There's two ways to look at it. Wrestling wise he never reached elite level, even for a Junior Heavyweight. He's always been a good wrestler but he didn't really stand out as a worker. He was fine, had entertaining matches and he was over, but he was far from being a top worker in the world.
But beyond my personal taste in how he wrestles, his run in Japan can only be described as a big success. He was groomed to be the top Junior in New Japan and was able to be the Ace of the division and find this cool gimmick were he paints himself and has a dope entrance before big matches. He was very protected but he made the most out of it (others failed in that regard, like Wataru Inoue

) even to the point of running with the idea of the Bullet Club and not look out of place when booked against heavyweights. He went from a young promise as a Junior, to a legit, established top gaijin for New Japan that was recognized world wide.
Balor was very much a creation of Gedo's protective booking, but even though I've never really been a fan of his wrestling, he was able to run with it and make it work beyond what most juniors were able to. If I had to make a parallel booking wise, I'd say he's like Edge. Someone who was groomed to be a star, took longer than expected to get there, but once he got a big chance and strong booking behind him, he became star.
What does puro gang think?
@Honga Ciganesta @trick @Beautiful Bobby Eatin @TrueEpic08 @stro @The Rainmaker :mmmmm:
ps: I'm actually giving Gedo props, there was a time were I argued dude was the best booker in the world