Finn Balor Recalls Shooting Down Risky Spot in 2016 NXT Match With Samoa Joe

Finn Balor prefers to avoid taking big risks with his health in the ring, and he recently recalled shooting down a spot in his 2016 NXT cage match with Samoa Joe. Balor talked about the situation on What’s The Story and talked about how he refused to do a Coup de Grace off the top of the cage.

“When I was in my first run in NXT in a cage match against Samoa Joe, they wanted me to jump off the top of the cage and do the foot stomp,” Balor recalled (per Wrestling Inc). “I said no. This is Michael Hayes, like the main producer, he’s like, ‘What do you mean you don’t wanna do your finish off the top of the cage?’ And I said, ‘Well, A, I might get hurt. B, it’s my finisher and I’m losing the match so why would I do that off the cage?’ He goes, ‘Hmm, good point.'”

He continued, “In my mind, I’m thinking, hang on, this is NXT. This is the training ground to get me to WWE. I’m not gonna risk getting hurt here to then jeopardize going there. I’ve kind of kept that philosophy now, saying, ‘Hey, I’m not gonna risk getting hurt today because then I won’t be able to wrestle tomorrow.'”

Balor was called up to the main roster shortly after the match with Joe and quickly became the first-ever WWE Universal Champion, though he had to vacate the title shortly after due to injury.