Finn Balor – “I’m Hopeful A Return To Raw Or SmackDown Will Happen”
Finn Balor has said that he hopes to return to WWE’s main roster.
After initially joining NXT in 2014, Finn Balor made his main roster debut in the summer of 2016. During his run with black and gold brand, Balor won the NXT Title as well as the inaugural Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
After becoming the inaugural Universal Champion at SummerSlam, Balor was forced to relinquish the championship the next night on RAW due to injury.
While the Irishman would later win the Intercontinental Title, his time on the main roster ended with more of a whimper than a bang in 2019. After disappearing from WWE television following a defeat to ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt, Balor re-emerged on NXT in October.
Reflecting on his move back to NXT with Ryan Satin on Out of Character, The Prince revealed that his return was in order to refresh his character.
“The office came to me and said, ‘Hey, we know you need a little time to regroup and refocus, and we could use your help in NXT. Would you be open to the option of returning there for a little while? Maybe it’s three months. Maybe it’s six months. But you recalibrate your character and then go back to Raw or SmackDown.”
Despite winning the NXT Title and enjoying a fine run back on the black and gold, Balor said that he still hopes to return to RAW or SmackDown.
“I grew up as a wrestling fan watching WWE, and that’s, essentially, where I want to be performing. I feel like in my last run there, I wasn’t doing myself justice. I needed to change something, and the change came with NXT to kinda figure out who I was again. I’ve managed to do that to some level, and I’m definitely hopeful that a return to Raw or SmackDown will happen in the future.”
On the most recent episode of NXT, Balor was unsuccessful in his attempt to win back NXT’s top prize from Karrion Kross.
The rematch from TakeOver: Stand & Deliver followed a similar pattern to their first bout as Balor attempted to use his guile and wrestling acumen to overcome the raw, explosive power of Kross. However, much like in their initial clash, Kross proved to be just too much for the Prince. Eventually putting him away with the Kross Jacket.
It is perhaps interesting to note that it has recently been reported that multiple NXT and NXT UK Superstars are in line for call-ups to the main roster. The report highlights that NXT Superstars have been speculating over anticipated call-ups between themselves in recent weeks.