AEW's David Finlay Recalls WWE Ambitions Prior To NJPW Run

For a long time, it seemed to be written in the stars that David Finlay would wrestle for WWE, given that his father, Fit Finlay, is a long-time producer/trainer within the promotion, while his brother, Brogan Finlay, currently competes in "NXT" as Uriah Connors. Instead, Finlay is now wrestling in AEW alongside long-time stablemates Gabe Kidd and Clark Connors, though he too thought for a time that his path was leading him towards WWE. In an appearance on "Talk is Jericho," Finlay revealed that he and his father had planned out his wrestling career when he was young, with the expectation he'd eventually wind up in WWE. Instead, one of the stops led to him reconsidering.

"When I was fifteen, I sat down with my dad and was like 'No, this [wrestling] is what I want to do with my life,'" Finlay said. "He was like 'Alright. Here's the plan. You should do amateur wrestling, which Nattie Neidhart also told me to do that. And I did. And then from there, it was like 'Alright. You're going to go to England and Germany for a bit. And then go and do the [New Japan] Dojo for six months, And then go to 'NXT' or FCW, whatever it was at the time. And then six months in Japan turned into eleven years, cause I loved it so much."

Finlay's success while with New Japan Pro Wrestling suggests he ultimately made the right decision to spend eleven years with the promotion. Though he was never able to capture the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Finlay found success elsewhere, winning the IWGP Global Championship twice, including being the first title holder, the 2025 New Japan Cup, the NEVER Openweight Championship, and the IWGP Tag Team Championships with Juice Robinson. He has carried over the success into AEW, winning the AEW World Trios Championships with Connors and Kidd back in April.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Talk Is Jericho" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription