Jay White’s August 14 challenger speaks
As NJPW gets set for its US Resurgence on August 14, David Finlay is getting set for one of the biggest matches of his career, in the doube main event, and opposite a career long rival in Jay White. We chatted to Finlay about Resurgence and his long history with the NEVER Openweight Champion.
RESURGENCE TICKETS (P1, P3 SOLD OUT, P2, P4, P5, P6 ALMOST GONE)
Watch Resurgence LIVE in English on FITE! (live Japanese on NJPW World with English to follow)
The crowd is going to be nuts, I hope!
–So, we’re a few weeks away from Resurgence at the Torch at L.A. Coliseum. We’re welcoming fans back to US events, and it feels like there’s a little bit of light at the end of this COVID tunnel.
Finlay: It’s nice to not be at rock bottom (laughs). We’re on the upward trend, I feel.
–It’s an exciting prospect for any wrestler to get back out there in front of a capacity crowd making noise. Fans will be wearing masks at the Torch, but they will be cheering.
Finlay: Oh yeah. I’ve been watching sports these last few weeks and seeing people at arenas get amped up, which is firing me up even more to get in there and be a part of it at Resurgence.
–The first time for fans in the US in over 18 months.
Finlay: Yeah. Wrestling in Japan is one thing, but the crowds can’t really express themselves, and that makes it harder to get that adrenaline rush. Here it’ll be with a loud crowd, and an American crowd too. They’re going to be nuts, I hope, heh. It feels like the end is in sight.
I don’t think anybody expected me to make the semifinals
–Let’s reflect on the start of your 2021, because it really does seem like it was the hottest start to a year you’ve had in your career.
Finlay: Yeah. On the surface, the year didn’t start positively for most people, but I got the ball rolling and built momentum. I think people got to know me a little bit more, saw in me what I’ve been seeing in myself all along. It’s been nice to get the chance to show myself and how good I am.
–Like in the New Japan Cup.
Finlay: I went pretty damn deep, and I don’t think anybody expected me to be in the semifinals. Plus, beating Jay White to get there was a big accomplishment in itself.
–You seemed extra motivated coming into the cup. G1 Climax 30 saw Juice Robinson get selected to be in the field while you were in the US. Is it fair to say that was a big motivating factor?
Finlay: Yeah, I think that’s fair. I really believe I should have been in the tournament last year. I think I’m better than most of the guys that were in it, so I really didn’t take that decision very well. So it was time for me to put it into top gear and go harder in 2021.
It was great to be the center of all that buzz
–You’ve also had a lot of experience in IMPACT this year with Juice. Satoshi Kojima and El Phantasmo have wrestled there since, but it was a big deal for you and Juice to be the first NJPW wrestlers in an IMPACT ring for several years.
Finlay: It was nice to be the first to go over. It created a lot of buzz and it was great to be the center of all that buzz.
–How was it wrestling there?
Finlay: I really enjoyed it. It was fun, we got some great results, beat the Good Brothers for the IMPACT Tag Team Championships and we had a good run. The way we lost them wasn’t the best, but…
–Violent By Design used their Call Your Shot trophies to beat you when you’d just wrestled a match.
Finlay: Yeah, I guess they have this system where you can use the trophies for a title match anytime, so Rhino and Joe Doering took the belts. But hopefully we can get them back pretty soon. I’d really like to get back to IMPACT, I know they have crowds back soon as well (interview conducted mid July). I hope this relationship with NJPW and IMPACT continues.
–Wrestlers talk about different venues and different crowds in the towns they wrestle in. Having been in IMPACT and STRONG’s studio settings, is there any difference there? The ring itself is different…
Finlay: Yeah, the ring’s a bit different, but that’s about it. Mostly it’s just different production, and a different way of showing that space, but there’s a lot of similarities. I think STRONG really helped me going into IMPACT, because I was used to the environment a little.
–STRONG will be bringing crowds in for tapings on August 16 as well for the first time.
Finlay: I’m really excited for that. It’ll be great for STRONG. COVID really opened people’s eyes to fans being half the fun with pro-wrestling. They’re part of the environment, and that’s what makes it great.
–STRONG will be a small studio crowd of a couple of hundred, so they’ll likely be the most hardcore and passionate fans there are.
Finlay: I’m really ready to feel that energy. STRONG is a great, intimate show, so a small fired up crowd will make it an even better time.
We got close in the Dojo, and everything happened from there
–Let’s focus on you and Jay White at Resurgence. Match number 13 in NJPW with Jay, so there’s a lot of history between the two of you.
Finlay: You’re right there.
–So did it all start with you coming into Best of the Super Jr. in 2015?
Finlay: Actually we knew each other before, further than Japan. Right at the start of our careers, we were both in England at the same time, so we were acquainted before the Dojo. But we got close in the Dojo, and everything happened from there.
–So when you came into the Dojo, did you know that he was already there?
Finlay: We were friendly, so I messaged him on Twitter and asked him ‘I’ve heard the horror stories, but what’s it like there?’ And he basically confirmed the horror stories (laughs). Then he sort of showed me the ropes when it came to being a Young Lion and being in Japan. He was kind of my ‘how to live in Japan’ mentor.
–Your Dojo senpai would have been SHO and YOH at the time.
Finlay: YOH was the Dojo boss, yeah. They showed us the ropes, and then Juice came in after us.
–What was that lifestyle like?
Finlay: It was cool you know, we were young, really early 20s, so we were kind of just becoming adults. And SHO and YOH were great, teaching us a bit of Japanese, and we taught them some English. They were good times. The system sucked, it was so hard, with all the laundry and chores but having friends there helping you through it, that helped so much.
–Was there a sense of rivalry with you and Jay at that point?
Finlay: It was friendly, but there was. I think you get that at any time in the system, with Uemura and Tsuji now, or the LA Dojo, they’re tight but they want to show they’re the best. It was a friendly competition, back then.
Me beating him lit a fire in Jay
–The first time you and Jay wrestled was in Korakuen Hall in September 2015.
Finlay: I actually remember finding out about the match when I was at home. The G1 had just ended, and this was the Road to Destruction. It was the first time I’d been home since first coming to Japan. So I see I’m opposite Jay and I texted him ‘hey man, we’re wrestling one another’, ‘OK, Let’s see how it goes’.
–Were you confident going in?
Finlay: yeah, I’d say so. Perhaps overconfident in hindsight. I think me beating him lit a fire in Jay, and since then he really outworked me, in the Dojo and in the ring, as the results show.
–Jay beat you nine times in matches to follow while you were both in the Dojo system.
Finlay: That was frustrating.
–There is a pecking order, even in the Dojo. Especially now on NJPW World, fans are watching every match, and keeping score.
Finlay: Yeah. There is a pecking order, and you want to be at the top of that order. With SHO and YOH, or Tsuji and Uemura, they’re kind of 50-50, but me and Jay was so one sided. When you’re on the winning end, that’s great, but not so nice when you’re on the other end.
–Did he rub that in at all? Either friendly or otherwise?
Finlay: You know, it was like the elephant in the room. Oddly enough we never talked about it at all. He was less arrogant then.
He outright lied, and every bit of trust was gone
–Jay went on excursion in 2016 while you stayed and graduated while you were in Japan. How did that turn of events make you feel?
Finlay: I wanted an excursion myself. I wanted time to figure out who I was and come back as a star, and I didn’t actually get that time away until I got injured. I saw SHO and YOH, then Jay get excursions, but for me, it was just one day I wasn’t a Young Lion anymore. So all my experience was in Japan.
–It’s rare for non-Japanese to go all the way through the Noge Dojo system. The crowd took you as their own as a result; you’re almost more a Japanese wrestler than any other nationality.
Finlay: You know I caught myself thinking that same thing recently. I don’t have a home town in Japan, but Korakuen Hall is my home field away from home. I really feel the Japanese fans have supported me so well. Lots of energy, my favourite venue. The Japanese fans have seen the vast majority of my journey.
–Were you in touch with Jay while he was on excursion? Did you have any indication that he would come back when he did?
Finlay: November 2017, right? They had those vignettes air for weeks.
–Ah, yes, the ‘Switchblade’ teasers. There was a lot of speculation about who it would be.
Finlay: Me and Juice kinda guessed it would be Jay. I remember once we had a group video call and outright asked him if it was and he was just ‘I don’t know, I’m trying to figure out who it could be myself’.
–So he strung you guys along a bit.
Finlay: That’s where things changed with us. I outright asked him and he outright lied, and every bit of trust was gone. Seeing the person he’s become, I guess it all makes sense.
I don’t think we were on the same level, and the results tell the story
–You wrestled twice more in Korakuen after he came back, once in February 2018, and once for the US title in April.
Finlay: I remember the February one. I wasn’t sure what he would be like after he came back from excursion.
–You were a bit uncertain.
Finlay: Right. Then the title match, I was sure I had him scouted. I still think I know him better than anyone on the roster because of all the time we spent together. I really thought I had him on that second one, but I guess he had me scouted a little better.
–Obviously you had progressed as well over the years, but do you think that he had grown a level beyond?
Finlay: I don’t think we were on the same level, and the results tell you the story. He had been in the US wrestling all those guys, while I was in a comfortable environment. He had to relearn everything and that was beneficial to him.
–He gained more experience in a shorter period?
Finlay: I think that’s exactly it. He was more challenged from a match strategy standpoint and had to learn more than me during the same period.
I know I can beat him
–So what changed in the New Japan Cup? What was your key to finally beating Jay?
Finlay: I want to say it was all me. I hate to admit that it was his overconfidence that cost him. But I think it’s true. He beat me all those times, thought that it was a walk in the park and a day off.
–But like we discussed, you were motivated more than ever.
Finlay: You have to remember, I got hurt in 2019 and had to sit on my couch while Jay headlined in Madison Square Garden as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion. That really hurt. He was living my dream, and he made me ask myself, ‘if your shoulder wasn’t hurt, would you be in the main event’? I had to conclude I wouldn’t be.
–And that lit a fire in you?
Finlay: As soon as I could rehab, it was pedal to the metal and it’s been that way ever since- it’s just that the pandemic and COVID kind of hurt all that. I still trained hard, because I knew that there would be a day where I could beat someone people thought I shouldn’t be able to, and it came in the New Japan Cup.
–So now you know you can beat Jay, but Jay knows that too, and he might not be as overconfident. What’s the key to victory on August 14?
Finlay: I have to outsmart him, just get past him sometime someway. I know I can beat him, but I know his ego won’t let me do that. Beating Jay and ending the losing streak is one thing, but doing it for a title is another. It would be the perfect way for me to show I can compete with the very best.
–What role do you think that vocal crowd will play in the match?
Finlay: I think no matter what, it’s our first event back in the US, so they’ll be electric and give a lot of energy to fire us up. The crowd will be in my favour. I really do. Unless they decide they hate me but hopefully that won’t happen (laughs)!
I want to make NEVER my own
–You actually have history with NEVER.
Finlay: Ah, I guess so! The NEVER 6-Man Championships were my first titles in New Japan.
–Jay has said he takes great pride in being the ‘anti’ NEVER Champion and wrestling in a completely different style to those champions like Ishii, Goto or Makabe before him. What does the NEVER title mean to you? What kind of champion would you be?
Finlay: I actually kind of agree with Jay on this one. I’d like to take the NEVER title and mould it to what I want to be. Right now, you think of Ishii, Shibata and Shingo, that hard hitting style of wrestling. That’s in my background, but it isn’t who I am, so I want to make that title my own, and make my name synonymous with it as well.
–And where would you be while you did that? As hope fully we open up little by little, and run more events in the US, would you be coming back to Japan soon, or focused on the US?
Finlay: It really depends on where the world is. I would love to be in the G1 Climax, but at the same time things are getting hot in the US as well. It really does depend on so many things, but I will be flying the flag for NJPW whether it’s in Japan, on STRONG, on IMPACT, or wherever I show up.
