Finn Balor Talks Needing Staples In Head After WWE WrestleMania Hell In A Cell Match
WrestleMania 39 was home to a highly anticipated Hell in a Cell match between Finn Balor and Edge. The match served to cap off a storyline nearly one year in the making that had begun at WrestleMania 38 when Edge formed the Judgement Day. However, the match may now be more memorable for a gnarly injury suffered by Balor. During the match, Balor took a ladder straight to the forehead and the cut required fourteen staples. On the "After the Bell" podcast, Balor talked through the moment.
"So let me talk you through it. So I turn around and I see a ladder hurtling towards my face, and I go, 'Great, here we go.' [...] This is all slow motion. The matrix slows down, and I'm like Keanu Reeves and I put my hands up and I go, 'I'm gonna stop this.' But as the ladder is coming, the ladder comes through my hands. It's not like a chair or a book that's been thrown. So the step comes straight through [...] So it just keeps coming towards me," he said, "But my brain can't understand why the ladder is still coming towards me, because I have my hands up trying to stop it. But it's coming through my hands, and all of a sudden, it's almost at my forehead. I just dropped my forehead, dings me on the top of the head. And I go "Hm, that wasn't too bad, actually."
A More Memorable Match
Balor recalled immediately leaning forward after getting hit with the ladder and immediately starting to drip blood. He recalled the referee telling him the match was going to be stopped, and that he would need medical attention. Balor recalled stopping to receive staples amid the Hell in a Cell match.
"I crawl over to the doctor. The doctor's trying to get in the cell because the cell is all locked and stuff. So I peek out over the edge of the apron, and I look at the doc and say, 'Hey, is it bad?' She goes, 'It's real bad.' This sounds like it's a lot worse than I thought. 'So, what are we gonna do?' She said, 'I'm gonna staple it.' So I'm trying to stay in character, going, 'Staple it, staple it.' At this point, the doctors are now laughing because they're going, 'What the hell is wrong with this guy? He's going, staple it, staple it.' This is WrestleMania, and I don't want people to lose sight of the fact that this is a big match. And I don't want me to come out of character. I don't want people to lose interest. So I'm trying to stay in character."
Balor said he wrestled the rest of the match with just three staples in his head and later received a total of fourteen. He capped off saying that he believes it was fate, and that the whole accident made the match "so much more memorable."