Ex-WWE Champion: “I Went Blind”
A former WWE champion has made a huge revelation.
Finn Balor has been with the WWE for several years. He started his run in NXT, where he reigned as the brand’s top champion. After delivering impressive performances on the black and silver brand, Balor was called up to the main roster.
Shortly after making it to the main roster, Finn Balor made history by becoming the first-ever Universal Champion. However, he sustained a shoulder injury during the match and had to relinquish the title the following night. Since then, he has never been able to win back the World Title despite multiple failed attempts. Although his shoulder injury sidelined him for months, it is far from the scariest thing that has happened to him in wrestling.
WWE star Finn Balor went blind after his match in Saudi Arabia
During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Finn Balor recalled an incident that took place before his match against Andrade in Saudi Arabia. The person who was applying Balor’s Demon facepaint couldn’t use the normal paint because it contained alcohol in it. Therefore, she decided to use hairspray to let it set a bit more.
“The next couple of days. I’ve never told this story before, either. We did the Demon in Saudi Arabia. I wrestled Andrade, and we’ve promoted the match, we fly to Saudi. I’m getting painted, this paint doesn’t feel like the normal paint. What’s going on? I asked the girl that was doing it at the time, I said, ‘Is this the normal paint? It doesn’t feel right.’ She goes, ‘Oh no. They told me I couldn’t bring the normal paint because it has alcohol in it. Alcohol is not legal here.’ I said, ‘Did anyone not think of telling me because I’m the one that has to wrestle in this?’ She goes, ‘Oh no, but I have a solution.’ What’s the solution? ‘Well, if we use hairspray all over you, it kind of sets it a little bit more.’ Okay, well, you’re an expert. So they paint me, they cover me in hairspray. It’s also Saudi Arabia outdoors, so it’s like 100 degrees.”
After Balor’s match was done, he was watching the Goldberg vs. The Undertaker match backstage and felt something was wrong. He said that the hairspray ran into his eyes and burnt his retinas. This turned him blind, and he had to be carried onto WWE’s charter flight.
“So pretty much by the time I’ve gotten to the ring, it’s starting to come off. So then we do the match, it’s a physical match, we’re sweating like crazy. I start as The Demon, I end as Finn in the match. No problem. So we get through the match, no injuries, fantastic, that’s all I’m happy about. Later on in the show was Undertaker Goldberg, and I’m watching a match backstage, in a hallway. I’m like looking at the screen, and I’m like, did something hit a smoke machine in here, it felt like it was being smoked up on the entrance. But it wasn’t, it was just my eyes, because what had happened was the hairspray had ran into my eyes and burnt my retinas. I went blind; I was essentially blind where I had to be linked by the guys, brought out of the building, linked by the guys, just carried up the steps onto the charter. I couldn’t see on the flight.”
The WWE star continued to say that when the plane landed in Germany to refuel, the doctor had to leave the plane to get some special medicine to heal his eyes. His eyes started to unblur when he landed in San Francisco. Balor called it the scariest thing that has ever happened to him in wrestling.
“We landed in Germany to refuel the plane. The doc had to leave the plane, go to a chemist, get some special medicine to heal my eyes. Then we flew when we landed in San Francisco, like 15 hours later, and it was just starting to unblur. But I guess all that hairspray had irritated my iris so much that I couldn’t see. That was probably the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me in wrestling.” [H/T Chrisvanvliet.com]
It’s good that Finn Balor was able to recover his eyesight without any major damage.
Also read: Finn Balor Makes Huge WWE Confession: “I Don’t Like Seeing It”
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