Finn Bálor is still on the shelf nursing the shoulder injury he suffered at SummerSlam, but he’s still kicking around giving interviews and talking about the other times he’s been hurt. So we’re lucky in that respect!
In an exclusive interview with ScreenGeek.net during a recent Wizard World panel, Bálor shared the tale of the most horrifying injury he suffered in New Japan. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the concern of Bullet Club Underboss Bad Luck Fale, the Demon King might have lost as a result.
I got a kick in the shin and I remember after the match going “Damn. Did I get kicked in the shin?” and I couldn’t remember. Things happen in a match and the shin was sore. I went to bed woke up the next and shin was worse.
I showed it to the doctor and he said it was just a bad bang. Went to the trainer’s room, taped it all up. The trainer actually taped it up. The doctor saw it and the trainer saw it. Came back after the match and the masseuse was taking the tape off and I go “Man. This doesn’t feel normal. It’s really sore.” He just said “Nah, its nothing, just a kick. You’ll be fine tomorrow.”
I wake up the next day and I’m at the dojo and put my feet out of the bed and couldn’t put them on the floor. I think man this is some weird kick aftereffect I’m getting. Strong stuff.
So I’m downstairs in the Dojo and Fale [Simitaitoko] walks in and I’m in shorts thinking “Man. My shin. What the hell has happened to my shin?” and Fale goes “Oh man. You need to go to the hospital right away. I had that exact same thing in Mexico.”
He’s one of the very few people who spoke English in New Japan at the time, so he talks to one of the young Japanese boys and told them to take me to the hospital. There’s’ communication going on between the young boy and all these doctors and then this doctor is someone from somewhere that can speak English and he says:
“Okay this is what has happened. You’ve got a very serious infection in your leg. It’s eating into your bone. If you had waited one more day we would have had to amputate your leg.”
So I get checked into the hospital, I end up staying there for 10 days. This was before iPhones and before Skype, so I couldn’t even get in touch with my family. It was really a weird time. People kind of go ‘oh you just got injured’ when really I was fighting in the hospital to save my leg. That was probably the worst injury but at the same time, it wasn’t a lot to deal with because I got better in 10 days and was back wrestling in a couple weeks. That was a really crazy injury.
Bad Luck Fale: always the dude you want to have watching your back. In wrestling and in life. Dude should change his name to Good Friend Fale, in my opinion.
Anyway, let’s be super happy and grateful that Finn Bálor has two legs and two shoulders and will be back in action in just a few more months.
