Finn Balor has praised Samoa Joe for bringing out the best in him during their lengthy WWE NXT rivalry.
Between December 2015 and June 2016, Balor and Joe main-evented three consecutive NXT TakeOver events. The two men also fought at dozens of NXT live events during that time.
Speaking on Ryan Satin’s Out of Character podcast, Balor reflected on his first NXT Championship reign in 2015-16. He also revealed how Joe helped him improve as an in-ring performer.
“Someone I can’t not mention is Samoa Joe, who I really feel like brought the best out of Finn Balor in the sense that I was a technical wrestler, considered smooth, have a match a certain way,” he said. “But Joe taught me to have a match in a different way. It was more like a battle or a fight or a scrap. That really helped elevate Finn to the next level, in my opinion, those battles with Joe.”
The final match of Finn Balor and Samoa Joe’s rivalry took place in June 2016 at NXT TakeOver: The End. Joe defeated Balor in a Steel Cage match to hand the Irishman his only defeat while performing as his alter-ego, The Demon.
Finn Balor’s favorite career moment came against Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe surprisingly won the NXT Championship from Finn Balor at an NXT live event in Lowell, Massachusetts in April 2016.
Balor said the moment was among the most memorable of his 21-year career in the wrestling business.
“I’ve gone on record before and said the favorite, most memorable moment of my career was losing the title to Joe on that house show in Lowell, Massachusetts,” Balor added. “I remember just laying on the mat and the crowd were completely blown away. Someone I’d wrestled pretty much every night for a year straight, Samoa Joe, got his hand raised. I'm laying there watching and it was such a cool moment to share that with Joe and to experience it as a fan.”
Finn Balor’s loss to NXT Champion Karrion Kross on this week’s NXT has prompted speculation that he could return to RAW or SmackDown. The Irishman recently confirmed that he is interested in performing on WWE’s main roster again one day.
By contrast, Samoa Joe's future in wrestling remains uncertain. He received his release from WWE in April after working as a commentator for the majority of the last 17 months.