Finn Bálor
| Finn Bálor | |
|---|---|
Bálor as World Tag Team Champion in 2025 | |
| Birth name | Fergal Devitt |
| Born | 25 July 1981 Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland |
| Spouse |
Vero Rodríguez
(m. 2019) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring names |
|
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)[2] |
| Billed weight | 190 lb (86 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland[2] |
| Trained by |
|
| Debut | 23 November 2001[3] |
Fergal Devitt (born 25 July 1981) is an Irish professional wrestler. As of May 2014, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Finn Bálor (/ˈbælər/). He is a member of The Judgment Day stable and is one-half of the World Tag Team Champions alongside stablemate JD McDonagh in their second reign as a team and Bálor's fourth reign individually.
Devitt began his career in 2001, before becoming widely known for his tenure with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), under the ring name Prince Devitt. Within the promotion, he is a three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and six-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, having held the title twice with Minoru and four times with Ryusuke Taguchi.[4] He is also a two-time winner of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, having won in 2010 and 2013, as well as being a founding member and the original leader of the Bullet Club stable. Through NJPW's working relationship with Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Devitt also wrestled there, becoming a one-time NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion. He also wrestled for a number of independent promotions, becoming a one-time ICW Zero-G Champion, one-time RPW British Cruiserweight Champion and a two-time NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion.[5][4]
After signing with WWE's developmental system, NXT, and adopting his current ring name, Bálor won the NXT Championship, with his 292-day reign being the longest in the championship's history until March 2020.[6] Also during his time in NXT, Bálor became the first co-winner of the inaugural Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic with Samoa Joe. Shortly after arriving on the main roster, Bálor became the first wrestler in WWE history to win a world title in their pay-per-view debut,[7] the second ever Irish world champion in WWE (after Sheamus) as well as becoming the quickest wrestler in WWE history to win a world title at 27 days following his main roster debut by becoming the inaugural WWE Universal Champion at SummerSlam 2016.[8] Bálor is also a two-time Intercontinental Champion and a one-time United States Champion. Bálor became a Grand Slam Champion on September 2, 2023, at Payback, winning the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, and is an overall six-time Tag Team Champion in WWE.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
CTUFarewellwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
WWEwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Bálor, Finn (25 November 2021). "Nov. 23, 2001, I made my pro-wrestling debut. Thank you to everyone who helped me along the way. To everyone that cheered and boo'ed at the shows. To Hammerlock, NJPW, NXT, WWE and the Club. To all the men and women I work with. And to my family and wife for unwavering belief. Today, I ate cake". Retrieved 25 November 2021.
- ^ a b "Fergal Devitt – Bio". NWA Pro – Australia. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
OWOWwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "NXT Championship". WWE. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
- ^ "SummerSlam (2016) (Finn Bálor vs. Seth Rollins)". SummerSlam. 21 August 2016. 200 minutes in. WWE Network.
Finn Bálor becomes the first Superstar to ever win a world title in his debut match on a pay-per-view.
- ^ Laboon, Jeff. "Finn Bálor def. Seth Rollins". WWE. Retrieved 21 August 2016.