Finn Bálor Says He Feels Better Than Ever Wrestling in His 40s, Reveals His Mindset for Wrestling Has Changed

During a recent interview with Insight with Chris Van Vliet, WWE Superstar Finn Bálor spoke about what it’s like wrestling now at 44 compared to his 20s and how his mindset has changed. Bálor also says he feels better now wrestling at 44 than he did while in his 30s. Below are some highlights:

On How He’s Barely Aged at 44 and His Consistency

“So there’s this huge belief that I’m a no-carbs guy, and I was for a long time, from like 2010 when I met one of my good friends, John Anderson, who I wrestled with in New Japan. He said, ‘Brother, you got to go on no carbs if you want to take it to the next level.’ So I went on no carbs from like 2010 till about 2022, pretty much keto. So I was doing that for a long time, and then myself and Chad Gable are best buddies, and I think we were in the run-up to Mania or something; everyone’s doing this Mania prep every year, and I just would always do everything the same all the time. ‘I don’t get ready, I stay ready.’ That’s the quote. He said, dude, just add in some carbs, maybe a carb drink in your workout, so that was the beginning of me reintroducing carbs.

“So probably for the last two years I’m pretty much on a regular diet, I would say. So breakfast will be like three full eggs, half an avocado, either some Greek yogurt and berries or some cottage cheese. Hopefully two hours later I’ll work out. Pre-workout will be like beetroot juice or pomegranate juice with some honey. I’ll work out. After the workout, I’ll have a shake and a banana. Then within an hour I’ll have like either a piece of chicken and rice or a piece of fish and rice, and then that will repeat again about two and a half hours later. Then before bed I’ll have some Greek yogurt again with berries, and that’ll be it.”

Finn Bálor on How His Mindset Has Changed in His 40s

“The 20s was you’re scratching and clawing, and you’re chasing, and you’re like, oh my god, but you don’t really feel like you belong, and you feel like everyone’s like, ‘What’s this little kid doing here?’ In the 30s, it was like this is going to end soon. I’m going to burn the back axle out of this, similar to what JD was saying when he was on here, it’s like I’m going to go out there and I’m going to give it everything every single night. I don’t care about what happens tomorrow. Now in my 40s, I feel like I’m a little bit more economical with my movements and my moves, and I feel like I’ve been very lucky to have learned from some incredible people who taught me some skills, not necessarily physical skills, like our techniques, but a mindset that can prolong my career. I always tell a story about when I went to the Performance Center. I started with NXT I think I was 34, which was quite late to start. WWE had came knocking a couple times, and I’d always kind of kicked it back, because I was very happy in New Japan, wanted to do my whole career there, and I was trying to negotiate a 10-year contract, and there was an issue.

“This was when I was 34; I was trying to negotiate a 10-year contract to stay there for the rest of my life. Then there was an issue, because New Japan was owned by another company, and that contract only lasted for four years, so they could only give me a four-year contract. I’d been there like eight years, and I’d seen how when guys got to like their mid to late 30s, they kind of phased them out. I thought, well, this will get me to my mid to late 30s, and I’ll be phased out, and I want to wrestle longer than that. I’m 34 and this is 12 years ago in WWE, where the roster was a lot younger, they were signing much younger guys, and I thought, oh, this could be my last opportunity, so that’s kind of the mindset I had. I was talking with my dad about the decision: should I roll the dice in WWE, or should I stay in New Japan? I’ll never forget my dad said, ‘Son, you grew up watching WWF, that was your dream, you’re in Japan, you’re doing great, you’ve done it for eight years, but roll the dice.’ I’m glad I did.”

On How Long He Wanted To Wrestle When He Was in His 20s

“In my 20s, I thought if I make it to 30, it’ll be awesome as a wrestler, and in life, I guess [laughs]. Then in my 30s, I thought, well 40, that’ll be really incredible. Right now, I feel better now than I did in my early 30s, and going back to what I was saying earlier about signing with NXT, a lot of people were of the opinion of, hey, he’s an experienced guy, knows exactly what he’s doing in the ring, why is he in NXT? He’s wasting his time in NXT. You hear this so much, and I started to maybe believe it as well, and also, why am I in this Performance Center doing roll after roll and leap frog after drop down, drop down, and run these drills? I just wrestled Ibushi in front of 42,000 people at the Tokyo Dome like four weeks ago, and now I’m in the Performance Center in a factory doing drills with kids who’ve never wrestled.

“This was going on for about three months to the point where I think I showed up one Monday morning at 8 am for practice, and Terry Taylor was my coach, who I cannot speak highly more highly about, he’s absolutely incredible. I said, ‘Terry, I don’t want to be here. I feel like I’m just wasting my career. I’m 34, I need to be wrestling.’ He said, ‘Finn, I’m teaching you a style that you can perform for another 10 years. If you continue wrestling the way you’ve been wrestling in New Japan, you’ll last about two more years, and I want you to last longer than that.’ So he was very instrumental in kind of helping me tweak my style to be more economical with my movements, with my moves, and really to go from being a good wrestler to being a star, and that’s the person who I credit with that, and he taught me so much. I cannot speak more highly about Terry Taylor.”

On If His Goals Are To Wrestle Into His 50s

“Now it’s just get to having fun and make sure that I don’t want to overstay my welcome. I still feel pretty good. I don’t feel like I’ve slowed down too much. Well, I don’t know, because I don’t watch my matches back, because I cringe so much.”

Finn Bálor last wrestled on the June 12 edition of WWE SmackDown, competing in a King of the Ring first-round matchup against Jey Uso, LA Knight, and Royce Keys. Jey Uso won the bout to advance in the tournament.