Finn Balor Recalls Gnarly HIAC Injury At WWE WrestleMania 39

In the midst of a grueling Hell in a Cell match at WWE WrestleMania 39, WWE veteran Adam "Edge" Copeland scoured the sub-ring area for weapons and retrieved a stack of kendo sticks. Upon his return to the squared circle, Edge then repositioned a ladder to seemingly use in a future spot against his opponent, "The Demon" Finn Balor. As Balor recalls, though, this series of events was actually meant to fill time while a WWE doctor stapled his gnarly head wound shut on the ring apron.

"There was a spot where he was gonna hit me with the ladder," Balor told "Insight With Chris Van Vliet," referencing the ladder collision that caused him to bleed. "I said, 'Dude, if I've got my back to you, just throw it and hit me in the back. If I turn, just hit me with it.' So I'd still got my back [turned]. He starts throwing it, but I guess I turned at the wrong moment. Then no problem, I'll just put my hands up and block it, but it's a ladder, it's not a chair. So the rungs were here and here, and it just went right through my hands, and in that moment, my brain couldn't understand why it was still coming towards me, because my hands were up. I was like, what's going on here? It hit me. I was like, that stung, but it's fine."

The impact of the ladder spot was immediately evident as blood from Balor's head dripped onto the mat below him. Seeing that, referee Shawn Bennett approached Balor with instruction from WWE officials: receive medical treatment or stop his match altogether. Balor ultimately chose to let the ringside doctor, Michelle, fix his gash with temporary staples, with Edge moving the camera's focus to the other side of the ring in the meantime.

"She goes, 'It's gonna hurt.' I said 'It's WrestleMania, doc,'" Balor recalled. "But at this point, then the camera comes around and it's here. I guess they were just shooting, but it wasn't live, but I can't see if the red lights are on or not, because I'm looking at the doc. I started saying to her [in Demon voice] 'Staple it! Staple it!' I go into Demon character, to where the doc Michelle just [shudders]. She gets scared because she'd never seen me perform as the Demon before. It had been a while and she was new at the company. So we always kind of giggle about that, but yeah, the staples went in. Finished the match. It was fine."

When the in-ring action finally resumed, Edge hoisted Balor up for a powerbomb, which Balor countered into a double stomp. Balor then attempted to land a Coup de Grace off the top rope, only for Edge to roll out of the way. A sidestep from Balor followed, with Edge spearing himself into the ladder as a result.

In the match's final moments, Edge successfully connected with another spear for a near fall on the former Universal Champion. To keep him down for a three count, "The Rated R Superstar" delivered multiple chair shots and a Con-Chair-To after.

The Edge-Balor feud dated back to the former founding the Judgment Day, which he was later kicked out of upon Balor's entry into it in the summer of 2022.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight With Chris Van Vliet" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.