WWE.com is featuring a new Michael Cole interview with Smackdown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan where he talks about the recent Finn Balor injury and why NXT talents like Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura should already be on the main roster.
On the Finn Balor injury:
“The most tragic part…that kind of stuff happens, right? The most tragic part to me is that it happens as soon as he gets up here. And I think one of the things that really upsets me about the whole situation is that Finn Balor should have been up here a year and a half ago, right? I understand NXT is a very important part of our programming and a very important part of the network, but he was a superstar when we signed him. Some people have to adjust to the WWE style, but that takes no more than, for a guy like Finn Balor, no more than six months. He’s in the prime of his career right now. He just turned 35 the day he debuted on RAW, right? Like, he should have been here a year and half ago.”
On why other talent in NXT should be on the main roster by now:
“Samoa Joe should already be here. Shinsuke Nakamura should already be here. Those are guys in their primes and they’re down in NXT right now when they should be here. Either on Smackdown Live or RAW. The longer we wait, the more bumps they take, the more bruises they get and the more susceptible they are to injury. Everybody knows there’s a finite amount of hits you can take in your career. You don’t know what that number is. The more times you take those hits down in NXT, the less hits you are going to be able to take when you are here.”
You can check out the full interview with Bryan below.