Finn Balor on Winning NXT Title in Japan, Meeting Vince McMahon for First Time

NXT Champion Finn Balor has been a busy man the past few days, working the recent NXT tapings while also hyping up “NXT Takeover: Brooklyn” on Aug. 22 at the Barclays Center.

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso, Balor discussed what it was like winning the NXT title from Kevin Owens in Japan, as well as how his first meeting with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon went:

Meeting Vince

Balor: “The first official meeting I had with Vince McMahon was in San Jose two days before WrestleMania. I was wrestling against Neville in the main for NXT San Jose. Neville had just got to the ring, and I was standing behind the curtain ready to make my entrance. I could hear Neville’s music tapering off, and I heard a call, ‘Finn! Finn!’ I turned around and it was Hunter. He said, ‘Have you met Vince?’

“So I went over and Vince’s head popped out from behind the curtain and said, ‘How are you doing, son?’ I said, ‘Hello, sir,’ and shook his hand. As I shook his hand, the heartbeat of my music started and I started, ‘That’s my cue, gotta go.’”

Winning NXT Title From Owens

Balor: “That whole night was memorable for much more than winning the NXT championship. Japan was a place that became my second home. That venue [Sumo Hall] is where I watched my first New Japan show and wrestled my last New Japan match. It was a year after I said goodbye to so many friends, and the fans were almost like family there, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see them again.”

“To come back with WWE a year later to wrestle in the NXT championship match in a sold-out Sumo Hall against Kevin Owens, who came into NXT at almost the same time as me–and we became very close, experienced a lot of the same struggles–live on the WWE Network, the story couldn’t have been written any better.”

To read the interview in its entirety, including Balor’s thoughts on Triple H’s leadership, click here.

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