Finn Balor’s ongoing second run with NXT has become the highlight of his WWE career. The former Universal Champion returned to the Black & Gold Brand back in October 2019 when the show made the jump to the USA Network, and while his stint was only supposed to last a few months he’s been a pillar of the brand ever since. Rebranding himself as “The Prince,” Balor brought a newfound intensity to his matches, resulting in outstanding clashes with the likes of Johnny Gargano and Damian Priest. He captured the NXT Championship for the second time in September 2020 and had Match of the Year contenders with Kyle O’Reilly (twice) and Pete Dunne before dropping the title to Karrion Kross at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver last month.
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Balor and Kross have their rematch booked for this week’s NXT. But in a new interview with Ryan Satin on the Out of Character Podcast, Balor confirmed that he has every intention of eventually making his way back to either the Monday Night Raw or Friday Night SmackDown brand.
“I grew up as a wrestling fan watching WWE, and that’s essentially where I want to be performing,” Balor said. “I feel like in my last run there I wasn’t doing myself justice and needed to change something. The change was NXT and I needed to figure out who I was again, and I managed to do that to some level, and I am definitely hopeful that a return to Raw or SmackDown will happen in the future.”
Balor also admitted in the interview that he struggled mightily on the main roster after returning from the torn labrum he suffered in 2016. That injury forced him to relinquish the Universal Championship one day after winning it, and the Irish star never managed to regain his momentum as he was stuck in the midcard.
The former champ also mentioned in the interview that he felt there was still some life left in his “Demon” persona, which he hasn’t used since returning to NXT. He was asked about using it against Kross for their first match, but Balor told ITN Sports that he felt it would be “a step back” for his character.
“As soon as Karrion Kross came to NXT, people kinda had this idea of a dream scenario of Karrion Kross versus The Demon,” Balor said. “The Batte of the two entrances, and the battle of the two darker characters. But for me, in this moment of my career, I feel like The Demon would be a step back. I feel like right now with my ring work as the Prince, I feel very comfortable. I feel very controlled. And I feel that’s the direction I have to go at TakeOver.”
