NJPW made the announcement last week that David Finlay would not be participating in the Nagoya event due to sudden illness, leading to his evaluation at a local hospital. The news came unexpectedly, leaving fans anticipating Finlay's presence at the event.
David Finlay is now speaking out about his injury status. He called NJPW out for keeping him from gold as well.
In light of Finlay's absence, NJPW declared Hirooki Goto as the recipient of the advancement to the semifinals, courtesy of Finlay's forfeiture. No official prognosis was given as to why Finlay was pulled from the 2024 New Japan Cup tournament. Finlay released a cell phone video from his car to really let fans know what is going on.
David Finlay accused NJPW of knocking him off his mental game before his title match against Nic Nemeth. He also addressed his currently injury status, because he's still beaten up from his cage match.
Finlay said he's had no time to rest, so he's had no time to heal. He went from a cage match to a title match to the New Japan Cup. That called for "damage on top of damage on top of damage, so they wouldn't clear me for my quarterfinal match, which quite honestly is bullsh*t."
David Finley called a foul on NJPW keeping gold away from him, because they pulled him from the tournament. He said that he would have left in a hearse if that meant he could hold gold in NJPW again. He said that a cage match took out one of his WarDogs, but it won't take out the leader.
On February 23, 2024, David Finlay faced Nic Nemeth for the IWGP Global Heavyweight Title at New Japan Pro Wrestling's The New Beginning In Sapporo event. Unfortunately, Finlay lost the title to Nemeth after a 23-minute match.
Prior to that, on February 11, 2024, at NJPW's The New Beginning In Osaka event, Finlay showcased his skills in a Steel Cage match as part of the BULLET CLUB War Dogs team. Alongside his teammates, Finlay emerged victorious after a grueling 64-minute battle against the United Empire faction. He has wrestles 9 times since that loss to Nemeth, and his last match was on March 15.
We will have to see when David Finlay is able to come back to the ring. He is not happy at all about how things are going.