Bonus Episode: Samoa Joe vs Finn Bálor (NXT Takeover: London 2015)

In this special Grapple City Rewind Bonus Episode, Bradley Palermo and Aaron Fink head back to NXT TakeOver: London (2015) to revisit one of the defining matches of peak-era NXT: Demon Finn Bálor vs. Samoa Joe.

This is a classic David vs. Goliath clash—cut-to-the-bone athleticism versus raw power and brutality. The hosts break down Bálor’s demon persona, the crowd-driven entrance that helped redefine modern wrestling presentation, and why this version of Finn feels so distant from his current main-roster role. They also dig into Samoa Joe’s prime-era performance, highlighting his speed, physicality, and why this match stands above much of his later work.

From the indie-style crowd reactions to standout spots like Joe’s full-speed dive and the ever-looming Muscle Buster, this episode explores why NXT in 2015 felt like the closest thing WWE ever got to a true indie product—and why this match remains underrated a decade later.

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Music by Bradley Palermo & The Shadow Queens.

Created by  Bradley Palermo & Aaron Fink.

Transcript

18:09.57 Bradley Palermo Hello and welcome to this very special bonus episode of of Grapple City Rewind. 18:19.78 Bradley Palermo This week we are going back to 2015 for another match that took place that year at NXT TakeOver London. We're talking Demon Rising Finn Balor versus Samoa. 18:34.56 Bradley Palermo Joe, I'm Bradley Palermo here as always with Aaron Fink and Aaron, this was your call, your pick. Why don't you get us started on what happened that night in 2015? 19:02.78 Aaron And this was, you know, a new... He was he was kind of a different baby face. I mean, NXT definitely set itself apart from main roster during this time because they they didn't have a problem putting their energy, both creative and and booking energy behind smaller guys because Finn Balor is not. 19:11.37 Bradley Palermo yeah 19:20.93 Bradley Palermo Right. 19:21.73 Aaron You know, he's not a Hulk Hogan, he's not even a Drew McIntyre, he's probably maybe six feet tall or maybe even shorter. and 19:28.95 Bradley Palermo This is, this match is like battle of the, of the body fat percentage. 19:33.40 Aaron ah Yeah, this is ah this is definitely another David Goliath type match. And so so Finn Balor, he was kind of one of the early people to have a lot of real crowd participation in his entrance. 19:47.43 Aaron um um You probably noticed that like when he comes out, he does this like thing where he puts his arms out and the whole crowd does it too. And you know now that type of stuff happens all the time. 19:53.80 Bradley Palermo Yeah. 19:56.90 Aaron And And and it's not to say that it didn't happen before this, but this is kind of the first modern day within the last 10 years iteration of this, I think. um But it wasn't just normal Finn Balor. 20:07.25 Aaron He had to go to a deeper, darker part of his personality, and and that is his demon side. The the demon Finn Balor would occasionally make appearances throughout NXT and a little bit when he made it to the main roster. 20:22.17 Bradley Palermo We've seen it at Mania. I think that 14 stitches night, right? 20:25.86 Aaron Oh yeah. When he was, when he was against edge, you're right. 20:26.85 Bradley Palermo bro 20:28.78 Aaron Yeah. That might've been the last time we've seen demon Finn. 20:29.04 Bradley Palermo Yeah. Mm-hmm. 20:32.07 Aaron So the the real, only real difference besides the shift in his personality is the way he looks. The, he has a lot of body paint and, The idea was like always to sort of create this monstrous mouth looking thing on his chest and his face. 20:48.78 Aaron And always thought it looked pretty cool. And he also kind of wrestled a little bit differently. You know, he was... a little bit more invincible, almost kind of like ah a precursor to Bray Wyatt's The Fiend, but but like still a baby face. 21:01.88 Bradley Palermo right 21:03.11 Aaron So he would still get beat up and still have to fight from underneath. But was just a bit more like demonic and animalistic. So anyway, he's against Samoa Joe, who is just Samoa Joe as always. 21:14.84 Aaron Yeah. 21:14.97 Bradley Palermo But they were supposed to be, they they did get prep us that they were friends and that they had a falling out. 21:19.15 Aaron Yeah. They did, yeah. they They talked about how they had been friends for 10 years. They They had obviously met before their time at NXT. And when Joe got there, Finn was the champion. And Joe was like, I want a title shot. And Finn was like, yeah, all right. I guess he didn't do it fast enough because Joe attacked him and then then their friendship, you know, became contentious. And so there was some, some personal stuff behind this one. And um in terms of the crowd, they were actually kind of split for a while. If, if, you know, they were very hot, very excited, but but it did feel like there was a let's go Finn, let's go Joe going on for, for most of the match. 21:59.41 Aaron um I will, 22:00.14 Bradley Palermo Which is very kind of indie crowd vibe. 22:03.09 Aaron and 22:03.41 Bradley Palermo You know, like these guys kind of from the indies and like, I was just at GCW the other day. i mean, it's split every, every single match. Cause there's just, we're just here to see these, what these guys do and not really finish the storyline. 22:11.59 Aaron Yeah. 22:16.21 Bradley Palermo Right. 22:16.77 Aaron Yeah. and And honestly, NXT was... like as indie as WWE has ever and probably will ever get. um that The majority of the people that they had on their on the NXT roster during this time were not people that they had trained themselves. 22:24.44 Bradley Palermo Right. 22:32.54 Aaron They were all people people coming from, ah whether it was just the indies or coming from other smaller promotions. So this is about as close as you get to like a modern day GCW crowd, I would say. 22:43.19 Bradley Palermo Yeah. 22:43.82 Aaron I loved Joe in this. I thought he, I mean, it's 10 years ago, so he's going to look great, but maybe it was the crowd too. I just, I liked Joe's performance in this a lot more than most of his matches AEW. 22:56.96 Aaron Maybe some of his world title matches in AEW were on par with this and his stuff with Punk was, was pretty good too, but it's clear that like he's in his prime here or, or maybe just coming out of it. 23:06.61 Bradley Palermo Yeah. He's... Yeah, I mean, obviously, he's he's still like... Finn Balor, it's just... It's a funny contrast, right? Because Finn Balor is a cut as fuck. 23:16.28 Bradley Palermo He's like 1% body fat. Joe's like 50% body fat. But for ah a fat guy, Joe is like moving really quick, like faster than a lot of guys who would be much, much thinner than than him. 23:27.08 Aaron Mm-hmm. 23:27.75 Bradley Palermo And his style is like kicking the shit out of you, just throwing you around, beating the shit out of you. 23:31.03 Aaron Yeah. 23:32.50 Bradley Palermo And then... Finn is more like the new school modern, New Japan kickpad style sort of thing. 23:38.57 Aaron Mm-hmm. 23:48.78 Bradley Palermo Someone who... 23:49.07 Aaron Mm-hmm. 23:49.54 Bradley Palermo like Kind of has that new school flippy stuff, but not too much and still works American. 23:53.65 Aaron Yeah. 23:54.54 Bradley Palermo But But like there was a cool it was cool to see these guys kind of in their primes and the way that they were, which was very different than one another. um And it had some great highlights. 24:04.14 Aaron Yeah, there was a ah spot where Joe did a dive out to the, um, the floor and I'll be damned if he wasn't running full speed, like before he went through the top and middle rope. 24:18.02 Aaron I mean, that shit was crazy. 24:18.15 Bradley Palermo did, yeah. You don't see him jump, fly out of the ring anymore, I don't think, Joe, right? 24:22.89 Aaron Not as much. I've seen him do it a few times, but he doesn't do it every match anymore. He kind of saves it. I think that this, yeah, I mean, again, it was 10 years ago, right? 24:28.98 Bradley Palermo Yeah. 24:32.76 Aaron So he was probably 37, 36 or something like that. And so, you know, still still fairly young as wrestlers go. 24:40.80 Aaron um 24:41.46 Bradley Palermo He did a... 24:41.80 Aaron And no, you go. 24:42.59 Bradley Palermo Oh, go ahead. um He did a nice little chain move of like, it was like a power bomb that teased the Boston crab then jumped into a cross face, which I thought was, was pretty cool. 24:51.74 Aaron Mm hmm. 24:53.17 Bradley Palermo A little, little chain maneuver there. 24:55.15 Aaron Yeah, yeah, i remember that, too. it kind of looked like maybe he was going to do like a styles clash on this, but then he yeah sat down on it for for the submission. 25:00.32 Bradley Palermo Yeah. 25:03.25 Bradley Palermo Yeah. 25:03.41 Aaron Yeah, I really enjoyed this. it um Finn you know threw a lot at Joe. He was the the younger, shorter, smaller baby face. um But because of the size difference, you know there was little that he could really do to get Joe down for a considerable amount of time. 25:20.17 Aaron And watching this, it kind of made me sad because Finn's still good is this good. Finn could be... i wish I wish we got, we had baby face Finn now, you know, like I, I, there was this little hint of it. 25:32.11 Bradley Palermo yes 25:33.68 Aaron Um, NXT did like, uh, think it was called NXT homecoming and they went back to full sale just for a normal Tuesday night episode. Um, within the last few months and Finn came out for that and he came out to his original music and he did the, like the thing with the arms and the crowd did the thing with the, and I was like, man, I miss that. 25:43.38 Bradley Palermo Yeah. 25:51.49 Bradley Palermo yeah 25:53.74 Aaron Like, He's good in Judgment Day, but i'm on on Judgment Day I'm kind of tired of. 25:57.78 Bradley Palermo Well, that's what I was going to say. is When I was watching this, I thought the same thing. That Finn has been reduced to muscle for Dominic or to you know ah but you want to saadio say a lackey for the Judgment Day. 26:10.88 Aaron Yeah. 26:11.60 Bradley Palermo I I know he has matches still, but when you put someone in a group and they're not the featured member of that group... they're automatically kind of thought thought of as secondary is like mid card and and this guy can be you you know big level events i'm not saying he you know we yeah we see we saw him with edge in mania a few years ago and stuff but like finn could have a feud could have a program outside of the judgment day and it kind of made me want to see it watching this um 26:21.80 Aaron Yeah. 26:37.61 Aaron Yeah, I agree. 26:38.60 Bradley Palermo but I will say when he fought, when he fired back at Joe with sling blades and the running drop kicks and, um, yeah, it was cool. I mean, again, it was, uh, kind of like the previous bonus episode. 26:54.53 Bradley Palermo Goliath. 26:55.28 Aaron Yeah. 26:55.50 Bradley Palermo And that's what we got. I could feel that coming. but But yeah, it's it felt like in this match, Finn was the better a athlete. And he absolutely took a beating before he finally got to put Joe for the one, two, three. 27:21.04 Aaron And you know a lot of times when that happens in this era, you're like, oh shit, it's over for whoever he's got it on. But Finn escapes and, know, they were teasing Joe's muscle buster throughout the end of the match and looks like Joe's finally going to get it. 27:34.40 Aaron And I don't remember how they booked it, but it kind of seems like if he hits you with that, it's over. Like you're not kicking out. 27:39.20 Bradley Palermo Yeah. 27:39.100 Aaron So, um you know, Finn's on the top rope and he keeps fighting and fighting. Eventually knocks Joe down and hits him with the coup de grace, a double stomp. 27:49.21 Aaron And yeah, he retains. So, I again, I enjoyed it. I thought it was a lot of fun. It's it's a period of time that um people kind of I don't think people forget about it, but it's just not, you know, it's not main roster, so they don't talk about it as much as they should. 28:05.30 Bradley Palermo It's a bit underrated. Yeah. 28:06.71 Aaron Yeah. 28:07.33 Bradley Palermo Well, that's it for this special bonus episode of GCR. We are continuing to drop bonus episodes throughout the month of December as we prepare to to get back at you with season two of our full episodes covering old school pay-per-views just like before. So So keep an eye on us until we hit that magic moment in January. And in the meantime, don't forget to leave us all the voicemails you like, cut a promo on us, tell us what you think we should watch in January. What What have you? It's 626-657-SLAM. 28:40.49 Bradley Palermo That's 626-657-SLAM. We are at GrappleCityPod across social media. And we are grapplecitypod at gmail.com if you'd like to drop us a line via... 28:51.67 Bradley Palermo Email. Thanks for listening. We'll be back at you soon.