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What’s the story?
On a recent edition of WWE Network's Table For 3, Finn Balor, Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy discussed a myriad of topics.
While praising the Hardys’ evolution and the phenomenon which has seen the brothers morph into different versions of their characters over the years, Balor revealed he’d love to create another alter ego for himself over the next 5-10 years.
In case you didn’t know…
The Hardy Boyz are highly-respected not only for their work but also the longevity of their professional wrestling careers.
Much like Finn Balor, who has an alter ego in the Demon King, the Hardys have added new layers to their characters including Team Extreme, the Broken Universe, Money Matt, Matt Hardy V1, Willow and the list could go on.
The heart of the matter
Finn Balor opened up by elucidating that the face paint he uses as the Demon King does, to a certain capacity, serve as a mask for him to wear so as to metaphorically protect himself by shielding against the judgments on part of the viewers, and let his performances flow freely. He added that when he first walked out with the face-paint back in 2013-14, he noticed that he walked different with a kind of inexplicable limp, even though he didn’t have one.
Jeff Hardy concurred with Balor, adding that to him face-paint feels like his alien skin or his inner reptilian coming out and taking center stage. Hardy continued saying that with the face paint on, he feels artistically free to perform and doesn’t have any specific rules while painting his face. On possibly developing a new alter ego, Finn Balor stated:
"Obviously, seeing (the Hardys) continue to evolve the last 25 years, that inspires me to keep evolving my character. And I'm quite happy with how I'm doing at the moment, but I'm always trying to push myself to create something new and I think my main goal going forward over the next five, ten years would be maybe create another alter ego like you guys have."
Jeff Hardy also emphasized that he’d love to see his Charismatic Enigma character face off against Finn Balor’s Demon King someday.
What’s next?
Jeff Hardy is presently recovering from an injury and is expected to return sometime before Wrestlemania 34 so who knows what kind of program he could land in the middle of upon his return, especially seeing how his brother Matt Hardy is currently experiencing an Awakening of sorts.
Author’s take
Jeff Hardy and Finn Balor are spot-on regarding their face-paint affording them more artistic freedom.
Honestly, they’re at their very best as the Charismatic Enigma and Demon King respectively. Here’s hoping WWE gives fans a long-running feud between Hardy and Balor in the near future. As for Balor creating a new alter ego, whether or not it’s as well-received as the Demon King persona remains to be seen.
