Finn Balor reflects on the beginning and end of his run as WWE NXT Champion.
Finn Balor's time in WWE NXT represented the changing of the guard as NXT continued to forge its path and progress toward becoming a true WWE-built alternative to WWE Raw and SmackDown.
Finn Balor captured the WWE NXT Championship on a WWE Network exclusive event, WWE Beast in the East. Featuring a special Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston bout in the Land of the Rising Sun, Finn Balor was able to shine on a major platform, defeating Kevin Owens, who was becoming a main roster star in his own right, for the NXT Championship.
Speaking with BT Sport's Rob Armstrong, Finn Balor called the victory a full-circle moment in his career.
"That was one of the most full-circle moments that I've had in my career because not only it wasn't in Japan, but it was in Ryogoku, which was Sumo Arena, where we wrestled for New Japan quite a lot. I actually had my final match for New Japan, in that arena, in the paint also, against Taguchi. When I left that night, I figured, 'I may never return here ever again.' I think it was maybe almost a year to the day that I returned," said Finn. "I was in the ring against Kevin Owens, someone I didn't know very well going into NXT apart from, like, on the indie circuit, and we bonded over the journey we were making, adapting to life in NXT, in WWE, in the USA; to get the share the ring with him that night was very cool."
Furthermore, Finn Balor looks back even more fondly on the match he had with Samoa Joe, where he lost the title at a WWE Live event in Lowell, Massachusetts. In modern WWE, championship belts rarely change hands at live events. Finn Balor enjoys how he and Samoa Joe shocked the crowd that night by ending his championship run after over 200 days.
"An even more special moment for me was when I actually lost the title against Samoa Joe, and we'd done that on a house show. That was something that was so rare, and I remember this sheer surprise and shock of the people in the front row that just couldn't believe what they had witnessed on a house show," Balor said. "After [292 days], I had been champion, and Joe pins the champion at a house show in Lowel. That was a special night. That, for me, is probably the coolest moment of my career, I think. Just the sheer shock and then joy of the fans; having Joe as champ, you know, someone who'd had such a long career and really paid his dues and had become such an integral part of NXT. The, for me, someone who had learned so much from, not only in NXT but before that. We obviously have a very close relationship as well. So that was one of my favorite nights of my career."
Finn Balor would eventually return to WWE NXT in 2019, having a second run with the championship throughout the global pandemic.
Balor is now on Monday Night Raw and leading Judgment Day. Fans can read his comments about his current faction at this link.
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