Finn Balor has develop into a household name due to his years on WWE TV, but an original name for Balor needed to be scrapped for being too ‘RuPaul.’
On a recent edition of the “What’s Your Story?” podcast, Balor recalled needing a brand new name after years of working as Prince Devitt. He said,
“The name Finn Bálor is predicated in mythology, because Bálor is the one-eyed demon king from Gaelic folklore, and Finn McCool… It’s very much like David versus Goliath, where Finn McCool is the David on this story, and he slays the one-eyed demon. So I put the 2 together.”
Balor shared that he initially had plans for Rux to be a component of his WWE name, but the concept was shot down by Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque. He said,
“I’ve never said this to anyone else. One in every of those names — and Paul (Levesque) was especially leaning towards this name– was Liv. I can’t remember other names that were on there. I had actually Rux (listed). Paul said, ‘No, no, no. People will consider RuPaul.’ Yeah, I remember him specifically saying that.”
When pressed by Stephanie McMahon, Balor had little knowledge of who RuPaul is, but was aware that they’re a drag performer.
Balor joined WWE in 2014 and has remained with the corporate ever since. He’s a former NXT, Universal, United States, Intercontinental, and Tag Team Champion.