Finn Balor thinks that his return to NXT in 2019 was a good way to hit the refresh button on his wrestling persona and himself. Balor spoke with Steven Muehlhausen DAZN prior to his title match on SmackDown and was asked if a return to the black and gold brand felt like a return to the Balor of old.
“That’s very accurate,” Finn said. “I can hold my hands up guilty as charged with trying to please too many people and not please myself. In WWE or working for a machine, whether it’s the media department who I’m talking to right now, whether it’s the merchandise department, whether it’s the talent relations department, there’s all these different people that you need to please. I feel like I was guilty of trying to please too many people and not pleasing myself. So when I took two months off after the SmackDown run in 2019, I really reset and refocused and analyzed what had happened over the last four years because I’ve never really had a moment to sit down and analyze what had happened. I went from being Prince Devitt in Japan and doing whatever I wanted to transferring to this corporate machine of WWE and trying to adapt as best I could and keep as many people as possible happy, but in the process, diluting what was the reason that got me there in the first place. I really wanted to go back to being true to myself and please myself, first and foremost, and hopefully that the rest will fall into place. I feel like that second run in NXT really helped me recalibrate my character, myself, and my confidence in my own ability and my own choices in the ring. I think it’s left me in a much better place than I was two years ago.”
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