The main event of Monday’s episode of WWE RAW featured World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk defending his title against Finn Bálor from The Judgment Day, who hails from Ireland.
Although Bálor ultimately came up short in the match, he received a show of respect from Punk afterward.
WWE shared a video of Bálor addressing the crowd from his home country after the show. In his speech, Bálor expressed his feelings about performing in front of his fellow countrymen.
He began by saying, “First of all, ladies and gentlemen, let’s give it up for CM Punk. I just want to say that I feel very privileged to be here tonight. I’ve done a lot in my 25-year career in this business. And tonight is, without question, the most memorable night of my career so far.”
As the crowd began to sing, Bálor responded, saying, “Ah, come on,” before continuing, “You know, I don’t get to come home very often. And this week was very special because yesterday, for the first time in almost 15 years, I got to celebrate my mother’s birthday with her. So maybe we can all sing her a belated happy birthday.”
Bálor then led the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to his mom and added, “To get to do this on home turf, on our island in front of my family, in front of my people. I wanna say from the bottom of my heart, go raibh maith agat [thank you]. And I think this night — [crowd sings] You know what, it’s true what they say, there is no place like home. Thank you very much, Belfast!”
