Before Finn Balor was The Prince or even The Demon he wrestled in New Japan as Prince Devitt — “Prince” because his real first name, “Fergal,” was too hard for Japanese fans to pronounce, and they couldn’t justify crowning a fresh-faced junior heavyweight a “King.” During his eight years in the company he made a huge splash in the Junior Heavyweight division and even founded the Bullet Club before signing with WWE and debuting on NXT in 2014.
So what were his best matches in WWE, and what were his best in NJPW? We’ve got five of each to show off the best of Finn Balor and also Prince Devitt.
10 WWE: Adrian Neville Vs. Finn Balor (NXT TakeOver: Rival, 2/11/2015)
Prince Devitt and Pac had battled a few times before, including a match in the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament where the latter came out on top. They met again three years later in the finals of a #1 Contenders Tournament for the NXT Title for a TakeOver, and it’s exactly the kind of exciting match you’d hope these two Junior Heavyweights would have — especially because it was essentially Adrian Neville’s last big match for developmental.
9 NJPW: Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin Vs. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi (NJPW Circuit 2009 New Japan Soul, 7/5/2009)
Before Prince Devitt was the first leader of the Bullet Club, he was in a tag team with Ryusuke Taguchi called Apollo 55, and together they held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship four times. One of their best title bouts was against one of TNA’s best tag teams, Motor City Machine Guns, Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, which featured some crazy athletics spot, as you’d expect. Plus, if you’re only familiar with Taguchi’s later work, it’s worth checking out to see him wrestle a more fast-paced style — and to remind yourself how awesome MCMG were.
8 WWE: Finn Balor Vs. Kevin Owens (Beast In The East, 7/4/2015)
When Finn Balor won the NXT Championship for the first time, it was a special occasion. It was not only the first time the title changed hands outside of the country — and Winter Park, FL for that matter — but it happened in Japan, as a homecoming of sorts for the ex-NJPW star.
Given that the Beast in the East event was a glorified house show, the NXT title bout was a clear standout — the Neville/Jericho match being a close second — with a simple but effective story: Kevin Owens is the champ who’s disrespectful to everything he sees including Japanese wrestling customs, and Finn Balor is someone we want to give Kevin Owens a beating.
7 NJPW: Naomichi Marufuji Vs. Prince Devitt (Super J Cup 5th STAGE: Land Of Confusion Final, 12/23/2009)
The great thing about NJPW Junior Heavyweight tournaments is that there aren’t enough Juniors in NJPW, so they have to bring in outside talent to compete in it, making for some of the few major tournaments in pro wrestling that have a global, far reaching feel with Western indie stars, lucha guys, and outsider Japanese Juniors like Pro Wrestling Noah veteran ace Naomichi Marufuji, who took on the up and coming Prince Devitt in a Super J Cup tournament final that’s as hard hitting as it is athletic and stylish.
6 WWE: Finn Balor Vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (NXT, 7/13/2016)
The two only had one brief singles matchup together during their time in New Japan -- it was a bout in the annual New Japan Cup Tournament — so NXT devoting an entire TV episode to a match between Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura felt like a big deal. Finn and Nak work really well together, too, as both men are “performers” in their own way in addition to being hard-hitting wrestlers from NJPW.
5 NJPW: Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi Vs. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi (Destruction, 10/11/2010)
Dream match alert! Besides the joy of seeing all four guys before they were huge deals, this is just a ridiculously fun tag match from four of the best wrestlers in the world doing ridiculous junior heavyweight moves on one another and keeping the pace nice and fast. It’s bittersweet, however, as both the Golden Lovers and Apollo 55 ended in tragedy, as Omega and Ibushi would become star-crossed lovers working for different companies, and Devitt would betray Taguchi to form Bullet Club.
4 WWE: AJ Styles Vs. Finn Balor (TLC, 10/22/2017)
Originally, this TLC match was supposed to be between Finn Balor and Bray Wyatt, who’d been feuding, but Wyatt was pulled from the card for medical reasons. To make up for it, Wyatt was replaced with AJ Styles, which made for a much more hypeworthy match, as the two had never met in singles competition before, and their six-man tag match at Wrestle Kingdom II was long before the Bullet Club even existed.
The result was an expectedly athletic bout, and easily Finn Balor’s best match on the main roster. Plus, they Too Sweeted at the end! Very cute.
3 NJPW: Kota Ibushi Vs. Low Ki Vs. Prince Devitt (Wrestle Kingdom 7, 1/4/2013)
You just need to read who’s competing in this match to know that this Tokyo Dome three-way match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship is going to be crazy and possibly dangerous. Wrestling fans love to use the term “spotfest” pejoratively, but let’s call this a “spotfest” in the best way, where the high flying shenanigans get increasingly insane and the crowd goes nuts. Also, this is from the era when Low Ki was doing Hitman cosplay, so he wrestles the whole match in a suit, which rules.
2 WWE: Finn Balor Vs. Johnny Gargano (NXT TakeOver: Portland, 2/16/2020)
After six-years of being a squeaky clean good guy, Finn Balor finally reverted to something resembling his Real Rock ‘n’ Rolla Persona from his Bullet Club days, which really revitalized the character. He also had the perfect victim for his first major outing as a heel in Johnny Gargano, one of the top babyfaces of NXT, the promotion Balor helped put on the map. The awesomely brutal TakeOver match that ensued effectively re-established Balor as a threat.
1 NJPW: Kazuchika Okada Vs. Prince Devitt (Kizuna Road, 7/20/2013)
Prince Devitt spent most of his NJPW career in the Junior Heavyweight Division while Kazuchika Okada was in the Heavyweight main event scene, but in 2013, Junior Champ Devitt earned the opportunity challenge Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship after beating Hiroshi Tanahashi about a month earlier. Devitt and Okada would do an amazing job in a match that is chock full of Bullet Club shenanigans, and Devitt would leave NJPW less than a year later, so fans are lucky that Devitt got a singles match against one of the best in the world on his way out.