Finn Balor On How ‘Politics’ Led To Him Returning To NXT

Finn Balor has recalled his previous WWE main roster run, explaining how backstage politics led to him returning to NXT.

Balor returned to NXT in October 2019, after a two month absence from TV. The star went on to hold his second NXT Championship, claiming the vacant title in September 2020. The former Universal Champion returned to the main roster in July, joining the SmackDown roster.

Speaking on the ‘My Love Letter To Wrestling’ podcast, Balor admitted that prior to his second NXT run, he had been worn out by backstage life. Noting that he is now working on finding a balance between wrestling for live crowds, and for TV, Balor said:

“I feel like I got a little bit stale. I was tired. I was exhausted. I was worn out by dealing with the politics, the office, the writers, and everything that goes with it. I just had enough.

“When I returned to NXT, I really felt like that rejuvenated me in the ring. One thing I felt that helped with all the negative effects of the pandemic was taking the fans out of the equation in wrestling makes you change the cadence and the tempo of the match because you’re not trying to perform for a large audience. You’re literally performing in a one on one environment, and you can really work on the details of the match. You’re not so reliant on hearing the audible response from the crowd.

“I would produce a match to get a yea or a boo or a holy s**t, but then when you take that element out of it, you can get back down to the nuts and bolts of what I actually learned in Japan which is just gritty wrestling. I really feel that despite all the negative things that the pandemic brought us, it brought me that one positive thing that I can really get back to wrestling for me and the way I like to wrestle.

“I’m now finding that balance of how can I keep that art form of the way I like to wrestle in front of big crowds when you’re on a limited time frame with TV wrestling? I feel that finding that balance is going to be the most difficult thing.”

As of writing, Finn Balor hasn’t been announced for Saturday’s Royal Rumble match. Stay up to date with the Royal Rumble entrants using our tracker, at this link.

Transcription via WrestlingNews.co.

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• Finn Balor
• Backstage
• nxt
• wwe

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