[9] Finlay defeated Alan Kilby on 9 June 1982 to win his first title, the Joint Promotions British Heavy Middleweight Championship.

[16] He then won a tournament to crown a new British Light Heavyweight champion and fill the vacant position, defeating Ringo Rigby in the finals.

In the second half of the 1980s, he defeated Frank "Chic" Cullen on television for the British Heavy Middleweight Championship, but later lost it to Danny Collins.

Finlay often competed on ITV's World of Sport programme as Dave "Fit" Finlay on which he had many matches against Jones, Collins, Big Daddy (whom he fought on TV during coverage of the 1984 and 1986 FA Cup Final matches) and "The American Dream" Steve Adonis, as well as on Williams' Welsh language wrestling show, Reslo, for S4C.

[5] While holding the British Heavyweight championship, he teamed with former rival Marty Jones to win the CWA tag title from Tony St. Clair and Mile Zrno.

[20] Finlay made his WCW debut on 27 January episode of Saturday Night by emerging from the stands to viciously attack Lord Steven Regal, with Tony Schiavone stating "It says Northern Ireland on the back of his jacket", as the only means of identification at the time.

[22] Bruiser won his first match in WCW on 10 February episode of Saturday Night by defeating enhancement talent Mike Marcello.

The feud played out over subsequent Saturday Night episodes in which the Bruiser and Regal's stablemates The Blue Bloods (Squire David Taylor and Earl Robert Eaton) interfered in each other's matches.

[29] Finlay would then take a hiatus off WCW television for a stint in Catch Wrestling Association, while abandoning the Belfast Bruiser persona in the process.

He made his televised return on the 25 October episode of Saturday Night as Fit Finlay, sporting a new look of short bleached-blond hair and no mustache.

He returned from the tour of NJPW in December and then teamed with Flynn against Brian Adams and Scott Norton in a losing effort at Starrcade.

In the summer of 1999, Finlay resumed his alliance with Taylor, which also expanded to include former rival Steven Regal, but the trio did not achieve much success.

At Bash at the Beach, he won a Junkyard Invitational involving Ciclope, Jerry Flynn, Johnny Grunge, Hak, Horace Hogan, Brian Knobbs, Hugh Morrus, La Parka, Steve Regal, Rocco Rock, Silver King, Dave Taylor, and Mikey Whipwreck, winning what was initially announced to be for the "WCW Hardcore Championship", although the actual lineage would not begin until Mayhem (1999), thus leaving Finlay with a trophy instead of an actual championship.

He managed to regain use of the limb and would return to WCW at Starrcade by assisting Knobbs in interfering in Norman Smiley's Hardcore Championship title defense against Meng.

At the 2000 Souled Out event, Finlay unsuccessfully challenged Knobbs for the Hardcore Championship in a four-way match, also involving Smiley and Meng.

When WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; now WWE), Finlay began working for the company as a trainer for new wrestlers.

[35] Finlay next entered the King of the Ring tournament on SmackDown!, defeating his first round opponent Chris Benoit,[36] before being beaten by his rival Lashley, who advanced to the finals at Judgment Day.

[44] After the title loss, Finlay continued to attack and wrestle threats to court leader King Booker and his newly won World Heavyweight Championship, including Lashley and Batista.

At Armageddon, Finlay and King Booker faced Batista and his partner, WWE Champion John Cena from Raw but were defeated.

[61] Finlay then began making occasional appearances on Raw to protect Hornswoggle from Mr. McMahon, who had been showing him "tough love".

[70] On the 13 March episode of SmackDown, Finlay defeated The Brian Kendrick to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 25.

Finlay stated that his intention was to intensify the audience's dislike of the Miz in preparation for the latter's WrestleMania XXVII main event appearance, but accepted full responsibility for his dismissal.

[78] After being released from WWE, Finlay was contacted by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) several times, but was unable to agree upon contractual terms.

[79] On 20 August 2011, Finlay made his debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), taking part in the 2011 Battle of Los Angeles tournament.

[87] On 24 May, Finlay made his debut for Wrestling New Classic (WNC), the follow-up promotion to Smash, defeating Akira in the main event.

Finlay's first tour of WNC concluded on 27 May, when he, Akira and Syuri defeated Kana, Mikey Whipwreck and Tajiri in a six-person main event.

[6] Following a stint on the independent circuit and a year after the house show incident, Finlay returned to WWE on 11 July 2012 as a backstage producer.

On 16 April 2020, Finlay was among the several WWE employees who were furloughed as part of the COVID-19 budget cuts but returned to work in November of the same year.

"[98] Other women wrestlers such as Torrie Wilson, Lita, Jazz, Stacy Keibler, Molly Holly, The Bella Twins, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Trish Stratus, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Lana, Bayley, and Ronda Rousey have credited Finlay for helping them hone their wrestling abilities and find their identities.

[104] His youngest son, Brogan, trained for a brief time at the New Japan Pro-Wrestling dojo before the COVID-19 pandemic, and was signed to WWE in December 2023, where he currently performs under the ring name Uriah Connors.