History Wrestling / FergalDevitt

Trained by André Baker, Fergal Devitt (born July 25, 1981) is an Irish professional wrestler best known for his work in Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling under the ring name Prince Devitt, where he was a former three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and six-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. As an NJPW star, he has the distinction of being the co-founder and original leader of Wrestling/BulletClub, which would go on to become one of the most popular and iconic wrestling factions in the world. The group originated as a two-man tag team formed after Devitt [[FaceHeelTurn turned heel]] by betraying his tag team partner Ryusuke Taguchi and aligning with Wrestling/BadLuckFale, becoming a full-fledged PowerStable after Devitt and Fale recruited Tama Tonga and "The Machine Gun" Wrestling/KarlAnderson. In his last match with NJPW, Devitt would ultimately be expelled from Bullet Club by his teammates after taking the high road and refusing to let them intervene in an emotionally charged match with his ex-partner Taguchi, [[HeelFaceTurn turning face]] in the process.

* BigGuyLittleGuy: His most frequent partner after forming Bullet Club was Bad Luck Fale, who was nearly twice Devitt's size.

Trained by André Baker, Fergal Devitt (born July 25, 1981) is an Irish professional wrestler best known for his work in Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling under the ring name Prince Devitt, where he was a former three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and six-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. He was one of the major members of Wrestling/BulletClub before [[HeelFaceTurn re-turning face]] his last night in the promotion. He would then go on to sign into the Wrestling/{{WWE}}, where he would wrestle in its developmental division [[Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} NXT]] under his current ring name Finn Bálor. He was selected by ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]'' during the 2016 draft and became the first-ever WWE Universal Champion at ''[=SummerSlam=]'', defeating Wrestling/SethRollins. Following an injury that forced him to vacate the title the night after winning it, Balor would go on to have a fairly unremarkable year before finally receiving another high-profile push in late 2018, culminating in his winning the Intercontinental Championship at ''Elimination Chamber 2019''.

* OlderThanTheyLook: It would be extremely tough to tell just by a glance that he's 37. Even with facial hair, he looks a full ten years younger than that.

* BigBrotherMentor: He was apparently this to Wrestling/BeckyLynch in RealLife when they were both starting out in the Irish indies, but WWE has never acknowledged that on screen.

** Also taught NXT UK's Jordan Devlin. The two had a well-received match at the first NXT UK Takeover event in Blackpool and this was referenced on commentary.

* PowerStable: [[Wrestling/BulletClub Of course]], it's Bálor Club. Later, The Judgment Day.

** While the above is primarily meant towards the fanbase, stables haven't had much luck with Bálor either. His FaceHeelTurn itself was a prompt slamming of the door against DIY's attempts to form an alliance against The Undisputed Era by blindsiding Johnny Gargano and leaving Tommaso Ciampa defenseless. Then when The OC raided NXT, Finn came down and attacked Matt Riddle, one of their opponents that night, and shared Bullet Club gestures with AJ Styles... but they notably did not use the same gesture, Bálor's finger guns affirming his independence even in that moment, and he stood back smiling when Styles was attacked by Adam Cole. This led to teasing that Finn was on the same page with the Era, including antagonizing both Tommaso Ciampa and Keith Lee when they tried to come after Cole's NXT Championship. But when Cole finally let his guard down and attempted on his own to welcome Finn into the fold, he was met with a snap overhead kick to his dome piece as The Prince declared his own intentions to go after Cole's title.
** This also serves as one of the factors of the grudges he had on his opponents. He targeted Johnny Gargano to prove that he's not the "next Finn Balor", and one of his points of ire heading into his second with Wrestling/KyleOReilly was that people were more focused on the fact that Kyle broke his jaw rather than Finn retaining despite his injury.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Inflicts this on Seth Rollins in 6/19/23 Raw leading to not one, not two, but ''THREE'' Coup de Grace!
* OlderHeroVersusYoungerVillain: Most of his second NXT title run, naturally, has seen the near-40-year-old Balor swatting away challenges from significantly younger competition. Conversely, one of The Judgment Day's mission statements is to humiliate legendary veterans of past eras such as Edge and Rey Mysterio, feeling as though they're leeching onto the current generation for final scraps of glory.

Trained by Andre Baker, Fergal Devitt (born July 25, 1981) is an Irish professional wrestler best known for his work in Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling under the ring name Prince Devitt, where he was a former three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and six-time IWGP Junior Heavywight Tag Team Champion. He was one of the major members of Wrestling/BulletClub before [[HeelFaceTurn re-turning face]] his last night in the promotion. He would then go on to sign into the Wrestling/{{WWE}}, where he would wrestle in its developmental division [[Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} NXT]] under his current ring name Finn Bálor. He was selected by ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]'' during the 2016 draft and became the first ever WWE Universal Champion at ''[=SummerSlam=]'', defeating Wrestling/SethRollins. Following an injury that forced him to vacate the title the night after winning it, Balor would go on to have a fairly unremarkable year before finally receiving another high-profile push in late 2018, culminating in his winning the Intercontinental Championship at ''Elimination Chamber 2019''.

Among other the enterprises he earned title belts in are Wrestling/{{N|ationalWrestlingAlliance}}WA UK Hammerlock, Revolution Pro Wrestling, Insane Championship Wrestling and Wrestling/{{CMLL}}.

** As Prince Devitt he could often be seen either in a dark jacket with an RNR (Real Rock-N-Rolla) emblem on the back being walked down the ramp on Bad Luck Fale's shoulders before getting off at ringside, then getting off, standing in the center of the ring, and turning on the jacket's Jericho-esque neon lights as the arena goes dark in an impressive show worthy of a young rising BigBad, or using an elaborate paint job and/or costume along with unique theatrics to emulate the arrival of any number of famous fantastical characters as though said character had briefly possessed his body to wrestle as him. [[labelnote:Examples include]]a zombie limp as ComicBook/{{Carnage}}, a straightjacket as Franchise/HannibalLecter, a clown makeup and a purple suit as ComicBook/TheJoker, ''beating up charging crew members as ComicBook/{{Bane}}'', ominously flashing the blade claws as [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]] and even ''keeping them on to use against his opponent!''[[/labelnote]]
** As Finn Bálor, his normal entrance is already predated by a heavy breathing sound transitioning into epic rock music, ominous red lighting with moments of bright pulsation, a constant switch between walking and creeping down the ramp and a crawl up the steel steps to get to the ring. When he puts on the demon paint, the whole thing gets turned up to eleven. The true beginning of his entrance theme comes in the form of a loud pulse with dramatic chords reminiscent of a movie scene eventually leading to said heavy breathing transition. He outright crawls through fog and pulsating lights, at certain points seeming to break into an animalistic FlashStep. And the paint and wig ensemble is deliberately styled with gigantic monster teeth and RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver, creating the dramatic illusion that the ancient demon king who forms half his namesake is actually what's coming down to wrestle.

** NJPW usually makes an effort to keep the Super Juniors away from the heavyweights, making Apollo 55 managing to tie for second place in their block and then qualify for the semi finals of the 2009 G1 Tag League over Great Bash Heel's Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma this trope. They'd go on to beat CHAOS members Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura and Toru Yano but it was averted with their loss in the finals to Bad Intentions (Karl Anderson and Giant Bernard).

** In his second NXT run, he went back in using the 1916 as his main finisher, just like the later part of his first NXT run, though he still can score pinfall wins using the Coup de Grace . And in 2021, he introduced a [[Wrestling/AdrianNeville Rings of Saturn/Brutalizer]]-esque submission finisher to force Wrestling/KyleOReilly to tap out.

* RedBaron: Devitt's been called the Irish Captor, the Real Rock-N-Rolla and the Real Shooter. As Bálor he gets referenced as the Demon King and the Prince (or "Prinxe").

** Dru Onyx, who like Devitt is known by a few different names, going by Son Of Wrestling/{{Abdullah|TheButcher}} when they were feuding over the British Common Wealth Title belt in Europe. It was Onyx whom he won the belt from the second time in the USA.

** Just behind Gedo and Jado in encouter frequency was Taichi Ishikari, who alternating between fighting wih and teaming Pegasus Kid #2 until Devitt unmasked and joined CTU. After Devitt's face turn, he and Ishikari ended up as frequent opponents in NJPW's junior heavyweight tag team division, Devitt with Taguchi, Ishikari in Unione with Devitt's former CTU and RISE stablemate Milano Collection AT.

* HeelFaceTurn: After Ryusuke finally came back after him for revenge, the grudge match would take place at NJPW Invasion Attack 2014. During it, Bullet Club members the Young Bucks repeatedly tried to interfere on Devitt's behalf, but during this he had a change of heart, [[LeaveHimToMe refusing their aid]] to the point that they attacked him. Renouncing his evil ways, he continued the match with Ryusuke and ended up on the losing end, resigning from both NJPW and the Bullet Club the next day.

* TheLoad: After his FaceHeelTurn which saw him join Control Terrorism Unit, Devitt went on a losing streak that gave the rest of CTU second thoughts about picking him up. However, [[Wrestling/JushinThunderLiger Jushin Liger]] gave him a chance to redeem himself in a TagTeam match and considered Devitt worthy after scored the winning pin fall on Wataru Inoue.

** On NXT, he has Wrestling/SamoaJoe, they have main evented two NXT Takeover shows in a row in brutal matches over the NXT Championship after Joe turned heel on Finn.
** Wrestling/BrayWyatt in summer 2017. Their continued the feud in summer 2019 after Wyatt brings the new gimmick The Fiend.

* CurbStompCushion: Had two such championship matches at big-four PPV events in 2019, where one man beat the other in a fairly short match but not without absorbing some vicious offense and knowing he was in a fight. The first time at ''Royal Rumble'' against Wrestling/BrockLesnar for the Universal Championship Finn targeted Brock's ribs due to his history with diverticulitis, but Brock ultimately recovered and beat him after an F5 in under ten minutes. The second time at ''[=WrestleMania=]'' against Wrestling/BobbyLashley for the Intercontinental Championship it was Lashley wearing yellow-eyed demon contacts who ferociously assaulted Demon King Bálor only to go down in a short match following a powerbomb from Bálor and a Coup de Grace.

* EndearinglyDorky: The primary purpose of the series of NXT's videos about his past seem to be for the deliberate purpose of getting Finn over as this. The man spends his free time making Lego structures.

* KickTheDog: In the aftermath of his match against Pete Dunne, [[spoiler:Adam Cole attacked both him and Kyle (a member of Wrestling/TheUndisputedEra just like Cole was). When they both regained consciousness, Finn gave Kyle a DeathGlare and told him to 'clean his own mess' before leaving Kyle alone in despair.]]
* KnightOfCerebus: His long awaited FaceHeelTurn makes him this. With great amount of arrogance, seriousness, and sadistic brutality, he brings a dark and sinister force that is similar to when he becomes The Demon King..only this time his very much human "prince" persona is the one giving that.

* MarkedChange: Finn uses elaborate body paint to transform himself into a weird, pseudo-demonic monster thing. He only breaks it out for special shows and has only lost thrice when in demon form, against Samoa Joe in a steel cage match at ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: The End'', to Roman Reigns in a Extreme Rules match at ''Extreme Rules 2021'' and against Edge in a Hell in a Cell match at ''Wrestlemania 39''.

* RememberTheNewGuy: Unlike what happened to Hideo Itami (FKA KENTA), the announcers at NXT talked at length about Prince Devitt's indy credentials without ever recognizing that he had once been known as Prince Devitt... up until they did a retrospective of his career in the lead-up to WWE's tour to Japan, where he is of course famous as Prince Devitt.
* PyrrhicVictory: His original Universal Championship win and defense of his second NXT Championship both saw him win the match but suffer legit injuries in the process. In the first case he had to vacate the title, while in the second he was on the shelf for several weeks with a broken jaw.

* WithUsOrAgainstUs: As leader of The Judgment Day, he tries to invoke this on Cody Rhodes during the last Raw before the 2023 WWE Draft.

** Wrestling/SethRollins has become one for him after their match at ''Summerslam 2016''. Finn doesn't hold a grudge against Rollins for putting him on the shelf for 9 months, instead looking forward to each bout they have. Their matches/teamups against the Miz leading up to Wrestlemania 34 made this fairly explicit.
** Wrestling/BraunStrowman seems to see him as one following their match on Raw 21st May 2018. After Finn loss to the Monster Among Men, Braun lifts Finn up before putting him at the corner of the ring, allowing Finn to catch his breath.

* MarkedChange: Finn uses elaborate body paint to transform himself into a weird, pseudo-demonic monster thing. He only breaks it out for special shows and has only lost thrice when in demon form, against Samoa Joe in a steel cage match at ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: The End'', to Roman Reigns in a Extreme Rules match at ''Extreme Rules 2021'' and against Edge in a HiaC match at ‘’Wrestlemania’’39.

* MarkedChange: Finn uses elaborate body paint to transform himself into a weird, pseudo-demonic monster thing. He only breaks it out for special shows and has only lost twice when in demon form, against Samoa Joe in a steel cage match at ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: The End'' and again to Roman Reigns in a Extreme Rules match at ''Extreme Rules 2021''.

** ...only for Styles to [[WhamLine reveal]] that his "brother" references weren't about Bálor, when Anderson and Gallows, seven months after being formally welcomed back into Bullet Club, came out to back up The Phenomenal One against The Prince and his crew. The cross-promotional fallout from this had several active BC members, not the least of which being active leader Jay White, showing support for The Good Brothers' return to WWE and even helping to protect Anderson's ongoing NEVER Openweight Championship run while he was away. Finn, meanwhile, made numerous mocking references to the [[MemeticHandGesture Too Sweet]] and the fact that he started The Club in the first place and has since moved on from it, claiming that AJ and the others have been living off his legacy ever since. With his actions in joining and fronting Judgment Day, Finn threw away his ties to not only AJ Styles, but also The OC, and even beyond that, the entire Bullet Club.

* ChainsawGood: Made his entrance at NXT Takeover in Dallas in his usual Demon get-up...wielding a chainsaw!