WWE's Finn Balor Looks Back On Bloody Botch In Hell In A Cell Match Against Edge

As WrestleMania 39 rolled around, Finn Balor and Edge seemed poised to conclude their long rivalry, which saw Balor supplant Edge as the leader of the Judgment Day stable, in a Hell in a Cell match. That happened  but not as they planned, as a ladder spot gone awry led to Balor gushing blood during the match and needing it stapled shut, sending the match to a screeching halt midway though.

Speaking about the match with the "What's the Story?" podcast, Balor revealed that he and Edge had spent the hours leading up to the match frustrated due to changes being made to their match. Even still, both were excited for the bout, and Balor recalls that he was fully prepared when he saw the ladder coming straight towards him.

"I turn around and I thought 'No problem,'" Balor said. "It's coming straight up at me, I'll just put my hands out.' So I put my hands up, but the rungs of the ladder went straight through the gaps of my hands. So the ladder's still coming. I'm like 'There's a ladder still coming. Why is the ladder still coming at me? I've got my hands up. Why aren't my hands blocking it?' 

"And then at the last second, I just dropped my chin, and it got me in the head. I thought 'Oww, that stung.' But it wasn't a bad bang or anything. It wasn't a concussion, it wasn't like I went out for a minute. It was nothing. And I just went down and went "Whew. That was weird.' And I'm on my back, so I roll over onto all fours, and then I see the waterfall of blood just come drip, drip, drip, drip, drip drip." 

Balor then laid out how the match stalled, with referee Shawn Bennett informing Balor he'd have to check in with the doctor, or the match would be stopped. That was followed by personnel needing to locate the key on the other side of the ring to get the doctor into the ring and the doctor attempting to staple Balor's head shut, only for their to be no staples in the staple gun. This then necessitated an assistant running to the medical bag, at which point more hijinks ensued, according to Balor.

"Now the camera is on me, just shooting in case for something on the Network. It's not like going on live, but they're shooting it, and I'm aware that the cameras there. I was like 'F**k, I've got to stay in character there.' So I'm looking at the doctor in the eyes with the paint and all the blood dripping down, and I go 'Staple it! Staple it!' So she starts getting scared, right? So she goes 'Does that hurt?' I said 'No, it's fine. Just keep going.' 

She goes [imitates stapler sounds], then goes 'Oww!' I go 'What happened?' 'I put the fourth staple in my finger.' I go 'Are you serious? Am I closed?' She goes 'You're closed for now?' I say 'Can I go back to work?' She goes 'Yeah, you can go back to work.' So I go back in the ring, we finish the match, there's only three staples in me at this point, and one in her finger."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "What's The Story?" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription