Finn Balor Speaks on Why He Joined NXT, Being Burnt Out on the Main Roster, Trying to Find Himself Again

Finn Balor was recently brought on as a guest of the State of Combat Podcast to discuss why he recently returned to WWE NXT.

“Everybody keeps talking about the return to NXT but really it wasn’t a return to NXT, it was just a return to being me. Obviously there’s a lot of factors that played a part in this move. I took some time away, re-evaluated myself, re-evaluated my career, re-evaluated my goals, took a hard look at myself, realized that I wasn’t being true to who I was, and realized that it was time to start being real. It’s easy to kind of get caught up in the WWE bubble of what they want you to be, what is expected of you, but I just got kind of tired of playing ball. I want to be me, and The Prince is back.”

Balor then went on to discuss how dysfunctional and frustrating working for WWE can be.

“Anyone who knows anything about WWE realizes that nobody knows who’s in control, nobody knows who’s got the answers, nobody knows who’s making the decisions, nobody knows if you’re booked on Monday night, or if you’re booked on, now, Friday night, or if you’re booked on Wednesday night, or if you’re on the house shows, or if you’re on the overseas loop, nobody knows anything until it happens.”

Balor went on to explain that there was no master plan for him to return to NXT after his hiatus.

“So no, there was no plan, no laid out proposal that. Hey, Finn’s going to go away and in two months, he’s going to come back with a new character.’ There was nothing.”

Finally, Balor went on to explain how he was just feeling burnt out and wanted to go back to who he really was.

“Dude, I need some time off, I’ve had enough, enough is enough.’ I wrestled 172 matches last year, that equates to almost 300 days on the road, and enough was enough. So I grinded my ass off for five years, and I was, I’m done, I had enough right now. I’m a human, I want to go back to being me. I’ve done everything that you’ve asked me to do. I went out there with a smile on my face. I raised my arms when the lights came on. I’ve done all your interviews, I’ve done all the media, I got up, I travelled all over the world, and now, I just need a little time for myself to re-evaluate exactly what I want because I’m done doing what you guys want, I just want to do what I want to do.”

Thanks to 411Mania for the transcript of the quotes.

Matt’s Musings: In this interview Balor gives us a good glimpse of what the life of a typical WWE Superstar looks like on a daily basis. Fame and fortune and the opportunity to live your dream does not come without a cost. Hopefully, returning to NXT will help Balor find his love for professional wrestling again, that he seemed to have been lost through the daily grind of being a WWE superstar.