WWE Superstar Finn Balor has been celebrating a significant milestone in his career, so much so that the chiselled star even indulged in some cake.
On the 23rd of November 2021, Finn Balor celebrated the 20th anniversary of his first professional wrestling match.
Balor built a career on the European independent scene where he competed under his real name of Fergal Devitt. In 2006 the Irishman signed a deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling where he was rechristened as Prince Devitt.
As a member of the Control Terrorism Unit, Balor teamed with the likes of WWE Hall of Famer Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger before going on to form the popular Apollo 55 tag team with Ryusuke Taguchi. The team of Apollo 55 captured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship four times.
Prince Devitt’s ascent to superstardom began in earnest in May 2013 with the formation of a group that has changed the wrestling business forever – Bullet Club. Apollo 55 met one on one a year after ‘The Real Rock N Rolla’ had abandoned Taguchi with the men shaking hands afterwards. This was Devitt’s last match in New Japan Pro Wrestling as Finn Balor was about to be born in NXT.
As part of the black and gold brand, Finn Balor captured his first NXT Championship from Kevin Owens at The Beast In The East event held in Tokyo, Japan.
In 2016 Balor made his way to the main roster as he was the 5th overall pick in the WWE Draft. One month after joining the red brand Finn Balor met Seth Rollins at SummerSlam where he was crowned the first WWE Universal Champion. Unfortunately for Balor, he was injured during the match so his title reign only lasted one day.
Since then Finn Balor has become an integral part of the WWE roster where he has captured the Intercontinental Championship twice and he briefly returned to NXT to capture the NXT Title one more time.
Taking to social media, Balor celebrated his achievement and shared a picture of himself from then and now:
“Nov 23 2001 I made my Pro-Wrestling debut Thank you To everyone who helped me along the way, To everyone that cheered & boo’ed at the shows, To Hammerlock, NJPW, NXT, WWE & the Club, To all the men & woman I work with & To my family & wife for unwavering belief. Today I ate cake”
Nov 23 2001 I made my Pro-Wrestling debut
Thank you
To everyone who helped me along the way,
To everyone that cheered & boo’ed at the shows,
To Hammerlock, NJPW, NXT, WWE & the Club,
To all the men & woman I work with
&
To my family & wife for unwavering belief.
Today I ate cake pic.twitter.com/RIM7kuV7ub— Finn Bálor (@FinnBalor) November 25, 2021
Finn Balor most recently competed as part of the triumphant Team Raw in the men’s traditional 5 on 5 tag team match at Survivor Series.