Finn Balor on origins of his ring name and its meaning
Finn Balor (real name Fergal Devitt) has had an extremely impactful run on the main roster, and it has been less than a month since he arrived. His debut was perhaps the most long-awaited NXT call up since NXT’s inception. In less than a month, he has become the champion of Raw, and arguably the face of the Monday Night Raw brand as well. Balor spent nearly 2 years in NXT before finally getting the call-up. In his time down at the developmental brand, he achieved the accolade of being the longest reigning NXT champion in history, with a reign of 292 days, before being dethroned by Samoa Joe at the end of April.
Balor was famously known as Prince Devitt in New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he made his name being there for several years. He was most famously the co-founder and leader of The Bullet Club along with “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson. He came to WWE in 2014, where he was signed to NXT. Here, along with Kenta(Hideo Itami), he had to change his name for trademark purposes. WWE love having the trademark on names, for merchandising and other purposes. Had he come just a year later, he would definitely have been allowed to keep his name, as would Kenta, as NXT and WWE had started the trend of allowing established wrestlers from outside keep their ring names(as seen with Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode, AJ Styles and Karl Anderson).
The name Finn Balor is very intriguing, because it has deep roots in Irish mythology, which belongs to Finn’s homeland of Ireland. Finn McCool is a mythical Irish hunter and warrior who is well-known within Ireland. He is a folklore legend, which would tie in as a reason for inspiration for Devitt. In traditional Irish mythology, ‘Balor’ ( modern spelling: Balar) was king of the Fomorians, a group of supernatural beings. He is often described as a giant with a large eye in his forehead that wreaks destruction when opened. He has been interpreted as a god or personification of drought and blight.
Balor took to twitter himself a couple of years back to give a brief explanation on his name
Finn has risen... Everything is done for a reason. Finn McCool meets Balor. #FinnBálor @WWENXT pic.twitter.com/4X2MgrTwN9
— Finn Bálor (@FinnBalor) September 26, 2014
This is just one of the many reasons that makes Finn so appealing and unique from other superstars. There is no doubt he will be one of the faces of WWE for the next few years to come.