Career
After his training with NWA UK Hammerlock, Finn Balor debuted at the age of 18 in 2000. Thereafter, he won the NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship.
On October 8, 2005, Devitt defeated Dru Onyx at NWA 57th Anniversary Show. In late 2005, he also competed for Millennium Wrestling Federation (MWF), and debuted in a match on November 5 against Eddie Edwards and John Walters.
In 2006, he lost the British Commonwealth Championship to Karl Anderson. In June 2007, he participated in the Reclaiming the Glory tournament for NWA. In the first round, he defeated Mikey Nicholls, but lost in the second round to Bryan Danielson.
In March 2006, he signed a contract with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The next month, he debuted against El Samurai. In the same year, he teamed up with Control Terrorism Unit (CTU), but his relationship with his teammates was not cordial, so he was given a warning. To mend his ways, he teamed with CTU leader Jushin Thunder Liger against Wataru Inoue and Ryusuke Taguchi.
At the Super Juniors tournament in June 2007, he scored nil and was eliminated from the competition, and from CTU. In August, he and his friend Minoru joined RISE stable, and formed a tag team ‘Prince Prince’. In January 2008, ‘Prince Prince’ won IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but lost the championship to Akira and Jushin Thunder Liger in February, and regained it in July. But in October, they lost it to ‘No Limit’.
Finn Balor and Ryusuke Taguchi formed a tag team ‘Apollo 55’, and held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship four times, and successfully defended it seven times. The team won the annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Balor also gained several single achievements, holding the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship three times.
On July 5, 2009, Apollo 55 defeated ‘The Motor City Machine Guns’ to win IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. In May, Balor alone entered the Best of the Super Juniors tournament and advanced to the semifinals, but in the finals he lost to Koji Kanemoto.
On January 4, 2010, Apollo 55 defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Averno and Último Guerrero. In April, they lost the title. In May, Balor won the 2010 Best of the Super Juniors tournament and claimed the championship.
In June 2010, he defeated Marufuji to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for the first time. In July, Apollo 55 defeated Koji Kanemoto and El Samurai, and won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the second time.
Continue Reading Below
In December 2010, Finn Balor defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Davey Richards, and in January 2011, he once again defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Kota Ibushi.
In 2011, Apollo 55 regained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, which made Balor a double IWGP champion for the second time. He continued to defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship successfully, till May 2011. But in in June, he lost the championship to Kota Ibushi.
After gaining and losing the championship several times over 2011 and 2012, on April 5, 2013, he defeated Alex Shelley for his third successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. However, after two days, Apollo 55 unsuccessfully challenged Time Splitters for IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, and lost the championship. Following this, Balor ended the partnership with Taguchi.
Finn Balor formed ‘Bullet Club’ in May 2013, with American wrestler Karl Anderson and Tongan wrestlers Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale. The first match took place in May 2013, where Balor and Fale defeated Taguchi and Captain New Japan.
In May 2013, Balor also won the Best of the Super Juniors. In June, he won his second Best of the Super Juniors. He became the first wrestler to hold IWGP Junior Heavyweight and IWGP Heavyweight Championships simultaneously.
At the end of 2013, ‘Bullet Club’ held both IWGP Junior Heavyweight and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. They also won three out of five NJPW annual tournaments. The club marked a major change in Balor’s career as he began to eventually move out of the junior heavyweight division and enter IWGP Heavyweight Championship tournaments.
In April 2014, Balor got into an argument with his teammates during a fight, and eventually ended his association with ‘Bullet Club’, and resigned from NJPW.
On May 15, 2014, he signed with WWE, and joined NXT. He debuted on October 23, with Itami and defeated Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel. He entered NXT Championship No. 1 contender's tournament and won it after winning three matches. But he could not win the title match against Kevin Owens.
Later on, he defeated Owens and won the NXT title. At NXT TakeOver: London, he defeated Joe and retained the title. In April, he retained the NXT Championship after defeating Joe. On April 17, he became the longest reigning NXT Champion in history. However, on April 21, he lost the NXT Championship to Joe after 292 days.
Continue Reading Below
He was drafted to Raw in July 2014. He debuted for the brand on the July 25 episode, and won the right to compete for the WWE Universal Championship by first defeating Cesaro, Rusev, and Kevin Owens in the Fatal 4-way match, and then by defeating Roman Reigns. Bálor then defeated Seth Rollins at SummerSlam and became the WWE Universal Champion, winning his first world title.
On 22 February 2017, he returned to NXT to assist Shinsuke Nakamura. On March 10, he made his in-ring return in a six-man tag team match, teaming with Sami Zayn and Chris Jericho, successfully defeating his rival team comprising Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and Triple H. He also returned to WrestleMania 33 on the April 3 episode of Raw.
