Finn Bálor Reveals He Was Negotiating A 10-Year Deal With NJPW Before Joining WWE

Finn Bálor wanted to sign with NJPW for 10 years.

Before moving to WWE in 2014, Finn Bálor was one of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest stars. Wrestling in the junior division, he became a three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, with his legacy also tied to the formation of the Bullet Club. While interest in the former Prince Devitt was understandably high throughout his NJPW career, the star has now revealed he would’ve been happy to stay with the promotion for the rest of his career if they’d have been able to tie him down to a lengthy deal.

Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Finn Bálor revealed he was trying to negotiate a 10-year contract with NJPW before he went to WWE.

“WWE had came knocking a couple times, and I’d always kind of kicked it back, because I was very happy in New Japan, wanted to do my whole career there, and I was trying to negotiate a 10-year contract, and there was an issue. This was when I was 34; I was trying to negotiate a 10-year contract to stay there for the rest of my life. Then there was an issue, because New Japan was owned by another company, and that contract only lasted for four years, so they could only give me a four-year contract. I’d been there like eight years, and I’d seen how when guys got to like their mid to late 30s, they kind of phased them out. I thought, well, this will get me to my mid to late 30s, and I’ll be phased out, and I want to wrestle longer than that. I’m 34 and this is 12 years ago in WWE, where the roster was a lot younger, they were signing much younger guys, and I thought, oh, this could be my last opportunity, so that’s kind of the mindset I had. I was talking with my dad about the decision: should I roll the dice in WWE, or should I stay in New Japan? I’ll never forget my dad said, ‘Son, you grew up watching WWF, that was your dream, you’re in Japan, you’re doing great, you’ve done it for eight years, but roll the dice.’ I’m glad I did.”

-Finn Bálor

Now over a decade into his WWE career, Finn Bálor is a Grand Slam Champion. Notably, the 44-year-old was the first Universal Champion, although he famously had to vacate the title due to injury just a day after he etched his name into the history books at SummerSlam 2016.

Having been part of The Judgment Day from 2022, Bálor was officially kicked out of the group back in March, most recently competing in the opening round of the 2026 King Of The Ring.

In another recent interview, Bálor opened up on the difficulty he faced when cutting a prolonging the early days of his WWE career. You can read more about that here.

As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Finn Bálor as soon as we hear more.