Finn Bálor Initially Questioned Decision To Start WWE Run In NXT: “I Just Wrestled Ibushi At The Tokyo Dome Four Weeks Ago…. Now I’m In The Performance Center”

Finn Bálor was not sure about starting his WWE run in developmental.

Dating back to 2014, Finn Bálor has been a part of the WWE talent roster. His time started with NXT, and he reflected on that during his appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet.

Bálor shared that he was not sure about starting out in NXT. He detailed a talk he had with Performance Center coach Terry Taylor that changed his perspective.

“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 leapfrog after drop down, drop down, and run these drills? I just wrestled (Kota) 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 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.”

Balor returned to NXT at the Homecoming special in 2025 for a one-off appearance.