Former WWE Universal Champion Finn Balor made a surprise return to WWE television Wednesday night—on USA Network’s WWE NXT.
Balor appeared on the show to confront reigning NXT Champion Adam Cole and confirmed that he is back on the NXT brand, where he began his WWE career five years ago.
Balor, a former NXT Champion, graduated to WWE’s flagship Raw brand in 2016 and quickly became the first-ever Universal Champion.
“As of now, Finn Balor is NXT,” Balor said, crashing Cole’s victory lap after he successfully defended the NXT Championship against Matt Riddle.
Balor commented on his return to NXT on Twitter, writing: “Finn’s back. This is real.”
Balor’s return to the WWE NXT program follows its move from WWE Network to a primetime two-hour slot Wednesdays on USA. The show is going to head-to-head with start-up professional wrestling league All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on TNT in the 8 p.m. Wednesday time slot.
Finn Balor returns on WWE NXT
Balor’s return on NXT Wednesday night is his first appearance on WWE television in nearly two months. His last match was a losing effort to “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt at the SummerSlam pay-per-view event in early August.
Balor—real name Fergal Devitt—posted what appear to be wedding pictures on his Instagram account in late August.
Balor was interviewed by his partner for Fox Sports and asked which team he thought would win the game, Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur. The wrestler replied: “Well, I think the big question is, on everyone’s lip is, Finn Balor and Verorockstar are actually dating for a long time. Is that true?”
Rodriguez responded: “Is that true? Yeah, it’s for a long time, actually.”
“So, does it really matter who is winning the championship? You got to think that I’ve already won in life,” Balor then added.