Former WWE Universal Champion Finn Bálor was a recent guest on The Ross Report with WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross and spoke out on recent reports and comments from former stars that Seth Rollins is an unsafe worker.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On reports that Seth Rollins is an unsafe worker: “Well, people are entitled to their opinions, but as far as my opinion goes, I have been hurt a lot of time working and it’s never been with Seth Rollins. Obviously, if you work a lot, you are going to get hurt. Occasionally, this just happened coincidentally and I just so happened to be working with Seth, so as far as I’m concerned, Seth is one of, if not the best performer we have in this business. I feel that all the flack he gets is totally unwarranted. Any kind of slack he gets for being unsafe is really ridiculous.”
On how he feels right now: “I am finally feeling like myself for the first time in seven days, so the smile is back. Going through the scans, it showed that I had a pretty good Labrum tear. When they went into the scope, I guess the tear was at 180 degrees was bigger than they expected. Plus, there was some bicep issues, so there was actually some bones in there. They were kind enough to give me some of those broken bones in a jar, which I have on my mantle piece right now. It’s kind of a decoration.”
On how his surgery went: “This is the first time I’ve been to Alabama, I believe. The way WWE treated this situation has just blown me away honestly. I only found out on Monday that I was going to need surgery. I think by 9pm they set it up that I was going to be operated on the next day, so I had to check out of the hotel at 3am,. We had a 5am flight to Birmingham, Alabama, and we were at the hospital by…I want to say 9am.. to be prepped for the surgery. My hats off to WWE for doing a great job to make sure that I was going to get the best treatment but also the most prompt.”
On the rehabilitation program: “I guess the biggest adjustment is that I have to sleep in a La-Z-Boy Chair for the next six weeks, so this sling they have me in, they have my arm at an angle for my body. So, I have to sleep sort of semi-upright for the next six weeks, make sure everything is right, then I will do two sessions of rehab at the Performance Center. Over there, we have an incredible medical team, so I will be with them in the morning, rest for lunch, and get back in the afternoon, which I will be doing for the next four weeks and then reassess. I will probably head out back to Birmingham and do some stuff out there at their rehabilitation facility. The original diagnosis was 4 to 6 months, but when they found the extra problems in there, they said it was going to be a hard fix now. You know, I can try to shave some extra time off, but I’m not going to. If I am ready before 6 months, I’m going to make sure that when the time 6 months is there I am going to be better than ever.”
On keeping preoccupied with his rehabilitation: “We were busy working on the road, but with rehab, I’m going to be just as busy, and reluctant to take days off. If I can do this 7 days a week, I am going to be doing it.”
On whether he still watches New Japan Pro Wrestling: “I have not watched a New Japan match since I left several years ago. It’s funny because I am so focused on what I am doing right now, and with the rehabilitation, I don’t want to be distracted by different styles… or what was the past. Don’t get me wrong: I love my time in New Japan. I still have a lot of friends there. The work there is incredible, but it’s not something I want to be influenced by right now, so I think going back to watch it it will set me back.”
The interview is available in full at this link.
