| David Finlay | |
| Names: | David Finlay David Finlay Jr. |
| Birth Name: | David Stephen Finlay III |
| Birth Place: | Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany |
| Birth Date: | 16 May 1993 |
| Relatives: | Fit Finlay (father) Brogan Finlay (brother) Dave Finlay Sr. (grandfather) |
| Weight: | 105kg (231lb) |
| Billed: | Atlanta, Georgia[1] |
| Trainer: | Fit Finlay NJPW Dojo Satoshi Kojima |
| Debut: | 22 December 2012 |
David Stephen Finlay III (born 16 May 1993) is a German-born Irish-American professional wrestler who performs under the ring name . He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the current and longest reigning IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion in his record-setting second reign, and is the seventh and current leader of Bullet Club. He also is the leader of the War Dogs subgroup.
Born in Germany to Irish parents, he is a fourth-generation professional wrestler; his father, Fit Finlay, trained him[2] before he received additional training from Satoshi Kojima and the NJPW Dojo.[2] [3] He frequently partnered with Juice Robinson as the team FinJuice; they are one-time IWGP Tag Team Champions. Along with Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima, he is also a former NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion.
Since joining and leading Bullet Club, Finlay has become a one-time NEVER Openweight Champion, and he became the inaugural IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion in January 2024, later regaining the title a second time four months later.
David Finlay III[4] was born on 16 May 1993 in Hanover,[5] the son of Northern Irish parents Fit Finlay and Melanie Duffin.[5] He has stated that he wanted to be a wrestler since he was young, being inspired by watching his father wrestle.[6] Finlay grew up in a wrestling family and is a fourth-generation professional wrestler; his grandfather David "Dave" Finlay Sr., as well as both of his great-grandfathers William Finlay and John Liddell, were all professional wrestlers. His paternal aunt was a referee.
On 22 December 2012, Finlay made his professional wrestling debut for German promotion European Wrestling Promotion (EWP).[5] He defeated Big Daddy Walter by disqualification. Later that evening, he teamed up with his father for a tag team match against Robbie Brookside and Dan Collins, which they won; it was also his father's retirement match.[7] In 2014, Finlay became the inaugural Power of Wrestling Junior Champion. He held the title for 314 days before vacating it on 20 August 2015, due to his signing with New Japan Pro-Wrestling.[8]
See also: FinJuice. Finlay entered the 2015 Best of the Super Juniors tournament hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but failed to win, losing all his matches in the tournament and ending with a final tally of 0 points.[9] After the tournament, Finlay was announced as a "young lion". He would carry this moniker until September 2016, when Finlay announced he was no longer a young lion.[5]
At the Destruction in Kobe event on 25 September, he won the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship with Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima by defeating Bullet Club (Nick Jackson, Matt Jackson and Adam Cole).[10] They lost the titles at Wrestle Kingdom 11 on 4 January 2017 to Los Ingobernables de Japón (Evil, Bushi and Sanada).[11] At Wrestling Dontaku in May, Finlay was defeated by Cody.[12] In August, he formed a tag team with Juice Robinson, dubbed FinJuice. They teamed for the rest of the year before going their separate ways for the NJPW World Tag League in December, which saw Robinson teaming with Sami Callihan, while Finlay teamed with Katsuya Kitamura. Finlay and Kitamura failed to win the tournament, ending with 0 points.[13]
At Strong Style Evolved in March 2018, Finlay attacked Jay White, after White's successful defense of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship over Hangman Page.[14] Finlay was granted a title shot, but at the main event of Road to Wrestling Dontaku, he was defeated by White.[15] Finlay returned to teaming with Robinson and other Taguchi Japan members for the remainder of the year; he and Robinson participated in the 2018 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of eight wins and five losses, failing to advance to the finals.[16] Their final block match against Best Friends (Beretta and Chuckie T.) ended by disqualification, when Chuckie, who had recently been prone to violent outbursts, struck Finlay in the back with a chair. At New Years's Dash!! 2019, another match between FinJuice and Best Friends ended in a disqualification, when Chuckie once again struck Finlay in the back with a chair.[17] On day one of The New Beginning in USA, Finlay defeated Chuckie in a no disqualification match, ending their feud.[18]
Finlay was announced for the 2019 New Japan Cup, however on 23 February 2019, he suffered a shoulder injury removing him from the tournament. The injury happened during FinJuice's ROH World Tag Team Championship match again the champions The Briscoes at the Honor Rising NJPW/ROH event.[19] It was later revealed to be a torn labrum and that he would be out of action for around six months.[20] On 14 October at King of Pro-Wrestling, Finlay made his return to the company, by making the save on Robinson who was being attacked by Lance Archer, after their match for the vacant IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. He then challenged Archer to a title shot a later date.[21] This happened at Showdown in San Jose, but he was defeated by Archer.[22] At Showdown in Los Angeles, Finlay, Robinson and Clark Connors were defeated by Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Archer and El Desperado).[23] Finlay would go on to enter the 2019 World Tag League with Robinson where they made it to the finals defeating Evil and Sanada of Los Ingobernables de Japón and earning a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Championship titles against Guerrillas of Destiny (G.O.D) during the first of Wrestle Kingdom 14 on 4 January 2020.[24] They would go on to defeat G.O.D to win the championship at the event on 4 January 2020.[25] They lost the titles back to G.O.D at The New Beginning USA on February 1.[26]
In March 2020, New Japan suspended all of its activities, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, causing many non-Japanese talent to not be able to travel to Japan to compete, including Finlay. Therefore, a new American-based NJPW show was produced, called NJPW Strong. After a 6-month absence from in-ring competition, Finlay made his Strong debut in August, participating in the inaugural New Japan Cup USA tournament. He defeated, Chase Owens in the quarterfinals round and Tama Tonga in the semifinals.[27] [28] In the finals, Finlay lost to Kenta.[29]
In November, Finlay and Robinson both returned to Japan to compete in the 2020 World Tag League tournament. FinJuice topped the table with 12 points but lost to the Guerillas of Destiny in the finals.[30] In March 2021, Finlay entered the New Japan Cup. He defeated Chase Owens and Yoshi-Hashi to advance to the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, Finlay achieved a massive win by defeating the NEVER Openweight Champion, Jay White. In the semi-final round, Finlay lost to eventual cup winner, Will Ospreay.[31] Due to his quarter-final victory, Finlay received a shot at the Never Openweight Championship at NJPW Resurgence. In August at the event, White retained the title against Finlay.[32] In April 2022, at Windy City Riot, FinJuice and Brody King defeated TMDK in a 6-man tag-team street fight match.[33]
After Juice Robinson turned heel by joining Bullet Club and seemingly breaking up FinJuice, Finlay focused on solely singles competition.[34] In June, Finlay was announced to be making his G1 debut in the G1 Climax 32 tournament, competing in the D Block.[35] Finlay ended his first G1 with 6 points, although he earned points off of wins against IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay, former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi and Juice Robinson.[36]
See also: Bullet Club. On February 18 at Battle in the Valley, Finlay entered the ring to attack his former partner and longtime rival Jay White, after he was forced to leave NJPW, showing a more cocky and villainous persona.[37] On March 5, after defeating Tomohiro Ishii in the first round of the 2023 New Japan Cup, Finlay was introduced by White's former manager Gedo as the newest member of Bullet Club, becoming the stable's seventh leader, after the departure of White. After the match, Gedo stated that "Bullet Club needed a rebel" and it doesn't matter that White was no longer there.[38] Finlay ended up making it all the way to the finals of the tournament, before losing to SANADA on March 21.[39] During this time, El Phantasmo began questioning Finlay's authority, which in turn, led to him being kicked out of the stable on April 8 at Sakura Genesis after Finlay, KENTA and Taiji Ishimori turned on him. During this, before Phantasmo's expulsion, Finlay brutally attacked Tama Tonga, holding his title and challenging Tonga. Soon after, Finlay teased a new member as a replacement Phantasmo's place, with Finlay further revealing it at Capitol Collision on April 15. At Capitol Collision, Finlay called Connors and offered a spot in the Bullet Club, with Connors accepting and leaving with Finlay, revealing himself to be the replacement of El Phantasmo. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku, Finlay defeated Tama Tonga to win the NEVER Openweight Championship, his first singles title in NJPW. After the match, Phantasmo made his first appearance since being expelled from the stable, attacked Finlay and challenged him to a title match on June 4 at Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-jo Hall. At Dominion, Finlay (accompanied by Bullet Club's newest recruits Clark Connors, Dan Moloney, Gabriel Kidd and Alex Coughlin and Gedo) successfully defended the NEVER Openweight Championship against El Phantasmo, after the stable's constant interference throughout the match. Afterwards, in a post-match interview, Finlay along with the rest of the stable, formed a sub-stable named "War Dogs", with Finlay further stating that in his leadership members could only bring "gold or bodies".[40]
The following month, Finlay entered the annual G1 Climax tournament, where he would compete in the C Block.[41] Finlay finished his tournament campaign at the top of his block, scoring 10 points, thus advancing him to the quarterfinals.[42] In the quarterfinal round, Finlay was defeated by Will Ospreay, eliminating him from the tournament.[43] On October 9 at Destruction in Ryōgoku, Finlay lost the NEVER Openweight Championship back to Tama Tonga.[44] On November 4 at Power Struggle, Finlay attacked and Jon Moxley and Will Ospreay, after he had defended the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, before proceeding to destroy both UK and the US Championship belts.[45] Afterwards, in a post-match interview, Ospreay proposed a three-way match between him, Moxley and Finlay at Wrestle Kingdom 18 for a new title. On December 11, Sugabayashi revealed the new title would be the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship, with the winner of the match becoming the inaugural champion.[46] On January 4, 2024 at Wrestle Kingdom 18, Finlay defeated Moxley and Ospreay in a three-way match to become the inaugural IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion. After the match, Finlay confronted Nic Nemeth, leading to a brawl between the two men.[47] He lost the title in his first title defense to Nemeth on February 23 at The New Beginning in Sapporo.[48] The following month, Finlay took part in the 2024 New Japan Cup, where he made it to the quarterfinals, but was forced to withdraw from his tournament matchup with Hirooki Goto due to a health complaint before the match took place.[49] On night 2 of Wrestling Dontaku, Finlay defeated Nemeth to become the Global Heavyweight Champion for a second time.[50]
Prior to Finlay's official debut for Ring of Honor in January 2019, his previous involvement with the American promotion was at the NJPW-ROH promoted shows, held in Korakuen Hall. His first appearance in this capacity was on 20 February 2016, where he was defeated by Jay White.[51] In February 2017, Finlay tagged with Juice Robinson and Kushida, defeating Jado & Gedo and Silas Young,[52] but the following night, he and Kushida lost to Young and Jado.[53] In February 2018, Finlay was again involved in tag matches, tagging with Robinson in a defeat to The Young Bucks,[54] and the following night, he, Robinson and Jay Lethal defeated Bullet Club (Chase Owens, Hikuleo and Yujiro Takahashi).[55]
Finlay made his debut for Ring of Honor during the January 2019 TV tapings, in a loss to Tracy Williams.[56] Robinson later announced the formation of Lifeblood, with the goal of bringing honor back to ROH; the stable included Finlay, Williams, Bandido, Mark Haskins and Tenille Dashwood.[56] Lifeblood defeated Jay Lethal's handpicked team of Jonathan Gresham, Flip Gordon, Dalton Castle and Jeff Cobb in the main event.[56] Finlay and Robinson, representing Lifeblood, participated in the Tag Wars Tournament. In the first round, they beat Alex Coughlin and Karl Fredericks,[57] and in the semi-finals, they won in a three-way dance over Lethal and Gresham and Coast 2 Coast (LSG and Shaheem Ali).[58] In the final, they were defeated by Villain Enterprises (Brody King and PCO).[58]
On October 5, 2018, Finlay participated in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre's CMLL International Gran Prix, as part of the Resto del Mundo team, and as a representative of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He lasted 29 minutes and 40 seconds, before being eliminated by Carístico. During October, he appeared in multiple tag team matches, all with the stipulation of two out of three falls.
On February 13, 2021, at No Surrender, a video package aired promoting Finlay along with his tag team partner Juice Robinson (collectively known as FinJuice) arriving to Impact Wrestling as part of a partnership between Impact and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.[59] [60] They feuded with The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson), defeating them at Sacrifice to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship. They successfully defended their titles against Gallows and Anderson in a rematch at Rebellion.[61] On the May 20 episode of Impact!, FinJuice lost the tag team titles to Violent By Design (Rhino and Joe Doering), ending their reign at 65 days.[62] They would return to the company at Slammiversary, defeating Madman Fulton and Shera.[63]
On the June 8, 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite, Finlay made his All Elite Wrestling debut, in a losing effort to Adam Page.[64]
Finlay resides in Atlanta, Georgia.[4] He became engaged to his girlfriend Ana Scott on 9 May 2017,[65] and they were married on 13 May 2018.[65]