“The Clock Is Ticking”: Finn Balor Admits He Can’t Retire Until He Fixes This One Regret
For wrestlers, retirement is often about riding off into the sunset after one last big moment. For Finn Balor, it’s about erasing a dark cloud that has followed him for a decade.
The Judgment Day leader recently opened up about a conversation he had with himself following the retirement of fellow veteran AJ Styles. Speaking with SHAK Wrestling ahead of his high-stakes match against CM Punk at the Elimination Chamber, Balor admitted that watching one of his peers hang up his boots forced him to take a hard look in the mirror.
While fans love to talk about “finishing the story,” Balor sees his own journey differently. He doesn’t just want a happy ending; he wants to hit the reset button on the entire narrative.
“Because I have this massive stain on my career from 10 years ago,” Balor confessed, referring to his infamous Universal Championship victory that ended in disaster just 24 hours later.
Fans with a good memory will recall the electric night in 2016 when Balor defeated Seth Rollins to become the very first Universal Champion. It was a fairy-tale debut. But the celebration was cut short when Balor suffered a real-life injury during the match, forcing him to vacate the title the very next day.
It’s a moment that has haunted the 44-year-old ever since. While he’s found success later with multiple championships and his role in The Judgment Day, Balor admits those wins have only been partial fixes for a wound that hasn’t fully healed.
Styles’ departure from the ring served as a wake-up call, reminding the former NJPW star that time isn’t on his side.
” AJ retiring kind of brought it to the forefront of my thoughts that like, ‘hey, the clock’s ticking’,” he said. “I need to fix this quick, or I’m gonna be retiring with that stain, and I don’t want to retire with that stain.”
For Balor, this isn’t just about adding another title to the resume. It’s about rewriting the final chapters of his WWE legacy so that when he finally walks away, the first thing fans remember isn’t the injury—but the redemption.
