Finn Bálor Reveals He Was Negotiating For 10-Year Contract With NJPW Before Joining WWE

Finn Balor planned to finish his career with New Japan.

The latest episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet featured a chat with Finn Balor. He went on to share that before he joined WWE, he had been negotiating with New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Balor said he was negotiating for a 10-year contract and planned to end his career with the promotion.

“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.”

Balor is back on the SmackDown brand.