Finn Balor Talks About How Long It Took To Get Another Universal Title Match

In an interview with The New York Post, Finn Balor spoke about getting a Universal title match on PPV, his first since Summerslam 2016 where he defeated Seth Rollins. He had to give up the belt at that time due to injury. His only other Universal title match was on RAW against Roman Reigns, which he lost. He faces Brock Lesnar this Sunday at the Royal Rumble. Here are highlights:

On returning to PPV to fight for the Universal title: “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 matches with smaller wrestlers challenging bigger wrestlers: “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 not relying on the Demon: “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 fans relating to him standing up to Vince McMahon: “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.”