Current WWE Superstar knew he had to step up after wrestling Roman Reigns
Finn Balor says he learned a lot from Roman Reigns’ in-ring style when they first worked together on WWE RAW.
Balor defeated Reigns on the July 25, 2016 episode of RAW to become the number one contender for the newly introduced Universal Championship. The Irishman previously made his name in NXT and NJPW, and he had never competed on RAW before that night.
In an interview on Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast, Balor admitted that he had to step up after witnessing Reigns’ impressive performance:
“I had an ‘aha’ moment on my very first debut on RAW against Roman in the main event of RAW," said Balor. "When we locked up, and the way he moved and the way he wrestled and the way he paced himself, that was like an ‘aha’ moment for me to say, ‘Ah, this is what you need to be doing. This is the level you need to be at.’”
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Balor defeated Cesaro, Kevin Owens, and Rusev in a Fatal 4-Way match to earn his main event against Reigns. After overcoming The Big Dog, he beat Seth Rollins at SummerSlam 2016 to win the Universal Championship.
Due to a shoulder injury, Balor’s reign lasted just one day and he was forced to miss eight months of in-ring action after he relinquished the title.
Finn Balor learned from The Miz, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins
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Since moving to WWE’s main roster from NXT in 2016, Finn Balor has also competed in several matches with The Miz and Seth Rollins. The three men opened the show at WrestleMania 34 in 2018, with Rollins picking up the victory to capture The Miz’s Intercontinental Championship.
Along with Roman Reigns, Balor added that his WrestleMania 34 opponents have also taught him a lot about WWE’s main-roster style:
“Over whatever it’s been, five or six years since that moment [facing Reigns], I’ve gradually started to learn from guys like Seth, Roman, Miz, all these guys I’ve been in there with before, and apply it to myself and try to tinker with it because what works for Roman doesn’t work for me and what works for me doesn’t necessarily work for Roman," Balor added.
On this week’s episode of RAW, Balor defeated Damian Priest to win the United States Championship for the first time in his career.
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