What did Finn Balor do before WWE?

Finn Balor, born in the land of Ireland, is a professional wrestler currently signed to WWE on the RAW brand. Balor has been with the promotion since 2014 and has worked on NXT, SmackDown, and RAW, including holding titles on each one of these brands.

Balor is known for being the first-ever superstar to hold the Universal Championship, although for less than a day. He has been working with the promotion for so long now that fans tend to forget he was once one of the biggest non-WWE guys in the world.

From his early days in the United Kingdom to his glory days in Japan, Balor had an eventful career before he decided to join the McMahon Company.

Finn Balor's Journey Prior to WWE

Finn Balor was born on July 25, 1981, in County Wicklow, Ireland. During his childhood, Balor loved watching WWF and had wanted to become a pro-wrestler like his idols Shawn Michaels, The British Bulldogs, Savio Vega, Mr. Perfect, Rick Rude, and Koko B.Ware.

He transitioned into wrestling at quite a young age and made his professional wrestling debut at the age of 20.

Starting years

Finn Balor did his early wrestling training at NWA UK Hammerlock and made his debut on November 23, 2001. He quickly became the NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion. He also worked as a trainer for NWA Ireland where he helped train future WrestleMania headliner Becky Lynch and NXT superstar Jordan Devlin.

He became prominent for his wrestling during the late run of his independent career and was invited by New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2006. During that time, he began training under Japan’s style of professional wrestling.

New Japan Pro Wrestling - Early Years

Balor signed a contract with NJPW in March 2006. He used to perform for the promotion under the ring name Prince Devitt. He teamed up with Minoru during the first few years of the promotion and also won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in 2008.

His next couple of years at the promotion were marked by various ups and downs including winning the tag titles one more time before losing the Best of Super Juniours tournament, Super J Tag Team tournament, and Super-J Cup.

In 2010, however, he managed to win the Best of Super Juniors tournament by defeating Kota Ibushi in the finals. He then went on to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career.

Following that his career was filled with winning and losing tag titles and other tournaments at NJPW before the formation of the iconic Bullet Club.

Bullet Club at NJPW

Prince Devitt and Fale joined hands with Karl Anderson and Tama Tonga in 2013 and formed a team known as The Bullet Club. Then, Devitt joined the Best of Super Juniors tournament and won the same with a clean sweep.

As the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, he vowed to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and hold the two titles together. He failed to beat Kazuchika Okada in a title match but defeated him at G1 Climax.

As the founder and leader of The Bullet Club, Devitt continued to be the Junior Heavyweight Champion for a total of fourteen months before losing it to Kota Ibushi at WrestleKingdom 2014. He contested the match with a full body and face paint. He would continue to use this in big matches in both NJPW and then WWE.

Devitt had a fallout with Bullet Club’s new member The Young Bucks in the later part of his NJPW career eventually leading to the latter’s turning on him. He had his last match against his former friend Taguchi, following which NJPW announced his departure.

The Bullet Club was then taken under the helm by AJ Styles, who led it until leaving the promotion for WWE in 2016.