How much is WWE Finlay’s net worth? The Northern Irish retired professional wrestler has an estimated net worth of US$ 1.21 million. He is currently working as a professional wrestling trainer and producer. He has made a huge wrestling career both in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He has held more than 20 championships including the WWE United States Championship and the WCW World Television Championship.
Is Finlay the Hornswoggles’ father?
Finlay and Hornswoggle have no blood or legal relations other than being a team during their time in WWE. Hornswoggle made his WWE debut by joining Finlay on the 26 May episode of SmackDown! after which opponents of Finlay were attacked by him.
How old is Dave Finlay?
He was born on 31 January 1958, which makes his age be 63 years old as of 2021.
What s his real name?
His real (birth) name is David Finlay Jr. In addition to ‘Finlay’, he has appeared in the ring with various nicknames including Dave Finlay, Fit Finlay, Fit Finley, Dave “Fit” Finlay, The Belfast Bruiser and Sir Finlay.
Is WWE Finlay married? Who are his kids?
WWE Finlay has been married twice. His first wife’s name is Paula Valdez (Princess Paula) whom he married in 1976. Valdez was his former manager. They couldn’t continue their conjugal life as expected and finally divorced in 1979. After four years of getting divorced, he married Melanie Duffin in 1983. Duffin is German and is shortly nicknamed as ‘Mel.’
With his second wife, Finlay is blessed with three children. Their first child was born as a son named David Finlay III on 16 May 1993 who is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). David Finlay III married his girlfriend Ana Scott on 13 May 2018 and reside together in Atlanta, Georgia. David Finlay III started his wrestling career on the day when his father retired. Finlay with his Mel has also welcomed two more children both also being involved in the wrestling world.
Family background
He comes from a wrestling family background where his father (David Finlay Sr.) and grandfather (William Finlay) both were professional wrestlers. His brother named Albert Finlay used to play for Glentoran FC as a goalkeeper in the 1960s and 1970s. Likewise, he is blessed with a sister who used to work as a referee.
Nationality
He was born in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, UK and is English (Northern Irish) by nationality.
How tall is Dave Finlay?
He stands at a tall height of 6 feet and 2 inches or 1.88m and weighs about 106 kilograms or 233 pounds (billed from Belfast, Northern Ireland). He appears usually with short hair and gives special attention to his fitness and lifestyle.
Twitter account
He is active on Twitter @ringfox1 where he has amassed more than 70k followers. On his Twitter account, he describes himself as 3rd Generation wrestler and producer for WWE.
Wrestling career
In 1974, he started his wrestling career by joining his father’s promotion in Glynn. Later, he appeared as a full-time wrestler in Carrickfergus and moved to different places throughout Northern Ireland. In 1978. He moved to England and started working under the Joint Promotions banner. He gained his first title (Joint Promotions British Heavy Middleweight Championship) win on 9 June 1982by defeating Alan Kilby. During that time, his then-wife Princess Paula used to serve him as his wife.
He became the new British Light Heavyweight champion by defeating Ringo Rigby in the finals of a tournament. However, he couldn’t retain the title for a longer timer and managed to earn the World Mid-Heavyweight Championship by pinning Marty Jones.
He also wrestled in other different countries like Austria, Germany and Japan. Later, he started working as a trainer for WWF when WCW acquired it. He trained future superstars like Randy Orton and John Cena. He played a great role in the transition of the WWE Divas from bra and panties matches.
He made his first televised WWE match at the age of 47 appearing against Matt Hardy. The match took place on the edition of 20 January 2006 of SmackDown! where he lost by disqualification. Following the match, he smashed Hardy’s face after dragging him to the steel ring steps. This incident presented him in the form of a ‘villain’. He was given the nickname ‘The Fighting Irish Bastard’ because of his aggressive personality.
He started having a feud with Bobby Lashley and interrupted his match against JBL at No Way Out on February 19, 2006. He made his first WrestleMania appearance in a Money in the Bank ladder match facing five other WWE Superstars including Lashley. He participated in the King of the Ring tournament where he got victorious against Chris Benoit in the first round. However, he lost to Lashley who faced Booker T in the King of the Ring finals.
A new interesting storyline was created when Hornswoggle made his WWE debut with him on the 26 May episode of SmackDown!. Hornswoggle (Little Bastard) used to attack his opponents. Finlay defeated Rey Mysterio who was then World Heavyweight Champion.
He faced Booker T in a non-title match where he turned victorious but lost at No Mercy in a four-way match for the title. His feud with Batista continued. He was teamed with Booker T to face then WWE Champion John Cena and Batista where they were defeated.
His new feud began with The Boogeyman. He with Hornswoggle (as Little Bastard) faced The Boogeyman and The Little Boogeyman whom they defeated on February 18, 2007. On April 1, he appeared at WrestleMania 23 in a match won by Mr. Kennedy.
Finlay also started having trouble with Kane. He teamed with The Great Khali to face Kane and Batista at Saturday Night’s Main Event XXXV and were defeated. He lost to Kane on August 26, 2007, at SummerSlam but was able to take revenge by defeating Kane in a Belfast Brawl rematch. He retaliated with a victory against Rey Mysterio on the edition of 9 November of SmackDown.
On December 16, 2007, he faced The Great Khali where he turned the winner following the interference by Hornswoggle. On January 27, 2008, he was the number 27 entrant for the Royal Rumble but was disqualified as he entered before his time to save Hornswoggle from Big Daddy V and Henry.
He was defeated by The Undertaker in the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match on February 17, 2008, at No Way Out. He started making frequent appearances to save Hornswoggle from Vince McMahon. John “Bradshaw” Layfield revealed that Hornswoggle was the son of Finlay, not McMahon. As part of the storyline, he admitted the fact revealed by Layfield. He lost to Layfield on March 30, 2008, at WrestleMania XXIV.
He was drafted to the ECW brand after which he and Hornswoggle challenged John Morrison and The Miz for the WWE Tag Team Championship but they lost the match. He participated in the first-ever Championship Scramble match involving ECW Champion Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, Chavo Guerrero and The Miz. The match took place on September 7, 2008, and was won by Matt Hardy.
He grabbed the opportunity for the ECW championship after defeating Mark Henry but later lost to the champion Matt Hardy. He defeated Henry on December 14, 2008, in a Belfast Brawl match at Armageddon.
On December 25, 2009, he entered his third Royal Rumble at number 14 where he got eliminated by Kane after remaining for 30 minutes in the ring. On February 15, he lost to Jack Swagger for the ECW Championship at No Way Out. In March 2011, he was released by WWE. Following his departure, he entered into a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling several times but their agreement was never concluded. On 26 July 2011, he returned to the independent circuit where he defeated Sami Callihan at Evolve 9. He made his Ring of Honor (ROH) debut at Border Wars on 12 May 2012 where he lost to Roderick Strong. The same month, he also made his debut for Wrestling New Classic (WNC).
On 11 July 2012, he returned to WWE as a backstage producer. He has made several minor appearances, usually separating brawling wrestlers. He gave permission to Becky Lynch to replace Lana who was attacked by Nia Jax during her entrance while competing in the 2019 women’s Royal Rumble match.