Finn Balor did an interview with The New York Post to promote Sunday’s NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day special where he will defend the NXT Title against Pete Dunne in the headliner.
During it, he opened up on the injury that resulted in him missing some time in the ring. The WWE NXT Champion broke his jaw in two places when he retained the title against Kyle O’Reilly in the main event of NXT TakeOver 31 back in October.
He noted that he’s dealing with lasting effects from the injury
“Yeah, a lot. Grinding my teeth still a lot. Still in pain, still very reluctant to get any type of strike to the face, which was actually something that led to the arm injury in the match versus Kyle (O’Reilly) the second one. I was protecting the jaw so much I actually weakened my arm.
One thing that still hasn’t come back is the feeling in my bottom lip. It’s still numb. It’s like I’ve been to the dentist and you get that shot. Pretty much my bottom lip down to my chin I’ve still got no feeling, but the doctors are a little hopeful that might come back in a couple of months. They say nerves take a little longer to heal. Sometimes you’ll see me out there now if I’m doing a promo licking my bottom lip more or I’ll be rubbing it a little bit. It still feels like there’s Novocain in there and it’s numb. It gets dry a lot. But apart from that, no, I feel 100 percent.”
He continued by noting that he thinks he’ll be 100% on Sunday, but is still getting used to worrying about an injury as well as his performance. He called it a weakness instead of an injury because it’s not like a torn hamstring, but rather he has two plates in his jaw. He noted that he still needs to get over worrying about taking an impact and will need to move past those types of hurdles.
Balor also talked about WrestleMania 37, facing Dunne, and more. Check out the full interview here.
