Finn Bálor is an Irish wrestler, who is known for working in NXT, Raw, and SmackDown, produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Finn is also popular for his heel persona Demon King. He is a member of the famous villainous stable “The Judgement Day,” consisting of wrestlers like Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley, and Dominik Mysterio, Rey Mysterio’s son. Finn is a three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, a six-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, a one-time ICW Zero-G Champion, a one-time RPW British Cruiserweight Champion, a two-time NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion, a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a one-time WWE Universal Champion, and a one-time United States Champion.
Wiki/Biography
Finn Bálor was born as Fergal Devitt on Saturday, 25 July 1981 (age 41 years; as of 2022) in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. His zodiac sign is Leo.
He completed his schooling at St. Cronan’s Boys’ National School at the age of 18 following which he joined the National Wrestling Alliance United Kingdom Hammerlock, where he was trained in wrestling techniques by coaches like Andre Baker, Johnny Moss, and Jon Ryan. He decided to pursue a career in wrestling after getting motivated by famous WWE wrestlers like The British Bulldogs, Shawn Michaels, Mr. Perfect, Rick Rude, Savio Vega, and Koko B. Ware. While talking about his early wrestling learning days, Finn said,
When I was 18-years-old and I had left school I saw an ad in Power Slam magazine for Hammerlock wrestling school for a two-week summer camp so I sent my money off for that. When I arrived at Hammerlock I was trained by Andre Baker for two weeks, then after that, I went over on a regular basis, like once a month then once every couple of weeks to train with Andre.”
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 11″
Weight (approx.): 86 kg
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Blue
Body Measurements (approx.): Chest: 44″, Waist: 34″, Biceps: 18″
Family
Finn Balor was born into an Irish Catholic family.
Parents & Siblings
His father’s name is Fintan Devitt, and his mother’s name is Leonie Devitt. He has an elder brother named Colm, two younger brothers named Eoin and Ciaran, and a younger sister named Anne-Marie.
Wife & Children
His wife, Verónica Rodríguez, is a Mexican sports journalist. They got married on 19 August 2019.
Relationships/Affairs
Finn Balor was in a relationship with Cathy Kelley, a ring announcer, television host, and sports journalist. They first met each other when Finn made his debut on WWE’s NXT in May 2014. However, the couple did not disclose their relationship to the public. They got separated in 2017.
Finn, after breaking up with Cathy Kelley, entered into a relationship with Verónica Rodríguez in 2018 and dated her for some time before getting married to her in 2019.
Signature/Autograph
Career
NWA UK Hammerlock
Finn Balor made his professional wrestling debut on 23 November 2001 in a match hosted by the NWA UK Hammerlock.
On 10 October 2003, Finn participated in the NWA 55th Anniversary Show in which he was defeated on the first night by a wrestler named Spyder. In 2002, he co-founded National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Ireland with Paul Tracy and later trained WWE superstar Becky Lynch there. He won the NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship on 27 October 2004. On 30 October 2004, Finn along with Paul Tracey participated in a handicap match against a wrestler named Dru Onyx. On 8 October 2005, he took part in the NWA 57th Anniversary Show held in Nashville, Tennessee, where he won the British Commonwealth title after defeating Dru Onyx. Later, he relocated to Santa Monica, California, where he underwent extensive wrestling training at the New Japan Inoki Dojo.
Millennium Wrestling Federation (MWF)
On 5 November 2005, Finn Balor made his debut in the MWF in a triple-threat match at Soul Survivor III and contended against Eddie Edwards and R. J. Brewer. From 2005 to 2006, he contested in several wrestling tournaments organised by the MWF in New England, the US. Finn made his television debut at MWF Ultra in a match against Osiris in December 2005. His performance at MWF was greatly liked by many promoters as a result of which Finn was invited to visit Tokyo to train in Puroresu, a Japanese wrestling form, at New Japan Pro-Wrestling Dojo.
Return to the NWA UK
Having trained in Tokyo for some time, Finn participated in the NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship on 12 March 2006 to defend the title; however, he lost the title to Karl Anderson, an American wrestler. From 2 June 2007 to 1 September 2007, Finn contested in the Reclaiming the Glory, which was organised by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) to select a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. In the tournament, Finn emerged victorious in the first round by defeating Mikey Nicholls, an Aussie wrestler. He, however, was defeated by Bryan Danielson in the second round, thus, losing his shot at becoming the NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)
Following his loss to Karl Anderson in March 2006, Finn signed a contract with the NJPW. He made his debut in NJPW under the name Prince Devitt against Osamu Matsuda (aka El Samurai) in April 2006. Finn, however, was defeated in the match. While giving an interview, Finn said that the NJPW decided to call him Prince Devitt rather than Fergal Devitt because the Japanese audience found it difficult to pronounce his first name, Fergal. Talking about it, he said,
When I first went to Japan, I was wrestling under my real name. The Japanese people have a great amount of difficulty with the letters f, r and l. So three out of the six letters in my first name they couldn’t say. It was a bit of a mouthful for those guys. When they say ‘Devitt,’ they say it as ‘David,’ and it’s written in Japanese as ‘David.’ So there was a lot of confusion.”
On 20 April 2006, Finn was defeated by Yujiro in a professional wrestling match. Finn defeated Mitsuhide Hirasawa in a 1v1 match on 23 April 2006. In May 2006, the NJPW decided to introduce Finn with a mask as the second Pegasus Kid; however, it was not well received by the fans who began drawing a direct comparison between Finn and the famous WWE superstar Chris Benoit who was the original Pegasus Kid. Finn switched back to his previous ring name Prince Devitt in August 2006 during the tour of New Japan.
Control Terrorism Unit
He joined the Control Terrorism Unit (CTU), an NJPW stable, as an apprentice named Ranger Red. After Finn began losing matches one after the other his teammates at CTU sidelined him and give him an ultimatum. He stood up to their expectations after he defeated his opponent in a crucial match on 6 October 2006. Thereafter, he made a pact with Jushin Thunder Liger, the leader of the CTU, against Wataru Inoue and Ryusuke Taguchi. Finn consolidated his position in CTU after he defeated Wataru Inoue in a match.
Finn temporarily quit wrestling after he hurt his knee during the match with Wataru as a result of which he was sidelined by the CTU. After returning to action in June 2007, Finn participated in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament; however, he was defeated. Finn left CTU in August 2007, after it was disbanded, and joined another NJPW stable called RISE.
Prince Prince
At RISE, he allied with Minoru, a former member of the CTU, and created a new tag team named Prince Prince. The team Prince Prince won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on 27 January 2008. They, however, lost the title to Akira and Jushin Thunder Liger in February 2008. On 21 July 2008, team Prince Prince once again won the title, but in October 2008, team No Limit defeated team Prince Prince and snatched the title from them.
Apollo 55
On 30 January 2009, the team Prince Prince was disbanded and Finn allied with Ryusuke Taguchi to form Apollo 55. Finn and Taguchi won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship title after defeating Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin from The Motor City Machine Guns (aka Guns).
In May 2009, Finn contested the Best of the Super Juniors but was defeated by Koji Kanemoto in the finale. He participated in the Super J-Cup in December 2009, but he was defeated in the tournament by Naomichi Marufuji in the final round. On 4 January 2010, at Wrestle Kingdom IV at Tokyo Dome, Apollo 55 successfully defended their tag team title against Averno and Último Guerrero. On 14 February 2010, Apollo 55 had to surrender the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team title after they were unable to defend it as Finn had gotten injured in a match against Gedo and Dick Togo. In an attempt to take back the lost title, Apollo 55 participated in the Super J Tag Tournament; however, the team faced a defeat at the hands of El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto on 8 May 2010. After defeating Kota Ibushi in the finals of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in June 2010, Finn received an opportunity to contest for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship title held by Naomichi Marufuji. He defeated Naomichi at Dominion 6.19 on 19 June 2010, becoming the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
On 30 June 2010, Finn along with Taguchi and Hirooki Goto participated in and won the J Sports Crown Openweight 6-Man Tag Tournament by registering a victory over Hiroshi Tanahashi, TAJIRI, and Kushida. On 11 July 2010, Finn defeated Atsushi Aoki after he challenged Finn to defend his junior heavyweight title. On 19 July 2010, the tag team of Koji Kanemoto and El Samurai were defeated by Apollo 55 to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. On 3 September 2010, Finn defended his junior heavyweight title against Kenny Omega, a Canadian wrestler. On 11 October 2010, the Golden☆Lovers, a tag team comprising Omega and Kota Ibushi, managed to defeat Apollo 55, winning the title of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship at Destruction ’10. The Apollo 55 defeated Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi to become the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions at the Fantastica Mania 2011 on 23 January 2011. Finn was defeated in the semifinals of 2011 Best of the Super Juniors tournament after his tag team partner Ryusuke Taguchi eliminated him. Finn lost the title of junior heavyweight to Kota Ibushi on 18 June 2011. In July 2011, Finn was once again defeated by Kota Ibushi after Ibushi successfully defended his junior heavyweight title. Finn was amongst the few players of the NJPW who went to Mexico to promote wrestling with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). Initially, Finn was not allowed to enter the ring due to a calf injury. On 23 March 2012, he took part in his first six-man tag team main event at the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) against Mephisto, Último Guerrero and Volador Jr. In the match, he emerged victorious after he pinned Volador Jr. following which Finn challenged him to a fight for the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship. Finn went on to become the NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion after he defeated Volador Jr. on 30 March 2012. Finn successfully defended his NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion title after defeating Volador Jr. in July 2012 in a rematch that took place in Korakuen Hall, Tokyo. Finn lost his NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion title on 28 September 2012 after a wrestler named Rojo pinned him. On 21 October 2012, Apollo 55 participated in the Super Jr. Tag Tournament, where Apollo 55 defeated Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero, the then IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, in the semifinals. However, Devitt and Taguchi lost the final round to the Time Splitters, a tag team consisting of Alex Shelley and Kushida. Devitt once again became the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion after he pinned Low Ki at Power Struggle in Osaka, Japan. Devitt defended his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion title after defeating Low Ki and Kota Ibushi in a three-way match in January 2013. Devitt defeated his tag team partner Taguchi on 10 February 2013 and defended his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion title after Devitt was challenged by Taguchi. After Devitt’s defeat at the hands of Hiroshi Tanahashi on 3 March 2013 in a non-title match at New Japan’s 41st Anniversary Show, he adopted a villainous character following which he began taunting other wrestlers; however, he tried to maintain a cordial relationship with his tag team partner Taguchi. After getting challenged by Alex Shelley for the title of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Devitt defeated Alex on 5 April 2013 and defended his title. Devitt and Taguchi challenged Alex Shelley and Kushida for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team title on 7 April 2013; however, Devitt and Taguchi were defeated. Following the loss, Devitt attacked Taguchi, breaking their partnership.
Bullet Club
After ending his partnership with Taguchi, Devitt founded Bullet Club. Initially, the club consisted of Bad Luck Fale and Devitt; however, later Karl Anderson and Tama Tonga joined the club. Bullet Club was named by Devitt after his finger gun expression and Karl Anderson’s nickname The Machine Gun.
On 3 May 2013, Devitt and Fale faced his former tag team partner Taguchi and Captain New Japan in a tag team match at Wrestling Dontaku in Fukuoka, where Devitt and Fale managed to defeat them. Devitt won the Best of the Super Juniors tournament on 9 June 2013 by defeating Alex Shelley in the finals. After his win, Devitt challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi to a match to win a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Champion title. At Dominion 6.22, which took place in Osaka, Devitt managed to defeat Hiroshi Tanahashi on 22 June 2013, earning the opportunity to face the then-IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada. Okada accepted Devitt’s call out on one condition, i.e., Devitt should first defend his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion title against Gedo. On 5 July 2013, Devitt faced Gedo and successfully defended his title by pinning Gedo. A title match between Okada and Devitt took place on 22 July 2013. Despite interference from the members of the Bullet Club, Okada managed to pin Devitt, defending his title. Devitt and Fale contested in the World Tag League from 23 November to 7 December. They, however, were defeated by Captain New Japan and Hiroshi Tanahashi in the quarterfinals. Kota Ibushi defeated Devitt and took the title of IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion on 4 January 2014 at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome. During the match, Devitt entered the ring with a new get-up, and he was brought to the ring in a casket with the members of the Bullet Club standing alongside the ring wearing aprons. In April 2014, Devitt tendered his resignation from the New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
WWE
NXT
Devitt signed a deal with WWE on 15 May 2014. The WWE made an official announcement of Devitt joining NXT on 28 July 2014. The WWE changed his ring name from Prince Devitt to Finn Bálor on 24 September 2014. His new name was derived from Fionn mac Cumhaill, an Irish mythological hero, and Balor, which means Demon King in Gaelic. Finn made his first appearance in NXT on 25 September 2014 after he aided Hideo Itami against Konnor and Viktor, the members of The Ascension. On 23 October 2014, Finn played his debut tag team match with Itami against Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd. In the match, Finn and Itami emerged victorious. Finn made an appearance for the first time in his signature demonic body paint at the NXT TakeOver: R Evolution on 11 December 2014; Finn and Itami defeated Konnor and Viktor in a tag team match.
Finn won the NXT TakeOver: Rival on 11 February 2015 after he defeated Adrian Neville in the final round. Finn was defeated by Kevin Owens in an NXT Title match on 25 March 2015. Finn became the NXT Champion after he managed to defeat Kevin Owens at The Beast in the East event that was hosted in Tokyo on 4 July 2015.
At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, Finn successfully defended his NXT Champion title after defeating Kevin Owens in a ladder match on 22 August 2015. Balor later formed a tag team partnership with Samoa Joe and participated in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. The duo went on to defeat Sin Cara and Kalisto in the first round, Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady in the quarter-finals, Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson in the semi-finals, and on 7 October 2015 at NXT TakeOver: Respect, Finn and Samoa defeated Baron Corbin and Rhyno in the finals, winning the tournament. Later, Apollo Crews challenged Finn for the NXT Championship title. A match between Finn and Apollo Crews took place on 4 November 2015; however, it was cancelled after Baron Corbin attacked Finn in the ring during the match. Baron escaped from the ring after Samoa Joe arrived and attacked Finn, breaking their tag team partnership and starting a rivalry between them. Finn defeated Joe and retained his NXT Championship belt on 16 December 2015 at NXT TakeOver: London. On 21 April 2016, Finn lost his title to Joe who defeated him at the NXT’s main event in Lowell, Massachusetts. Before getting defeated by Joe, Finn had become the longest-reigning NXT Champion, a record broken by Adam Cole in 2020. Finn lost his first NXT TakeOver match on 8 June 2016 after he was defeated by Samoa Joe in the NXT Championship rematch in a steel cage match at NXT TakeOver: The End.
On 30 July 2016, Finn teamed up with Shinsuke Nakamura in a tag team match against Bobby Roode and Samoa Joe and managed to defeat them.
Raw
Finn joined RAW, a brand of the WWE, on 19 July 2016. Bálor made his debut on Raw on 25 July 2016 and won the fatal four-way match against Rusev, Cesaro, and Kevin Owens.
Later, he competed against Roman Reigns, the winner of a similar fatal four-way match, and defeated him, securing a shot at the WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam.
Finn became the first WWE Universal Champion after he defeated Seth Rollins at SummerSlam on 21 August 2016. Despite winning the tournament, Finn was not allowed to hold the title as he had to undergo surgery due to a labrum tear that he sustained during the match against Seth.
As a result of his injury, Finn remained out of action from WWE for a long time; however, he made an appearance at the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament in December 2016. On 22 February 2017, he appeared on NXT, where he aided Shinsuke Nakamura against Andrade “Cien” Almas and Bobby Roode. In March 2017, Finn returned to Raw, where he participated in a six-man tag team match in a live event with Chris Jericho and Sami Zayn and defeated Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, and Triple H. On 3 April 2017, Finn made his televised return on WrestleMania 33, where he participated in a tag team match with Seth Rollins and defeated the tag team of Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe. Finn lost his chance at the Universal Championship title held by Brock Lesnar after Finn passed out during the fatal five-way extreme rules match due to Samoa Joe’s Coquina Clutch. Finn entered into a feud with Bray Wyatt after he interfered in a match between Elias and Finn in a No Disqualification match, leading to Finn’s defeat. On 20 August 2017, during a match with Bray in SummerSlam, Finn made an appearance in his Demon King persona and defeated him.
Finn once again secured a victory over Bray at No Mercy on 24 September 2017. On 20 October 2017, Finn’s Demon King character and Bray Wyatt’s Sister Abigail character were to go one on one against each other at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs; however, Bray opted out of the event due to an illness, and he was replaced by AJ Styles who was defeated by the Demon King in the ring. During the match, the duo showed each other mutual respect by making “Too Sweet” hand gestures.
In January 2018, Finn founded the Bálor Club with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson as its member; the club was made in honour of his previous NJPW club the Bullet Club. The Bálor Club later participated in its maiden fight against the then Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan and the then Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns and defeated them in a six-man tag team match.
In January, he was the second contestant in the 2018 Royal Rumble match; lasting for 57 minutes, he eliminated four wrestlers but got eliminated by John Cena. On 20 August 2018, Finn was given a shot at the Universal Championship match against the then-Universal Champion Roman Reigns but was defeated by Roman in the match.
In November 2018, Raw announced that Finn was one of the representatives of the brand in the Raw vs SmackDown five-on-five elimination match at Survivor Series in which he was eliminated by Rey Mysterio of SmackDown. In January 2019, after Braun Strowman attacked and damaged the WWE owner’s limousine, he was disqualified from the Universal Championship match against Brock Lesnar. Following the disqualification, Finn, Drew McIntyre, John Cena, and Baron Corbin participated in a fatal-four-way match to determine Braun’s replacement. In the match, Finn emerged victorious after he pinned John Cena. Finn took part in the Universal Championship match against Brock and was defeated by him. After pinning Finn, Brock performed F-5, his finishing move, thrice on him. Finn became the Intercontinental Champion on 17 February 2019 after he defeated Rush and Bobby Lashley at the Elimination Chamber in a two-on-one handicap match.
SmackDown
In 2019, after the WWE Superstar Shake-up, Finn was shifted to SmackDown, where he made his debut on 16 April 2019, defeating Ali in a non-title match. On 7 June 2019, Finn participated as Demon King in an Intercontinental Champion title match against Andrade and successfully defended it.
Coming back to NXT
Finn returned to NXT on 2 October 2019 during the NXT Champion title match between Matt Riddle and Adam Cole. Finn helped The Undisputed Era in a match against Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa on 23 October 2019. On 23 November 2019, Finn defeated his rival Matt Riddle in the NXT TakeOver: WarGames. Later, Finn challenged Adam Cole for a match for the NXT Championship; however, he was defeated by Adam in the match that took place on 18 December 2019. Finn became the NXT Champion for the second time on 8 September 2020 after he defeated Adam Cole.
He successfully defended his NXT Championship belt against Kyle O’Reilly on 4 October 2020. During the match, Finn had a broken jaw and had to undergo surgery for it. After recovering from his injury, Finn returned to NXT, where he defended his NXT Championship on 6 January 2021 and 10 March 2021. On 8 April 2021, Finn participated in the NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, where he lost the title of NXT Champion to Karrion Kross. On 16 July 2021, he went back to SmackDown, where he faced Roman Reigns twice for the WWE Universal Champion title.
Drafted back into Raw
In October 2021, Finn re-joined Raw, and on 21 October 2021, he took part in the King of the Ring tournament, where he lost to Xavier Woods at the Crown Jewel event. Finn defeated Damien Priest on 28 February 2022 and won the title of the WWE United States Champion; however, he lost the title on 18 April 2021 after getting defeated by Theory. On 5 June 2021, Finn allied with AJ Styles and Liv Morgan in a mixed tag team match against Edge, Damian Priest, and Rhea Ripley of The Judgement Day. Finn and his teammates were defeated in the match. Finn became a member of The Judgement Day on 6 June 2021 and was introduced to the audience by Edge; however, Rhea, Damien, and Finn attacked Edge, chasing him out of the team and solidifying Finn’s villainous character in the team.
On 30 July 2022, The Mysterios, consisting of Rey Mysterio and his son Dominik Mysterio, managed to secure a victory over The Judgement Day in a tag team title match at the SummerSlam. On 3 September 2022, The Judgement Day made an addition to its team after Dominik Mysterio turned on his father, and his tag team partner Edge during the Clash at the Castle. Finn was eliminated by Edge at the Royal Rumble on 28 January 2023. However, Edge was later eliminated by Damient Priest with outside help from Dominik and Finn. Finn took part in a Hell in a Cell match against Edge at WrestleMania 39 as Demon King and was defeated in the match.
During the match, Finn received a deep cut on his scalp, resulting in 14 stitches to his head. Later, Finn, in a post on Instagram, revealed that he had a grade 2 calf tear before his match with Edge.
Signature Moves
Shotgun Drop Kick
Coup de Grace
1916 DDT
Sling Blade
Car Collection
- Ferrari 458 Italia.
- Lamborghini Huracán.
- MINI Cooper S.
Tattoos
Finn has got a tattoo of an astronaut looking at the moon inked on his left hand. He also has got Vero, dedicated to his wife Verónica, tattooed near the left hand’s thumb.
Finn has got many tattoos inked on his right forearm. He has a tattoo of an inverted cactus, infinity, a dinosaur drawn by his wife, a seagull that represents his hometown, and a dandelion shedding its petals tattooed on it.
Finn has got a tattoo of the date on which he met his wife and the coordinates of the place where they got married inked on the back of his right arm.
Salary
Finn’s income in 2023 was estimated to be $1 million.
Net Worth
In March 2023, Finn’s net worth was estimated to be $3 million.
Facts/Trivia
- When Finn was in school, he used to play football and wanted to pursue a career in association football and Gaelic football.
- He occasionally consumes alcohol.
- Finn renamed one of his signature moves from Bloody Sunday to 1916 after the WWE asked him to give his move a family-friendly name.
- Finn owns an online clothing store named Smile It’s PE&K.
- While giving an interview, Finn revealed that he almost joined an art college as he was keenly interested in art and craft. Talking about it, he said,
Like, in school I was super artistic. I almost went to an art college instead of being a wrestler. It was all, like, I was very heavily inspired my whole life by art, and I would always look at guys with tattoos like, ‘Wow, that’s so cool!”
- Finn loves to read superhero comic strips. His favourite character is Venom.
- Finn shares a close bond with Albert (aka Matt Bloom) whom he met in 2006 at NJPW.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education