It’s not called Hell in a Cell for nothing. Finn Balor learned that the hard way during his WrestleMania 39 showdown Sunday night against Edge, suffering a mid-match gash in his head that forced the action to come to a halt for several minutes while he received medical attention.
The injury came when Edge threw a ladder at Balor, in a spot that appeared to be no more dangerous than numerous others in a bout that saw various objects used as weapons. But as Paul “Triple H” Levesque noted during the post-event press conference, “sometimes metal appliances that aren’t designed to be thrown at you can be unforgiving.”
The ladder cut Balor on the top of his head, with Levesque confirming that “he received a few staples in the ring” that managed to stop the bleeding and allow him to continue with the match. It was difficult to tell what happened in the moment, both in the arena and on the broadcast, and Levesque mentioned Balor’s face paint — he worked the match in his alter ego as “The Demon” — made it tough for the WWE staff to initially tell how much he was bleeding.
Balor shared a pic of his wound on Twitter later, with the caption “Just a flesh wound”.
Just a flesh wound pic.twitter.com/LL3B8utAk9
— Finn Bálor (@FinnBalor) April 3, 2023
Unfortunately, Balor’s toughness wasn’t repaid with a victory, as Edge was able to put him down for a three count thanks to a Conchairto. But WWE fans will be relieved to know he was OK, especially given the uncertainty while the match was playing out.