Finn Balor: I Pitched Going To NXT UK In 2021, But They Needed To Renegotiate My Contract

Finn Balor finished up his second run with NXT in May when he lost the NXT Championship to Karrion Kross. 

Balor returned to the main roster in July, joining WWE SmackDown and starting a feud with WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. 

Speaking to Ryan Satin on Out of Character, Balor gave insight into his main roster return and why he didn’t end up going to NXT UK 

“I wasn’t super excited about the idea of returning to the main roster. I felt there was potential for me to perform in NXT UK and work with those guys and that was something I was super interested in. I pitched the idea to Hunter at the time and they were interested in it, but they were going to have to renegotiate my contract and all because of budget restrictions and it was just going to prove too difficult and maybe wasn’t a smart move career-wise at this age. I’ve become very aware of that and there might be a clock starting to tick right now. I’m more aware of that now than I was five years ago. I thought, ‘Well, I need to get on a good run on the main roster.’ They came up with the idea of coming back and working a program with Roman and you can’t turn that down. It was a no-brainer. We started off hot, kind of dipped down a little bit, and I feel it’s starting to warm up a little bit again. I’m excited,” he said.

It wasn’t clear if Balor signed a new WWE deal at the time or if his deal would need to be reworked due to the brand switch. 

Balor is currently aligned with The Judgment Day (Damian Priest & Rhea Ripley) in their battle against The Mysterios (Rey & Dominik Mysterio) & Edge. 

NXT UK is set to go on hiatus following NXT Worlds Collide on September 4. The brand will return as NXT Europe in 2023. 

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