If you feel like going back to the days when you were 12 years old and getting up early on a Saturday morning to watch some WWE action, this Saturday you may get to witness something historic from an Irish perspective.
Balls.ie has been an advocate of Finn Balor since before he was signed to WWE, and on Saturday morning he headlines a huge Japanese card featuring box office names such as Brock Lesnar as he challenges for (and is expected to win) Kevin Owens' NXT Championship. But who is Finn Balor? For those of you late to the party, never fear, because we'll now provide a blagger's guide.
Born and raised in Bray, Fergal Devitt tried playing football and GAA before committing to his long-standing passion of pro-wrestling. We profiled his rise to stardom on the Irish scene in this piece.
Devitt quickly rose to the top of the class in Ireland and decided to progress to Japan, where he was re-christened, 'Prince Devitt' (as the Japanese struggled to pronounce the word Fergal). After training as a 'young boy' in the New Japan Wrestling Dojo, he would go onto become a household name by wrestling classic matches against the likes of Pac (who now wrestles in WWE under the name Neville) like this...
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrkluv_09-prince-devitt-vs-pac-njpw-06-06-12_sport
Somehow, from the streets of Bray, Devitt was a superstar, selling out arenas in Japan regularly. As the founder of the now-iconic Japanese stable, 'Bullet Club', he became a 3-time NJPW Junior Heavyweight Champion and was widely tipped to become the first-ever person to simultaneously hold the New Japan Junior Heavyweight and Heavyweight Championship belts, before dramatically announcing his departure from the company amid rumours of WWE being interested in acquiring his services. Devitt's last days in Japan were profiled in RTE documentary 'Smack Em Up', which aired last December.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ktj6l_fergal-devitt-smack-em-up-reality-bites_sport
In the early months of 2015, Devitt continued to re-invent himself while going back to his roots and working regular dates on the UK and Ireland scene. He evolved the body painted 'Demon' look he would later bring to WWE by coming out each week in a variety of custom-made costumes paying tribute to the likes of Heath Ledger's Joker and Freddie Krueger (below) that went instantly viral.
Rumours were rife about his WWE signing, but Devitt remained coy on the speculation, directly acknowledging it but stopping short of revealing all in a fascinating 2-part interview on Balls.ie's official WWE podcast, 'Low Blows'.
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In July of last year, though, the rumours were confirmed when WWE announced the blockbuster signing of Devitt. Re-named Finn Balor (an amalgamation of Finn McCool and Irish folklore god, Balor), the worries of those who felt WWE would fail to grasp his transcendent talent were soon proved to be unfounded as he debuted in the company's developmental territory, NXT, with a main event feel and possibly the coolest WWE entrance since the legendary Undertaker.
Balor was a sensation in NXT and, for months, his call-up to the main roster has been rumoured on an almost-weekly basis. WWE have bided their time with him thus far, though profiles like the below one signify that they have high hopes for his future as a potential WWE Champion.
This all brings us to this Saturday morning and his return to Japan for the first time under his WWE guise. Not only will this be a homecoming of sorts in front of the Tokyo Dome crowd, this will be unquestionably the Bray native's biggest match to date, as he main events one of WWE's (not just NXT's) biggest cards of 2015, a show so notable that WWE have brought back Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho to appear on the show and also opted to air it as a live special on the WWE Network.
Balor challenges reigning NXT Champion, Kevin Owens, to get a taste of his first WWE gold. Given that Owens has now been called up to the main WWE roster and is embroiled in a feud with company stalwart, John Cena, Balor is an odds-on favourite to win.
Regardless of the result, though, Saturday promises to be a groundbreaking moment in his already-stellar career as he continues his rapid rise to the top. If you're a Balor fan, if you're a lapsed wrestling fan looking for a reason to get back into the sport, or even if you've just been interested enough in this article to get to this stage, then this is must-see. It airs on the WWE Network (which is free for the month of July to new subscribers) and will kick off at 10.30am.
