Add another name to the list of potential New Japan talents that could be leaving the promotion soon.
Once again, Fightful Select has reported that David Finlay’s contract is slated to expire soon. The interesting thing is that Finlay just dropped the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship to Yota Tsuji at Wrestle Kingdom 19. However, he did win his match against Brody King at Wrestle Dynasty, so the title loss may not be because he’s leaving the promotion.
The fourth-generation star has been with New Japan for nearly a decade. Though he’s never won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Finlay is a former IWGP Tag Team Champion (with Juice Robinson), NEVER Openweight Champion, and a NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champion. Unless Finlay really has the desire to become the IWGP heavyweight Champion, The Bullet Club War Dogs leader could be searching for a new home once his contract expires.
Finlay does have WWE ties. His dad is Dave Finlay, who still works with the company as a trainer, producer, and assistant coach. His brother, Brogan Finlay, is currently under NXT contract as Uriah Connors. It’s likely that Dave could end up in WWE, as he has expressed his interest in the past.
"I mean, my only (WWE) contact is my dad, my only contact needs to be my dad so, on one hand, it’s never been talked about officially but on the other hand, about every other time I go over for dinner, it gets talked about because he’s like, ‘Yeah, you can come work with me’ so it’s like, mhm, when I’ve accomplished all I need to accomplish in Japan, maybe I’ll entertain the option but for right now, I got a IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship to win and make world-famous," David said on Cultaholic’s Desert Island Graps podcast.
We’ll see if David finally makes the jump over to WWE. He continues on in the podcast talking about his brother and how he was trying to sweet talk him into joining New Japan:
"So I guess we got my dad as an option (potentially being a good addition to BULLET CLUB). The old wise man in this day and age I would say. 63 years old, I wouldn’t wanna be on his bad side still. We got my little brother, who actually just signed to NXT…
Yeah (I’ve given him some brotherly wisdom), save your money. I’m really proud of him. He just turned 21 this year. That was the age I was when I started (at) the dojo. He’s been very good with, ‘I don’t wanna do what dad did, I don’t wanna do what you did. I wanna be my own man’ so, I’ve been obviously trying to sweet talk him into like, ‘Hey! You can do Japan for a few years’ but, he was like, ‘Nah. I wanna go do my own path.’ So, I’m very proud of him. I think he’s gonna be very successful in about two, three years. The Finlays are gonna be running the entire industry."