NXT Champion Finn Balor has revealed that his bottom lip is still numb after suffering a broken jaw at NXT TakeOver 31 in October 2020.
On October 4, 2020, Finn Balor defended his coveted gold against Undisputed ERA member Kyle O’Reilly in one of the best and hard hitting matches of the year. During the bout, both champion and challenger received injuries with Balor breaking his jaw and the former NXT Tag Team Champion suffering rib trauma.
The injury, which required advanced plastic surgery, three plates to be screwed into the break, a tooth to be extracted and his jaw wired shut for several weeks, kept Balor out of action until January 2021 but according the star he still feels the effects of the grievance to this very day with a numb bottom lip.
Ahead of his NXT Championship defence on February 14, Balor spoke to the New York Post about his injury and how it still impacts his life:
“Still in pain, still very reluctant to get any type of strike to the face, which was actually something that led to the arm injury in the match versus Kyle (O’Reilly) the second one. I was protecting the jaw so much I actually weakened my arm. One thing that still hasn’t come back is the feeling in my bottom lip. It’s still numb. It’s like I’ve been to the dentist and you get that shot. Pretty much my bottom lip down to my chin I’ve still got no feeling, but the doctors are a little hopeful that might come back in a couple of months. They say nerves take a little longer to heal. Sometimes you’ll see me out there now if I’m doing a promo licking my bottom lip more or I’ll be rubbing it a little bit. It still feels like there’s Novocain in there and it’s numb. It gets dry a lot. But apart from that, no, I feel 100 percent.
Obviously you wrestle for 20 years and you are worrying about your own performance and what you want to do and now all of sudden you’re worried about, oh I need to protect this extra injury. It’s not necessarily an injury, it’s more like a weakness. It’s not, oh he has a torn hamstring or something. You got plates in your jaw. You really don’t have any trust in how strong they are until they take an impact and then you go, hey, yeah that’s fine. So it’s getting over that first impact that’s kind of the block in your brain. Slowly getting over that. I’m sure I’ll be 100 percent on Sunday because I have no doubt Pete’s gonna hit me a couple times.”
Recently, the Irishman has been locked in a feud with ‘The Bruiserweight’ Pete Dunne over the NXT Championship, which the pair will vie for at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day on February 14 with the winner facing a potential payday at WrestleMania 37 with talk of a spot on the card on April 10 and April 11.
Credit for the interview: New York Post
h/t for the transcription: Fightful