WWE Hot Take of the Week: Finn Balor Needs Heel Turn to Jump-Start Upcoming Push

Finn Balor is the type of talent capable of pulling WWE out of a rut—and especially if he pulls something akin to a Becky Lynch. 

Frustratingly enough, WWE knows this already. The first universal champion upon arrival, Balor looked like the next megastar the company needed before suffering the now-infamous injury that prematurely put an end to his reign. 

What feels like an eternity later, the entire McMahon family took to the ring on the December 17 edition of Raw to promise sweeping changes. These, at least for now, boil down to eliminating the sorry, tired heel authority figure or general manager schtick they've been doing for the past 20 years. 

Hey, it's a start. 

But to really mix things up while giving fans what they want, it might be time to insert a new top heel into the upper echelon of the company. And while the knee-jerk reaction is Drew McIntyre when hearing such a description, Balor might be a better fit. 

Ditto for a demon. 

Everyone is finding success these days by playing the bad guy, and Balor wouldn't be an exception. The demonic alter ego is a nice touch, but the real conversation here is getting him away from the always-smiling, popping-collar, good-guy ways because he doesn't have anything interesting to say anyway. 

Right on cue, rumblings of an upcoming Balor push have started making the rounds, as reported by Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Cageside Seats).  

Granted, Balor's monster push should have come immediately upon his return from injury. The champion coming back to reclaim his title writes itself, and fans easily get behind it. But like WWE finally pulling the trigger on Roman Reigns besting Brock Lesnar, this wouldn't be the first time the company has been grossly late to the party on an obvious development. 

Turning the Irishman heel would be a nice apology—and his justification for doing so would be the lack of respect. Reigns gave him a title shot that one time, but it fizzled quickly. The one-week Balor push again went away, and he quickly went back to the midcard to have something probably close to a 50-percent win rate. 

Like Lynch, part of the problem with Balor's character is the aw-shucks smile and willingly getting stomped on or picking up a few meaningless wins as the months on the calendar tick by.

The Irish Lass Kicker forcefully put an end to this in emphatic fashion, got the fans behind her like almost nobody has been able to do for years and the rest writes itself as the journey continues—perhaps to a main event slot at WrestleMania in the same ring as Ronda Rousey. 

Balor, dogged for being smaller and losing here and there, could lead to his snapping and embracing the heel ways. It would make for a better story at this point and be flexible enough to go on either brand.  

On SmackDown, a heel-on-heel feud with Daniel Bryan would work. And we'd all probably like to see another Balor-A.J. Styles encounter, especially with The Club backdrop floating there. The list goes on, but a heel Balor would do just as much for the blue brand as it transitions to Fox later in the year than a good-guy Balor, if not more. 

But Raw needs the most help. Balor running rampant on the locker room now affords WWE some leeway given its inability to build top stars, especially on Raw. The top champ isn't around. The Dean Ambrose-Seth Rollins feud started in neutral and hasn't changed. Braun Strowman is good for a few highlights. McIntyre looks like a monster and has a good long-term storyline behind him given his career trajectory, but he doesn't need to be a good or bad guy to succeed. 

At this point, Balor needs to be a heel. He's a boring good guy in the same way Rollins is right now. Most of what they could try to do with him might stumble in the widespread appeal department despite garnering praise from those who are familiar with the Irishman's extensive career. 

And that career includes arguably his best work occurring as a heel, anyway. Free to antagonize and open up a bit, Balor is entertaining leading a group or solo. The move set in the ring doesn't change much, but it is still basic enough to keep an audience engaged. 

While some might argue WWE doesn't need any more top heels right now, it might be just the opposite at this point—the good guys just aren't interesting. Those lovable bad guys such as Ambrose who toe the line closely have support either way, so letting Balor freelance in the same manner won't throw some arbitrary bit of heel-face balance out of whack. 

Look at it this way, if Balor goes for a respect-by-any-means-necessary route and deploys the demon more often, he'll be a much more believable threat to someone like Lesnar. The blend of old-school cool with something like the demon but modern everything else is money for WWE if utilized properly. 

Balor can carry either brand—but WWE has to get him out of this good-guy shell that keeps him lost in the mix.