More Details on Finn Balor's Jaw Injury, His NXT Championship Status

Finn Balor took to social media on Wednesday afternoon to reveal that he broke his jaw in two places during his NXT Championship match with Kyle O'Reilly at NXT TakeOver 31. WWE followed up with both O'Reilly and Balor on this week's NXT, though the latter made no indication that he would be forced to relinquish the championship as a result of the injury. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter then spoke on the situation on Wrestling Observer Radio, saying that while he wasn't sure on the timetable for Balor's return he did not that the injury wasn't as serious as it might seem.

"I was told that it was made out to be worse than it is, whatever that means," Meltzer said. "I was told that by somebody there... I mean he's got a broken jaw, but that's what I was told."

NXT has been bit by the injury bug a few times in the last couple of months, most noticeably when Karrion Kross was forced to relinquish the NXT title just four days after he won it due to a separated shoulder. Ridge Holland was the latest victim when he was stretchered out of the Capitol Wrestling Center following an apparent knee injury while trying to catch Oney Lorcan when he dove out of the ring.

During a recent interview with Metro, Balor reflected on his decision to move back to NXT in October 2019.

"I feel like returning to NXT 11 months ago was definitely the right move for me," Balor said. :A lot of people questioned it, questioned my reason or my logic behind it. For me it was something that- I wanted to challenge myself in the ring, and it felt like on Raw & Smackdown I'd put it into cruise control and was just coasting along. I wanted that fresh challenge against fresh faces, people I wasn't used to wrestling with."

In the same interview, Balor addressed his Demon gimmick and why he hasn't used it since returning to television as "The Prince."

"I feel like when I made the transition to Raw and SmackDown, the working environment there — the way things happen so fast and the way TV is produced so fast — that character wasn't really designed for that environment," Balor said. "I feel like we should have handled it better. I should have handled it better in the sense that I should have been the one to put my foot down and say, 'Nah I don't think we should do this. I think the return to NXT has helped me protect not only Finn and the Prince, but my own integrity and also the Demon.'"

We'll continue to update you on Balor's status as more information becomes available.