Finn Balor has long discussed the shoulder injury that derailed his first Universal Championship reign, but in a new interview, he revealed the moment when Seth Rollins refused his plea to change the match finish.
That decision, Balor says, may have cost him years of career momentum.
Speaking on the Insight Podcast with Chris Van Vliet, Balor detailed how the two improvised on the fly after his shoulder popped out mid-match. The pair changed and edited spots throughout the bout, but the ending was left untouched at Rollins’ insistence.
Balor explained that the injury flared repeatedly during the match, coming out any time he lifted his arm to hit the ropes. He credited Rollins as a professional who let the two communicate and call the match as they went.
No pain, but I knew there was a big issue, and it actually came out like three more times in the match, because any time I lifted my arm to hit the ropes, it came out,” Balor said.
I was very lucky to be in there with Seth when it happened, because Seth is an absolute pro, and we were able to communicate, and I was able to tell him, hey, I’m hurt, so we were kind of calling the match on the fly and editing spots and changing spots and talking the whole time, so the match that we’d done wasn’t actually the match that we’d laid out.
Balor Wonders What Switching The Finish Would Have Meant
The pivotal exchange came outside the ring, when Balor rolled Rollins back inside and floated the idea of changing the outcome.
I must give Seth credit, because there was a point, we were outside the ring and I was rolling him back into the ring, and I said, ‘Dude, I’m hurt. I don’t think I’m gonna be wrestling for a while. Do you want to switch to finish?’ And he said, ‘No, stick to the plan.’ I just rolled him back in, and we stuck to the plan,” Balor recalled.
I often wonder what that would have done for my career if we had switched the finish.
Balor won the title but was forced to vacate it days later due to the injury, an outcome that has followed him in interviews ever since. He argued the lingering “what if” is only possible because of how it played out.
Well, we’re still talking about this 10 years later, right? Everywhere I go, every interview I do, I get the question, ‘Hey, what would have happened if you hadn’t got injured because you were the champ?’ But if I’d got injured and lost and just went away for nine months, there’d be no like sympathy from the fans, there’d be no what ifs,” Balor said.
Balor has previously reflected on the toll injuries have taken across his career, including the scariest wrestling injury he has ever suffered. He continues to compete on SmackDown after being traded to the brand following his time in The Judgment Day.
