under his belt since being drafted so far and you guys are already ridiculing that he has not connected with the audience thus should not be in the main event of the 2nd biggest PPV in the WWE?

There is still 3 (three) weeks until Brooklyn, A LOT can happen between now and August 21st.

Since most of us have been waiting for Finn to finally make it to the main roster, let's just sit back and actually enjoy that he gets to be on the main stage with the likes of Rollins and Reigns and etc.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I think Balor is getting this mega fast push so that The Club can throw everyone off during his match with Rollins by screwing Balor and joining Rollins as his new lackies. Setting up Balor as the plucky underdog who is going against the odds and putting Rollins back firmly as the chicken shit heel who can't get the job done by himself.

Either way I'm not sure which is better for Balor's career. I really don't think it matters.

 

[ShinChan]

Forming of Balor Club could both help and hinder Balor's career.

What I mean is that there's is a whole lot of scope for either a great star in making or a failure to do so. It all depends on how WWE books him and his goons.

I atleast ain't impressed by The Club. Surely, AJ was damn good and I believe that could be same for Balor too. But I don't think that The Club is as dominant as it needs to be. Maybe I am wrong but still. I think that they are booked as chicken s**t heels sometimes while they need to be booked as dominant heels.

Maybe adding a couple of established stars could help the case.

 

[Azane]

I like the idea of teasing the Balor club all month and when it comes time for it to happen, the Ref gets KO'd, Gallows and Anderson run out to a defeated Finn and Seth, and they start going to magic kill Seth, then stop, smile at the hard camera, and hit it on Finn for the 123.

They failed to pull off the magic of the bullet club, and it would do nothing but drag Finn down, like it pretty much did to AJ.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

technicly, putting him in the raw main event at summerslam could hinder is career long terms even more then getting pair up with the club. I'm not saying that because i'm not a fan of balor, but let'S face it, WWE is known for this type of booking of fast tracking a new talent to the main event level only to pull back on his push a couple of months later.

Just look at where kevin owens is a year from a major push he got last year. How about Paige, outside of when they need her to plug total divas, she no where to be found these days and when she debuted, she was put as one of the face of the woman division.

The fact is Balor could be a main event talent someday, but his push as come way too fast in my estimation which mean that they will screw up his push and will be stuck in mid card hell on raw with the rest of the talented wrestlers and even if you put him with the club, all he'S going to be is A.J. Styles replacement and the last thing finn wants is to be compare to AJ because that could be a death nails for his career.

 

[I_Like_All_Wrestling]

It's a top tier PPV is Brooklyn. Balor is going to possibly get the biggest pop. Even bigger with the demon intro. It will be insane. Onto the question at hand...

Yes, I think The Club would hurt him. The story would be weird. It would be like "hey remember the whole thing with AJ, well that, but with this guy now" which just seems boring. Gallows and Anderson are just a bland tag team without AJ. With, they are cool. With Finn, they'd probably be cool. But with that's happened so far, I feel like it would seem uncool. And, if they sit around in the tag division for weeks, they don't seem special to join up with anyone again.

The only way I see The Club surviving as something good is for them to win the tag gold and be on both shows. If they do that, they setup a turn on AJ to go with Finn later, which I think would work, or adding Finn later. Either way, them just backing him now seems like a bad move.

 

[therockiswwf]

This is Monday morning quarterbacking at it's best. Balor has 1 (one) Raw under his belt since being drafted so far and you guys are already ridiculing that he has not connected with the audience thus should not be in the main event of the 2nd biggest PPV in the WWE?

There is still 3 (three) weeks until Brooklyn, A LOT can happen between now and August 21st.

Since most of us have been waiting for Finn to finally make it to the main roster, let's just sit back and actually enjoy that he gets to be on the main stage with the likes of Rollins and Reigns and etc.

Main Roster has way more viewers. 3 weeks is not enough time to make someone a main eventer and over with the crowd. Name one guy who came out of nowhere and became main event level over in 3 weeks. Casuals have no idea who he is and so far has shown no character. A guy who has not connected with the crowd should not be in the main event.

I am not blaming Balor. Obviously this is not his fault. They put him in a position that he should not be in. He is not ready. It takes time to connect with the crowd and to build a character (way more than 3 weeks). They have not allowed Finn to do that and instead shoved him to the top spot on Raw.

Here is a fun question - What is the difference between Roman Reigns and Finn Balor right now? Almost none. Both are good in the ring (yes I enjoy Roman's in ring stuff) but both have no mic skills (Balor has said a total of 5 or so words so far on the main roster). Biggest difference is Roman has a character. Not a very good one but he has one.

Roman was not ready when he got the spotlight shoved on him. Balor is even less ready. Neither of them is to blame.

That goes back to my original post - surely, we're gonna see the Demon at SummerSlam? It's their biggest show after WrestleMania. And like you said, they ain't having him lose with the demon paint on.

I think he is going to lose (and should) so I would not do the Demon. Have him introduce it when he needs it, not just because the time of the year calls for it.

 

[kc2788x]

It would help, I would like to see a "babyface" Aj Styles against the Balor club!, I want to see them attack Aj and start a awesome feud

 

[Spencesc11]

Best play would be to have Gallows/Anderson attack Cena at Summerslam. Then have a trade of Gallows/Anderson to Raw for The Uso's. This would allow Styles/Club to keep the momentum going and I would even have them responsible for putting Cena on the shelf (When he films his 2nd season of American Grit). Styles could have a nice run as the heel champion on Smackdown and a solid feud with Ambrose. Keep Balor running solo. He can't win at Summerslam though. Way to early for him to have a World Title Reign on the big show.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

There's plenty of time down the road for Balor to join up with Anderson & Gallows, if ever. Remember, just because New Japan did it doesn't automatically mean that WWE will, has to or even needs to do the same thing. Fans are getting behind Balor as a babyface and whether or not he's a main eventer going forward is anybody's guess, but fans are getting behind him and WWE can always use a top level babyface that fans want to cheer for and enjoy cheering for.

With that said, it's possible that they could form the Club on Raw very soon, though I'm of the opinion that some key pieces would need to fall into place in order to get the most out of the formal unveiling of their alliance. For instance, it's always possible that they could wind up doing a double turn for Rollins and Balor at SummerSlam; a lot of people want to see Rollins as a babyface and, truth be told, I think he'd have no problem getting over in a big way. As a result, Balor uses heel tactics during their match at SummerSlam with Anderson & Gallows providing just enough distraction for Balor to pick up the win and become WWE Universal Champion. Since SummerSlam is a joint brand event, possibly have AJ Styles come out and participate in a group beating of Rollins before heading back to SmackDown and possibly forming the Club to represent the blue brand. However, in order for all of this to go down in a way that comes off as memorable and the group has immediate impact, I think everyone in the group would need to have a good night at SummerSlam; Anderson & Gallows would need to win the tag titles and Styles would need to go over Cena and culminate with Balor making history as the first WWE Universal Champion. Rollins turns babyface, chases the title for a good long while and possibly winds up getting the job done at WrestleMania next year.

Sure, there's a little fantasy booking in there but I think if they wanted to start off an alliance with Balor hooking up with Anderson & Gallows on Raw, SummerSlam would be an ideal opportunity to do so and the Club would need a big, successful night for all involved. Let the group make an impact by portraying them as this dominant force instead of just making them a handful of guys who worked together in New Japan banning together.

 

[laodaron]

Balor joining with Gallows and Anderson would turn him heel. That means the top face has to be either Reigns (not over), Lesnar (doesn't show up), or Zayn or Neville (not ready). Balor shouldn't beat Rollins clean because no one deserves that big of a push this early. Rollins shouldn't beat Balor clean because you don't want Demon Balor to lose his first match, and you almost have to debut Demon Balor on the second biggest show of the year.

IMO the best case scenario is for Gallows and Anderson to turn on Balor and side with Rollins. Basically, the announcers mention Balor, Gallows, and Anderson's alliance in NJPW. Backstage, Gallows and Anderson offer to reform the Club with Balor. Balor denies, and Gallows and Anderson want revenge. Simple but shocking and effective.

I can't rep you currently, but this is literally the best way to handle all of this. You create a stable, you make Finn a "Lone Wolf" style babyface without calling him that, and you put the belt on the heel, which is the best option on Raw currently.

 

[kadroan]

I'd go for it. This is a new era of WWE. You got Balor and Ziggler in the main event. This is the perfect time to experiment.

 

[Terry Gyimah]

I wonder if we will get Balor putting on his Demon makeup anytime soon? Or him reverting to his Demon character that we have all seen on NXT? Or will we just get a heel turn from Balor which calls for Balor to align himself with Gallows and Anderson on RAW to form The Balor Club basically setting up a Bullet Club reunion of sorts?

 

[Navi]

I don't see it happening until Summerslam when he comes out in the full face paint. That will be something to see, fully expect the crowd to go wild or run away in fear. If they've never watched NXT they are in for a treat.

With the club idea, that might not happen until then also. Balor just got called up, and while it's fully expected they will reform, let him have a go himself for a little while. Anderson and Gallows need some time as well to stand on their own two feet. They've kind of been horribly booked since they arrived losing to almost everyone. The announcers keep calling them a world class tag team, but they aren't booked like they are.

After Summerslam and in the run up to the Rumble and Mania, that's when we'll see them together hopefully. Although even though it worked in NJPW, there is nothing to say it will work in the WWE. Fans might crap all over it as we've seen it with the Wyatt's and others over the past couple of years. It remains to be seen how they will be received as a unit.

 

[Azane]

Ya, Finn isn't painting up until Summerslam. People keep hinting at the double turn, but Seth is also way better as heel than face, so I'm not 100% sure on the club alignment/heel turn.

RAW lacks solid faces right now, so I see Finn sticking with the good guy gimmick until he's over enough with the casual audiences.

 

[nWo2]

I'm of the mindset that BC can win Universe and TT Championships and roll out on RAW as the BC FINALLY, which is what I gotta say is the plan since Finn is on RAW.

I do not think he needs the gimmick and that he should get over by himself and then reform the group so its a bigger swerve by Royal Rumble