Finn Balor exclusive conference interview part 2 - 'Fans won't even believe an honest tweet now!'

by Daniel Falconer | 19 May 2016

Ahead of the NXT Tour across UK and Ireland next month, we got the chance to take part in an exclusive conference call with various other media outlets to ask Finn Balor some questions all about the tour, the NXT brand and much more. Find out what we, other outlets and Finn had to say in the second and final part of the interview below.

Finn Balor / Credit: WWE

Read part one of the interview by clicking here.

Was there a moment growing up in Ireland when you realised wrestling is what you wanted to do?

There wasn't one moment that I said, 'Yeah this is what I want to get into'. I was four or five years old watching old ITV World of Sports, Giant Haystacks versus Big Daddy with my granddad and I just remember being drawn in by these larger than life characters. Something sucked me in from an early age, it never left me. There wasn't one defining moment that I said, 'I wanna be a wrestler'. It was just something that was always inside me. Going through secondary school in Ireland everyone's like, 'What are you gonna do when you finish school? Go to college? Study business? Study electronics?' I was like, 'Well I kinda love wrestling so I don't see why I should want to study anything else except wrestling.' For me it was a no brainer. Why would I waste my time with something I wasn't passionate about? So I packed my bags, went off and found a wrestling school in England.

In New Japan you got the chance to visit home quite often, how often can you get home now you're with NXT?

It's funny because in Japan you're so far away and the culture's so different, that I was managing to get home once a month if not more. Here, you move to America, you're only five hours on a flight to Dublin, the culture, you can speak the language, it's pretty much the same, but it's pretty rare now that I get to come home, I might get home everyone once or twice a year at this stage, but that's all just part of the sacrifice that you make to make it. I'll be very much looking forward to coming back to the 3Arena in Dublin because, it'll be the first time in a long time that I'll be seeing the family and friends and the Irish people.

You're famous obviously for your in-ring prowess, but you're almost equally famous for the entrance you have. Where did that idea come from and what's your favourite entrance of all time in the WWE?

I loved Shawn Michaels when he came in on the zip cord in the Ironman match at WrestleMania. That's definitely one of my favourites. Obviously Undertaker goes without saying, night in night out he's got a spectacular entrance.

My idea came from a lot of different sources to be honest. With regards to the paint, I'm normally quite introverted and shy, I keep myself to myself and I find that when I hide behind the paint so to speak, I'm able to let myself go more and move more freely than I can without it. It's kind of just like a vehicle for me to take it to that next level. The saying is 'channel your inner demon', but really that's what it is, it's just letting myself go and feeling in the moment. What I thought was a terrible idea has morphed into this huge thing, who knows where it'll take me next?

What do you think so far has been your best match in NXT in the two years you've been there?

I've had a lot of matches that have been special for different reasons. I'll name two, special for very different reasons.

The match at TakeOver against Adrian Neville. Myself and Neville have been friends for a long time, we came up together in England, we spent time together in Japan, we've had the same journey and to be able to have that match against him on the NXT platform and showcase each of our abilities to the world was a very special moment.

Let's see, the second one would definitely be the night in Tokyo against Kevin Owens when I won the NXT title. Myself and Kevin kinda came into NXT together, we became very close, we struggled with the same issues of adapting to life in the performance centre in NXT in America in general, him being Canadian and moving down here with his family. It was a year previous that I'd left New Japan and I'd had myself a farewell match in that arena. To return back a year later, with WWE challenging for the NXT title against someone who I'd become very close with, to get the reception from the people in Japan that night and go on and win the title. That's a memory that'll live on with me forever.

Female First asks: William Regal, Samoa Joe and yourself were on Facebook Live when the Steel Cage match for TakeOver was announced - what do you think of this constantly changing landscape for how WWE fans now get their news and announcements?

That's a great point. Facebook Live is something that I think is very much in its infancy. We were only speaking with Triple H two days ago (May 16) and he was saying we've done a million views on Facebook Live for the brawl that happened in Portland between myself and Joe after the show and, I kinda was confused and said, 'I don't know, is a million people a lot or is it not a lot?' He kinda looked back at me and said, 'Actually, you're right, this form of media's so new that we don't really have a benchmark number for what we're trying to aim for'.

The sheer fact that that was a live event in Portland in front of 2,000 people and a million people have been able to see that live on an app on a phone is incredible. I think NXT as a whole is definitely innovating and revolutionising sports entertainment, but it's also trying to revolutionise the way people view sports entertainment. We're on the Network every Wednesday night, that's the only way to see our TV show, there's a lot more interaction on Twitter and Facebook and now Facebook Live, being able to see a live press conference between two of the stars of the contract signings... I think the future of NXT and how it's consumed is gonna be very interesting because, there's a lot of new platforms out there that we're looking to explore.

Female First asks: There's the Extreme Rules pay-per-view this weekend (May 22) and you've got your own extreme match with Joe in a cage at TakeOver - what's your ideal 'extreme' match up?

Oo, well... I would love to have been able to have the opportunity to have a Ladder match with Shawn Michaels. Obviously that's not gonna happen now. Let's see... Maybe I could get Jeff Hardy or the Dudley Boyz in a TLC match. I know when I was a fan I was always enthralled by the Hardy Boys versus the Dudley Boyz and Edge and Christian in their three-way Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches. So if that was an Extreme Rules match for me, I'd be pretty happy with that one.

On Twitter you've gotten quite the reputation of being a tease - where did this come from?

I always like to have a bit of craic and have a laugh with people. I think I found when the rumours were circulating about me coming to WWE and coming to NXT that was something I could very easily manipulate and get a reaction from people with. Maybe it was wrong of me to tease them a little bit but, I feel like the wrestling fans like to fantasy book and, a lot of the times the fantasy booking is more exciting than actually waiting than watching things develop. It's almost my way of poking fun at people to have a laugh. I kind of feel like in recent times I've turned into the boy that cried wolf! I feel I took it a bit too far and then nobody believes anything I say on Twitter anymore. For example, two weeks ago it was one of the WWE pay-per-views and there were a lot of rumours and speculation to whether Finn Balor was gonna debut and, I just tweeted a picture of myself at the swimming pool in Orlando and, people just said, 'You're lying it's not true, you're not there!' They didn't even believe an honest tweet! That was the point I realised 'OK, you might have taken this a little too far, it might be time to go back to keeping things simple on Twitter and Instagram for a little while'.

What would you think about potentially stepping into the ring with Conor McGregor at some point?

I'm a huge fan, obviously Conor's done incredible things for Ireland and for Irish sports especially, getting the media behind that. If Conor was... I'm not gonna make any wild statements here! I have no intentions of getting in a UFC cage at all! But we'd love to have Conor as part of the WWE Universe and if Conor wants to come down to NXT and enjoy the show I'm sure I could box off a few tickets for him.

Is life on the road as physically and mentally demanding as it was 15 years ago?

I think life on the road is very much a mind thing. If you just understand and tell yourself, 'this is what I've gotta do, I'm not gonna get much sleep, I'm not gonna get much time to myself but, this is what I gotta do to make it in what I wanna do', that's the sacrifice. The road is the hard part and the wrestling is the pleasure. It's like we're paying a penance to wrestle all over the world, the travel is the penance. But, for me now I kind of feel more at home when I'm in an airport or on an airplane than I do when I'm sitting in my own apartment. It's also very comforting for me to be on the road. Sure, there's not much sleep, there's stiff and sore bones from sitting on a plane all day, getting from town to town and trying to find good food, but for me I find solitude and almost enjoy the torture of being out there and knowing this is the sacrifice I make to be able to perform in front of people every night.

What is that buzz like when performing in front of people?

It's the absolute most euphoric experience that I can explain. For me all I ever wanted to be was a wrestling fan. I was the one who was cheering and shouting and having the banter, the craic, singing the songs, counting the '1' '2', now they're doing that for me when I'm performing.

I'll go to a different city every night and I still get nervous going, 'I wonder if these people know me?' As soon as the first note of your entrance music hits, you hear the roar of the people behind the curtain. I'm just blown away every night by the vast appeal and the reach that NXT and the WWE Universe has, no matter where we go. It's a really humbling experience and something that I never take for granted.

If you could choose one Finisher that wasn't yours that you could lay your name on, what would that be?

Well, I absolutely loved the Macho Man Top Rope Elbow. That's something that I wanted to do every day. I absolutely love the Stone Cold Stunner, I absolutely love the Rock Bottom, but I think if I could have done any Finisher in history, I think Seth Rollins beat me to stealing the Pedigree from Triple H before I got an opportunity to. That would be the one.

NXT will be heading to the UK & Ireland this June on the following dates: