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WWE News: Big Show Talks Finn Balor, Future Of WWE’s Developmental System

By Mark Suleymanov
Published on: 04:47 PST, Sep 11, 2016

The Big Show has been a WWE superstar for nearly two decades and has seen and experienced it all. From being a key part of the Attitude Era to a focus in the Ruthless Aggression Era to an established veteran in today’s WWE landscape, “The Giant” has shared the ring with every well-known name imaginable.

However, he has also encountered a litany of superstars with a dream of becoming a WWE superstar. More often than not, those competitors did not realize that dream as the rigors of that lifestyle or a lack of talent stood in the way. For Big Show, seeing people fail is not an unfamiliar experience, but neither is seeing people succeed.

In a recent interview with Sky Sports, Big Show, who was promoting his appearance at a WWE live event in the United Kingdom, spoke specifically about Finn Balor. “The Demon King” recently made his WWE main roster debut and quickly ascended the ranks, capturing the WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam. However, a shoulder injury has sidelined him for at least six months. But in Big Show’s mind, Balor is one guy who has separated himself from the pack.

“We have try-outs at almost every TV taping, and it can be hard for guys to shine in an empty arena with a bunch of Superstars standing around watching, but you can tell in 20 seconds whether some guys have ‘it’ – whether they move their feet right, are willing to learn and can be a WWE Superstar. Finn, who was by no means a rookie having fought in different dojos all over the world, had that charisma and charm that you wanted to see more of,” Big Show said of the WWE newcomer.

There have been rumors that Big Show, who is 44 years old, is winding down his in-ring career. He’s currently rumored to face basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal at Wrestlemania 33 in Miami, and after that, not much is certain. While speaking in the past tense, Big Show said Balor is an opponent he would have loved to face.

I would have loved the chance to work with him as we could have torn the house down. With his attitude and skill he will overcome this injury and come back strong. It was pretty badass of him to separate his shoulder [in his match against Seth Rollins at SummerSlam] put it back in and continue to wrestle. That deserves a lot of respect.”

Balor, along with guys like Kevin Owens, Hideo Itami, Shinsuke Nakamura, Austin Aries, and Bobby Roode represent a new generation in WWE, guys who established themselves elsewhere before coming to WWE. It’s a change from the old philosophy of creating talent from within or finding athletes in other sports — like football and amateur wrestling — and make them WWE superstars.

Big Show is happy to see the progress.

“Just because guys are successful in other territories it does not mean the doors are closed for them in WWE – it’s the exact opposite. Where Triple H has done a really good job is to reach out to these independent promotions to develop relationships with them and help us increase our talent pool and diversity. If we only recruit from the same farm, we are going to have the same fish. You want to forge relationships with guys from other territories and other countries who are established a little bit. We don’t always need to build a cake from the ground-up if all we need to do is add a little frosting – if a seasoned wrestler is out there and can offer something, we should take them. Diversity makes us better and allows us to grow, which is what I want for WWE.”

[Photo via WWE]

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