David Finlay (wrestler)

On 22 December 2012, Finlay made his professional wrestling debut for German promotion European Wrestling Promotion (EWP).[1] He defeated Big Daddy Walter by disqualification. Later that evening, he teamed up with his father for an 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]

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, Finlay announced he was no longer a young lion.[1]

Finlay in August 2015

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 Japon (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 Japon 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]

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 Honor Rising: Japan shows, held in Korakuen Hall. His first appearance in this capacity was on 20 February 2016, where he was defeated by Jay White.[27] In February 2017, Finlay tagged with Juice Robinson and Kushida, defeating Jado & Gedo and Silas Young,[28] but the following night, he and Kushida lost to Young and Jado.[29] In February 2018, Finlay was again involved in tag matches, tagging with Robinson in a defeat to The Young Bucks,[30] and the following night, he, Robinson and Jay Lethal defeated Bullet Club (Chase Owens, Hikuleo and Yujiro Takahashi).[31]

Finlay made his debut for Ring of Honor during the January 2019 TV tapings, in a loss to Tracy Williams.[32] 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.[32] Lifeblood defeated Jay Lethal's handpicked team of Jonathan Gresham, Flip Gordon, Dalton Castle and Jeff Cobb in the main event.[32] Finlay and Robinson, representing Lifeblood, participated in the Tag Wars Tournament. In the first round, they beat Alex Coughlin and Karl Fredericks,[33] and in the semi-finals, they won in a three-way dance over Lethal and Gresham and Coast 2 Coast (LSG and Shaheem Ali).[34] In the final, they were defeated by Villain Enterprises (Brody King and PCO).[34]

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.