Finn Balor recently opened up about the specific circumstances that killed what could have been a landmark collision between The Demon and Bray Wyatt’s The Fiend, a match he still views as one of the few dream encounters that slipped away.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on the Insight Podcast, Balor detailed how illness derailed the planned bout in 2017. WWE had been building toward a Sister Abigail versus Demon match for TLC that year before Wyatt was pulled from the card.
Bálor explained that the encounter had been in development and remains one of the rare matches on his wish list that never came together.
Yeah, I think that was certainly in the works, and something that I always think about and look back on and say, I’ve been very lucky to have had almost every match that I’ve ever wanted to have. But that’s one that I didn’t get to have, and we almost got Sister Abigail versus the Demon, and Wyndham had gotten sick a couple of days before we had to switch that match out at short notice,” Bálor said.
With Wyatt off the show, WWE flew in AJ Styles from SmackDown to face Balor in a cross-brand match at TLC 2017. Balor called it his first-ever match with Styles and praised the veteran’s approach in the ring.
Bálor’s Admiration For AJ Styles
Bálor described Styles as someone he has looked up to throughout his career, drawing a contrast with how he views other top names in the company.
AJ is someone who I’ve looked up to my whole career, someone who I’ve admired,” Balor said.
You can kind of look up to people, but not really relate to them, like, you know, I’ve always looked up to John Cena as the pinnacle of being like a WWE superstar, but I don’t really relate to him, in the sense of our journeys have been slightly different, the way we work is different.
But AJ, I feel like we’re very, very similar. I was just like a couple years behind them, so someone who I’ve always like admired and aspired to be like. So getting to go in the ring with AJ that night was absolutely amazing.
Balor previously touched on the Demon versus Fiend near-miss when discussing the scariest injury of his wrestling career, but his comments to Van Vliet expand on exactly how the match fell apart.
The Demon and The Fiend never shared the ring in WWE. Wyatt, real name Windham Rotunda, passed in August 2023, permanently closing the door on the feud the two had hoped to have.
Bálor remains an active WWE performer and has used the Demon persona only selectively in recent years. He previously brought the character back for WrestleMania 42.
