After signing with WWE's developmental system, NXT, and adopting his current ring name, Finn Bálor became a one-time NXT Champion, with his reign being the longest in the title's history at 292 days (although WWE recognizes it at 293). Also during his time in NXT, Bálor became the first co-winner of the inaugural Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic with Samoa Joe.
Shortly after arriving on the main roster, Bálor became the first wrestler in WWE history to win a world title in their pay-per-view debut, as well as becoming the quickest wrestler in WWE history to win a world title at 27 days following his main roster debut by becoming the inaugural Universal Champion at SummerSlam 2016.
During a recent interview with Corey Graves, Balor revealed his new mindset going into NXT: “With the time off and kind of resetting and re-evaluating everything. I feel like that I’m not playing ball anymore, that I’m going to do whatever I want to do. I think I value myself a little more as a performer.
And as I said, I’m not going to play ball anymore. I’m gonna do what I want to do. If people like it, cool. If they don’t, cool. But I’m tired of pretending to be someone I’m not. A lot of people said, ‘Hey, Finn’s gone back to NXT.’ But really, I’ve just come back to being myself.”