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David (Dave) Finlay (born January 31, 1958 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a British / Irish professional wrestler and road agent. He is currently wrestling in the United States of America on the SmackDown! brand of World Wrestling Entertainment under the ring name Finlay. The reigning WWE United States Champion, Finlay is perhaps best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling throughout the late 1990s as Fit Finlay.

Career

Finlay began his career in Ireland, before moving over to Great Britain in 1978. While in Great Britain Finlay wrestled for various companies under the Joint Promotions banner, with his manager and then wife Princess Paula by his side. Finlay won his first title when he defeated Allan Kilby on June 9th, 1982 to win the Joint Promotions British Heavy Middleweight title. He would trade that belt back and forth with various people over the rest of the year, but in early 1983, lost it for the last time. Finlay would win a tournament to crown a new British Light Heavyweight champion, a vacant belt at the time, defeating British Legend Ringo Rigby in the finals.

Finlay would soon lose that belt, but gain another, beating Marty Jones to win the "World Mid-Heavyweight title", although said belt never left Great Britain. Later in the year, Finlay once again defeated Marty Jones en route to winning the British Light Heavyweight title. Through 83 and into 84, Fit was always fighting for a title or defending a title.

He would achieve notoriety by winning a major British title; All-Star's British Heavyweight Championship. Finlay often competed on ITV's World of Sport programme as David "Fit" Finlay.

During this time, Finlay began to wrestle in Germany as well, for one of the biggest companies in Europe, the Catch Wrestling Association. While holding the All-Star title, he teamed with his old foe Marty Jones to win the CWA tag titles off Tony St. Clair (the man he won the All-Star title from) and his partner, Miles Zrno. After losing the All-Star title to Dave Taylor, Fit began to focus more on CWA winning many of their titles and amassing international fame, with it coming trips to Japan and Mexico, on one Japanese trip teaming successfully with the Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit).

World Championship Wrestling

Until his current run in WWE, Finlay was best known in the United States for his run in WCW from 1995-2000, first as The Belfast Bruiser and later as "Fit" Finley. His momentum began picking up after his surprising defeat of Eddie Guerrero on WCW Thunder via count-out. Soon after, he cut his dark, greased mullet in exchange for the short, blonde look he sports today and began a pursuit for championship gold. He found some success in 1998, winning the WCW World Television Championship and feuding with the likes of Chris Benoit and Booker T. Before long, he was a well established midcarder with his newly modified name, both in spelling and pronunciation, Fit Finlay.

Near the end of his WCW run, he won a "Hardcore Junkyard Invitational" at Bash at the Beach, winning a "hardcore trophy". However, he suffered a badly lacerated nerve in his leg in a hardcore match at a house show in July, which nearly cost him use of the leg. He was wrestling Brian Knobbs, was thrown into a table in the corner of the ring, and the table shattered and cut his leg. He managed to regain use of the limb and came back later in the year, but by that point, all momentum he had from the Junkyard Invitational win was lost. In 2000, Finlay formed a trio of "Hardcore Soldiers" with Brian Knobbs and Al Green. After the return of Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo to power in WCW, he was virtually forgotten on TV.

World Wrestling Entertainment

After leaving WCW, Finlay wrestled in independent promotions before retiring to become a road agent and trainer for the Divas in WWE.

Finlay began work on a comeback in 2004, and promos began airing for his impending in-ring return in December 2005. His gimmick is that of a proud native Irishman who loves to fight. His first televised WWE match was on the January 20, 2006 airing of SmackDown! against Matt Hardy, which ended in a disqualification loss for Finlay. After the match, Finlay dragged Hardy to the steel ring steps and smashed Hardy's face into them with his boot, quickly establishing himself as a heel. This helped to give him the nickname, "The Fighting Irish Bastard". On one memorable SmackDown, Finlay interfered in a Juniors Division match and brutalized the participants.

Finlay continued to establish himself on the SmackDown! roster. During Februrary and March of 2006, Finlay was involved in an intense feud with Bobby Lashley which saw the pair brawl on many occasions, including a memorable parking lot segment in which Lashley tried to overturn a car onto Finlay. Later, the pair would compete in a Lumberjack Match that Finlay would win. During this time, Finlay began to wield a shillelagh as a weapon.

On April 2, 2006 Finlay would compete in his first WrestleMania, WrestleMania 22, Finlay faced five other WWE Superstars, from both the WWE RAW and SmackDown! brands in a Money in the Bank ladder match. This match was eventually won by RAW's Rob Van Dam.

Finlay would next be entered into the King of the Ring tournament on Smackdown!, Finlay would defeat his first round opponent Chris Benoit before being defeated by his rival Lashley, who advanced to the finals at WWE Judgment Day 2006. Finlay would help the other finalist, Booker T, defeat Lashley in the final.

Beginning on the May 26 episode of SmackDown!, Finlay would be joined by The Little Bastard character who came out from under the ring to attack Finlay's opponents. The Little Bastard would continue to attack Finlay's opponents with or without Finlay's permission for several weeks. Finlay would join forces with William Regal as loyal subjects of the newly renamed King Booker and his Court. During his time as part of the court, Finlay would pick up a win against World Champion Rey Mysterio in a non-title match before defeating the courts main foe Bobby Lashley to take Lashley's WWE United States Championship.

Wrestling facts

  • Finishing and signature moves

  • Quotes
  • "Finlay! That's my name!"
  • "The name's Finlay! Remember it!"
  • "My name is Finlay and I love to fight!"
  • "My name is Finlay, and I give a new meaning to the term, Fighting Irish"
  • "My name is Finlay, some people call me a Fighting Irish Bastard, but not to my face."

  • Managers / Allies

  • Wrestlers managed by Finlay

Championships and accomplishments

Won from Tony St. Clair on February 5 1990 in Croydon, England
Lost to Dave Taylor on April 6 1991 in King's Lynn, England

  • World Mid-Heavyweight Championship
Won from Marty Jones on May 10 1983 in Croydon, England
Lost to Marty Jones on June 7 1983 in Croydon, England

  • World Mid-Heavyweight Championship (2)
Won from Marty Jones on November 2 1983 in Leeds, England
Lost to Marty Jones on May 29 1984 in Dartford, England

  • World Mid-Heavyweight Championship (3)
Won from Marty Jones on June 8 1984 in Carlisle, England
Lost to Marty Jones on October 26 1984

  • World Mid-Heavyweight Championship (4)
Won from Marty Jones on November 5 1984
Lost to Marty Jones on November 13 1984 in Carlisle, England

  • CWA World Tag Team Championship (with Marty Jones)
Won from Miles Zrno and Tony St. Clair on June 23 1990 in Graz, Austria
Lost to Miles Zrno and Franz Schumann on August 3 1990 in Vienna, Austria

  • CWA World Middleweight Championship
Won from Steve Wright on September 1 1990 in Vienna, Austria
Lost to Steve Wright on September 28 1990 in Hanover, Germany

  • CWA World Middleweight Championship (2)
Won from Steve Wright on December 21 1991 in Bremen, Germany
Lost to Franz Schumann on July 11 1992 in Graz, Austria

  • CWA World Middleweight Championship (3)
Defeated Eddie Gilbert to win the vacant title on December 19 1992 in Bremen, Germany
Title later vacated after a match against Gilbert in Bremen, Germany ends in a double disqualification

  • CWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship
Won from Buffalo Patterson on July 3 1993 in Graz, Austria
Title vacated in October 1998 when Finlay leaves the promotion

  • CWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship
Won from Tony St. Clair on December 14 1993 in Bremen, Germany
Lost to Tony St. Clair

  • CWA World Middleweight Championship (4)
Won from Paul Roma on November 25 1995 in Bremen, Germany
Lost to Franz Schumann on July 6 1996 in Graz, Austria

  • 1-time Irish National Champion

  • Joint Promotions
  • British Heavy Middleweight Championship
Won from Alan Kilby on June 9 1982 in Bath, England
Lost to Alan Kilby in August 1982

  • British Heavy Middleweight Championship (2)
Won from Alan Kilby on September 14 1982 in Croydon, England
Lost to Alan Kilby on November 10 1982 in London, England

  • British Heavy Middleweight Championship (3)
Won from Alan Kilby on November 15 1982 in Bradford, England
Lost to Alan Kilby in November 1982

  • British Heavy Middleweight Championship (4)
Won from Alan Kilby on December 21 1982 in Wolverhampton, England
Lost to Alan Kilby in January 1983

  • British Heavy Middleweight Championship (5)
Won on September 29 1984
Lost before the end of the year

  • British Light Heavyweight Championship
Defeated Ringo Rigby in a tournament final to win the vacant title on February 24 1983 in Oldham, England
Lost to Marty Jones on November 26 1983 in Manchester, England

  • British Light Heavyweight Championship (2)
Won from Marty Jones in February 1984
Lost to Marty Jones on February 8 1984 in Leamington, England

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Dave Finlay".

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