Interview: Finn Balor on His Road to the Universal Title, Demon Persona, Vince McMahon

The New York Post held a recent interview with Finn Balor and some of the topics discussed included his road back to WWE’s main event scene, the David vs. Goliath comparison for his upcoming WWE Universal Championship match, moving away from the Demon King persona, and the rumors of Vince McMahon not believing in him.

On the topic of his long road back to WWE’s main event scene, Balor stated he feels he has not been away from it for as long as people believe considering how much of that time away was due to his shoulder injury.

“People talk about it took a long time . “It didn’t really take that long, you know. When I got injured, I had been on the main roster for three weeks. Then I’m out for nine months straight. So people think that, ‘Hey, this guy’s an established guy that’s been working for, you know, 18 years [overall],’ but really when I came back, my first week coming back from injury, that was my fourth week on the job [on WWE’s main roster].”

On the topic of the David vs. Goliath comparison for his upcoming WWE Universal Championship match, Balor stated he has always been interested in these matches as a fan and now gets to experience one very soon.

“I was always interested in Shawn Michaels versus Diesel. I was always interested in Rey Mysterio versus Big Show and, you know, that was the type of match that spoke to me as a fan, and now as a performer that’s the type of match that speaks to me now.”

On the topic of why he has moved away from his Demon King persona, Balor stated it is due to him wanting to spread a different message as a life lesson to others.

“The message I need to spread is not to hide behind your alter egos, but to stand up for yourself as a man and face these challenges as a man.”

On the topic of the rumors of Vince McMahon not believing in him as a big star, Balor stated he feels fans can relate to him more due to his smaller stature compared to others in the WWE.

“Obviously I’m not the biggest guy. So I think they can relate to a lot of that, you know, being bullied at school by the bigger kids at school, you know, being bullied on the football pitch, by the bigger football players.”

Other topics discussed during the interview included his rehab from his past shoulder injury, his NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool match against Jordan Devlin, and his thoughts on The Young Bucks and All Elite Wrestling.