The grappler is in London as part of World Wrestling Entertainment’s UK Live Tour, and he took time out of his schedule to speak exclusively to TheFA.com about his dream of performing in the ring at the National Stadium.
“To wrestle at Wembley would be incredible,” he said. “The stadium has changed a lot, and I’ve been there to watch England versus Egypt a couple of years ago when I was also in London to see Ireland play at the Emirates, and it was great.
“There’s a lot of buzz going around about getting Wrestlemania to Wembley, so if it happened it would be a real surreal experience.”
And when quizzed on which footballer would be his perfect tag-team partner in the ring, Balor did not hesitate a second.
“It would have to be Paul Gascoigne without a doubt,” he revealed. “I think he has the charisma to make it in the professional wrestling world, and he wasn’t afraid to get stuck in back in his day as well. He’d be my partner.”
The 33-year-old, real name Fergal Devitt, hails from County Wicklow in Ireland, but dreamed of playing for his Spurs – an affection that began in the early 90s.
Gazza would make a great tag-team partner says Balor
“When I was about ten years old it was the era of Gary Lineker and Paul Gascoigne, and we won The FA Cup in 1991. It was kind of the ‘Glory, Glory, Tottenham Hotspur’ era,” Balor explained.
“My uncle was a Spurs fan, which spurred my older brother and of course then me to support them.
“I went to see Spurs versus a Dublin team when I was kid for my first match, but I’ve only been to the Lane once, and that was two seasons ago with my dad.
“He is a United fan, so he did take me to Old Trafford to watch Spurs there a few years ago when it was the first game of the season.
“We got hockeyed! I used to have a soft spot for United, but after that day and being sat in the home support keeping my emotions at bay, that kind of put me off them!”
These days Balor throws opponents around the ring for a living, but it was not always that way.
“I used to play football as a kid and I had two positions. As a schoolboy I was playing a year above, so I was the smallest guy on our team and they stuck me up front.
“For the local school I also played in midfield as a bit of an axe-man.
“I could kinda slip in anywhere they wanted, but I was always a big football fan and played it all through school.
“When I got to 18, I could either pursue football and play part-time or go after my dream in pro wrestling. I was always a huge WWE fan growing up, so I thought that seeing as though I’d given soccer a try I’d give wrestling a try.
“The one thing I miss about football is the camaraderie and the team environment.“
So how does the feeling of scoring a goal compared with recording a win inside the ring?
Balor grew up supporting Tottenham
“It’s very similar. That adrenalin takes over you, but back in the day when I was scoring goals there wasn’t 17 or 18,000 people watching like at the wrestling. But a getting a win is a very similar feeling.”
Balor will be performing on Tuesday in London before continuing WWE’s tour of Europe by travelling to Poland and then Germany. Despite the busy schedule, he is thrilled to be back in the UK after a rapid rise over the past 12 months.
“It is exciting. The speed that it has come around in has taken me by surprise. It seems only yesterday that I was saying goodbye to a lot of my friends here last July, and then less than a year I’m back here with the WWE – so my return couldn’t be better.”
Despite being thousands of miles away on the over side of the Atlantic, Balor keeps updated on Spurs and English football through television.
But the Irishman will only be cheering for one side when his home country welcome the Three Lions to the Aviva Stadium on Sunday 7 June.
“I won’t be back for it, so I’ll be in the States. But it doesn’t matter about the time difference, I’m sure I’ll be waking up whatever hour it is to cheer on and support the boys in green.”
Watch Finn Balor in action at Extreme Rules on Sky Sports Box Office and WWE Network at 1am on Sunday 26th April.
