This past Tuesday night, The Judgement Day once against helped WWE NXT viewership hit new heights. The main event saw Dominik Mysterio, along with Rhea Ripley, successfully defend his NXT North American Championship against Dragon Lee. Fresh off his loss to Seth Rollins at WWE SummerSlam, and another in six-man action on Raw, Finn Balor was nowhere to be seen on WWE NXT this week, nor was Damian Priest, for that matter.
Despite only half the faction making an appearance, The Judgment Day has become a staple on Tuesday nights. Just a month ago, Balor and Priest were teaming together to take on WWE NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams. In an exclusive Haus of Wrestling interview from WWE SummerSlam weekend, I asked Balor, who is a former WWE NXT Champion, how it has been returning to the yellow and black brand after finding so much success on the main roster.
“I’ve made it very clear to people in the past that I have a huge, soft spot for NXT,” he said. “I love being a part of the brand, and any opportunity that I have to be involved in the brand, I will jump at it. Working with Matt Bloom and Shawn Michaels has always been a pleasant experience. Matt Bloom is someone who has helped me in my career and doesn’t get enough credit for it. So, thank you, Matt.”
Matt Bloom may be more well-known to WWE fans as A-Train, or Prince Albert. After parting ways with WWE in 2006, Bloom began wrestling for New Japan Pro-Wrestling under the name Giant Bernard, including an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match against Brock Lesnar. It was also in 2006 that he met a young Balor, who had just begun competing for NJPW under the name Prince Devitt. The two hit it off and even went on to wrestle a few dozen matches as a tag team.
After returning to WWE in 2012 for a two-year run as Tensai, Bloom assumed the role of trainer at the WWE Performance Center. That was also the same year Balor signed with WWE, something Bloom pushed for. In 2015, Bloom was promoted to Head Trainer of the WWE Performance Center.
“It’s always fun going back down there, and if the chances continue to come, I will keep jumping on them,” Balor continued saying about NXT. “Because I think we had a really fun match down there with Trick and Melo a couple of weeks ago. Two guys who are really starting to stand out and come into their own that have a big future. I’d love to get to work with some more of the talent down there.”
My full interview with Finn Balor is available on Premier Streaming Network, the Haus of Wrestling YouTube channel, and the Haus of Wrestling podcast feed.
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