Finn Balor has admitted struggling with promos, but says Paul Heyman helped him with important advice on how to approach them differently.
When Finn Balor joined WWE in 2014, he was already a wrestling veteran and well-respected around the world for his work in the ring. However, while his technical prowess was unquestionable, there was still one aspect of pro wrestling where he struggled, speaking on the mic.
Speaking to Stephanie McMahon on her What’s Your Story? podcast, Balor explained that he had been able to avoid promos during his time on the indies and in NJPW. That meant that when he was expected to do them from the start in NXT, it was nerve-wracking.
“That’s another thing that’s been really difficult for me in my career is that trash talking and I’m not willing to sacrifice my dignity to say these things that I don’t mean right, because, and again, I know it would be better. I feel like I got to this position being myself, so I shouldn’t change that ever. And I kind of, I started in England where it was mostly based on mat wrestling. And then I went to Japan and it was based on strong style wrestling. It was not promos.”
“The first time I actually had to do a promo was when I came to NXT. And I remember being so nervous because the NXT tape and I had to come out and say ‘I’m Finn Balor and I’m the future.’ And I remember being so nervous having to remember that line because that becomes acting when I’m wrestling, I’m not acting right.I’m in flow. I’m just going with my emotions, following what I believe is right in my heart to do. But as soon as the speaking part started, that was a real learning curve.”
More recently, Finn Balor says Paul Heyman told him he should treat promos the same as matches and try to flow rather than memorize the words verbatim.
“And one thing I’ve kind of only started to learn recently, and I’ll credit Paul Heyman with this, because he said you got to treat your promos like your matches, like you’re not nervous going into your match. You don’t know every move you’re going to do. You’re just flowing and you’re there and you’re in that state. But your promos, you’re trying to memorize every word. That’s not how you execute your matches. That’s not how you should execute your promos. So recently I’ve kind of been taking that more on board.”
Finn Balor Does Not Miss His Old Theme Tune
Recently, Finn Balor was kicked out of the Judgment Day and is once again a solo act. To go with this change in character, he has returned to his popular ‘Catch Your Breath’ theme, which he used for the majority of his WWE career.
It’s not just fans who are happy with the change, as Balor himself has now said that walking out to the Judgment Day theme is the one thing he doesn’t miss about being part of the group.
H/T to F4WOnline for the above transcription.
