Populating the arms of your writer during the original viewing and again as he writes this, Finn Balor’s return to Full Sail dragged up the amber glow of the past to craft something thrilling for the black and gold brand’s future.
A moment that captured both the magic of the current, tumultuous times in pro wrestling as well as tear-soaked nostalgia for the NXT of old, this return spoke volumes of how the brand used to be a home for icons and is now clearly ready to be one again.
Finn Balor’s destruction at the gloves of The Fiend at SummerSlam gave rise to countless fantasy booking scenarios, but none of them featured him fronting up to NXT Champion Adam Cole for the first of what could be countless new inter-brand “dream” pairing. Dream in inverted commas because nobody had these two facing off this week in their wildest ones.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
