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Damian Priest On Rhea Ripley, Wrestling Bad Bunny, Winning The World Heavyweight Championship At WM40
Damian Priest (@ArcherOfInfamy) is a professional wrestler currently signed with WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Cleveland, OH to discuss his Money in the Bank victory in 2023 that led to his World Heavyweight Championship reign that began at WrestleMania 40, wrestling Bad Bunny at Backlash in Puerto Rico and what that match meant to him, his time in The Judgment Day, his friendship with Rhea Ripley, R-Truth getting him to break character live TV, nearly giving up on his dreams of becoming a professional wrestler, what a Gunther chop feels like and more.
Quote I'm thinking about: "The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding."
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“I mean, it has. Somebody put it in perspective the other day, I’ve been on the main roster for three years. When you really think about all the stuff that’s happened in the last three years, this is wild. So it’s a lot being thrown at me, and then it’s one of those things that is, they say, enjoy the moment. It’s kind of hard to when you got to look forward at what’s next and what’s next and what’s next. Every once in a while I’ll take a breath and look around and like, wow. But it’s one of those things that, yeah, it’s a lot, but this is what I wanted.”
“Like I said, you gotta take a breath and really think about it, even if it’s while you’re laying in bed or just on a car ride to the building, on a bus to the next town, or whatever it is, look around and really appreciate this is a different life, something that you couldn’t have even envisioned but you wanted. Those are the moments that I take to really appreciate it. Every now and then it hits me hard, especially, like I said, when I’m alone and I have a day home off, I just really think about everything and I’m in awe of everything that’s happening around me. Like, I don’t know how this happened, but I’m happy it did.”
“If I’m being honest, it was emotional. I partied with my friends and family afterwards. We had a celebration, it was a great time. But then when I got back to my room, it was kind of one of those things where I was like, What is this? How is this happening? And yet, just holding the title in my hand, looking at it, and just it was like one of those things, like, my entire life flashed, everything I had to go through to get to that point. It was one of those realizations of I thought I had regrets. I thought I wished I could do things differently, and then it was one of those things where it was like no, this is exactly where I’m supposed to be, and this is the only way it would have happened.”
“I gave up on the idea of working for WWE. You know, I tried multiple times to get in and in 2017 when I got an email saying nothing for you here. I gave up and I was just focused on you know what? Let me just live a happy life and figure it out. Then they called me, which is crazy how that worked. When I gave up, that’s when they wanted me. It wasn’t like I gave up the dream of wrestling. I was still wrestling. So I was like, I guess I’ll just stay in Ring of Honor. I get to wrestle, and that’s what I wanted to do anyway and it’s cool. It was small at the time, but it was still a television program. So I was like, Hey, I’m on TV. I’m doing what I wanted to do when I was a kid. It’s okay. Then here we are in the WWE. So yeah, even in WWE, there were many times I looked around and seeing everybody and how people, some of them are progressing faster than others. Although it happened fast for me, there were still times that I wasn’t sure if it was going to be like that. Maybe it’s cool that I made it, but this is it. It was one of those things like I don’t know if I belong, I don’t know what the future is going to be, and not that I gave up, but that I did doubt. And I was like, I don’t think this is going to happen. I never thought I was gonna be world champ.”
“So I was never a believer in the power of positivity till I decided to change my life around. When I have those moments of doubt, it’s like all right, well, even though you doubt, still strive for that. Because even if you don’t make it, you’re gonna encounter a lot of cool stuff on the way, on the journey. If you put your best foot forward, you give it everything you got, and you work your ass off for your own dream and your own goals. Even if you don’t make it to the finish line, the stuff you’re gonna experience and accomplish on that route, you’re gonna be proud. I mean, there’s no way you’re not. So that’s what kept me pushing.”
“There’s a lot, but the main one was The Undertaker. I’ve never been shy about that one. That was my idol, watching him. It wasn’t even so much the wrestling, it was just the aura, the presentation, everything. I remember how I felt, and then that’s when I knew I needed to make people feel this way. Because I was big into comics, I wanted to be a comic book superhero or supervillain, where people are that emotionally invested in me, like even as a little kid I knew that. Maybe I couldn’t articulate it that way, but I knew that. Then obviously, I saw Razor Ramon, who I legit thought was a Latino, as a little kid you don’t know the difference. I’m sure my dad knew, this guy had a fake accent, but I didn’t know. I sort of was like, Yo, he’s one of us. Then as you get older, you learn of other wrestlers. Sting was another one, I loved Sting. Still do. Just the character, especially when it became The Crow, and I thought it was the coolest thing. And then Attitude Era obviously happened and I was in high school, so Austin and Rock were my favorites. Obviously, Taker was always there, then DX. I was a Bret fan but then nWo took over, and then that was it for me, you know, nWo all the way. But I would watch WCW just for the nWo, and then that’s it. nWo and some of the cruiserweights, then I would switch back.”
“I think the first, because I’ve morphed a few times, but I think the first big jump was after my match with Finn Balor at In Your House at the Performance Center, just during the COVID era. I don’t know, I can’t even explain what happened that day. It was just something clicked, and I just let loose. I remember getting to the back and Shawn and Hunter were waiting for me, and he was like, that’s the guy I need to see from now on, there’s no going back that guy that guy that was out there, that guy’s money, you have to be that guy always, stop pretending. Hunter told me and it’s cool because he gave me advice that I guess Taker had given him. And he goes, Taker told me this once, when you learn how to just be yourself, you’re gonna make a lot of money in this business. Then he was like, I know that’s weird, because how the hell do you not know yourself? It’s you. And sure enough, I was like, yeah, what the hell does that mean? And then I figured it out. It’s just we try to be a version of ourselves that we think everybody else expects, which is not you, you’re still pretending. I think now is the closest to really me that you see, especially with The Judgment Day and Rhea, you saw a different version of me. I like that I could show off different layers, like, when I did work with Truth, that just showed a different layer to me like, Oh, I’m a normal person, but still, I’ll kill you. But, yeah, going back, it was that moment with the match with Finn Balor. He just brought something else out of me. And then Finn and I became boys after that match, because I was like, I’d love to do that again. And he was ecstatic about it, and he chose me. At the time, I think he was supposed to go into a program with Gunther, the pandemic happened, they just couldn’t work. And I think they asked him, like, Well, who would you like to work with? And he picked me, and I’m grateful for it.”
“Ah Ronnie, that guy. I mean, look, it goes without saying at some point we’re gonna have to team, we’re gonna have to properly. The guy is unbelievable how talented of a performer, actually, I can’t even say he’s a performer that’s him. Because we’re in the locker room or backstage, just walking by off camera and the guy has me in tears sometimes laughing. It’s unbelievable how funny he is, and it’s just his natural way of being. He’s just a funny guy and really lovable person. So everything you see on TV that’s real, that’s why. And it’s clear as day that he broke me a few times.”
“Oh, man, there’s a few. The one that always comes to mind is we were in the ring and he said something about I could see it in your eyes or something. I turned around because I was supposed to be serious, I wanted to be serious in that moment for me. I wasn’t told to, but I wanted to be serious. So I turned around to laugh, and the cameraman is right there on me, and that’s what showed on TV was me laughing and then turning back around serious. That one always stands out to me because it was in the ring, but there’s a bunch of backstages that I just couldn’t help it. It is what it is.”
“When it became official, because what a lot of people don’t know is that there was back and forth that it almost didn’t happen in Puerto Rico. Plain and simple, I don’t think we would have done the match if it wasn’t in Puerto Rico, we were only going to do the match if it was in Puerto Rico. So when they announced Backlash in Puerto Rico, I was like, Okay, this is real. This is happening. The island is getting a little shout-out, we get to represent. And for me it was always, of course, I’m a very proud Puerto Rican, but it was just representing the Latin community, all Hispanics. That, to me was opening the doors for a lot of stuff. And I’m not saying that Puerto Rico did, but look at how many PLEs we’re doing outside the immediate. I feel like the crowd reaction there got the company excited for man, let’s see what else they can do. So we were excited and thrilled for that representation. Obviously, I was nervous that the idea of this has got to be really good. It’s me versus Bad Bunny one on one in a high-profile match, this isn’t just a typical celebrity match, they do two or three moves, and it’s hi and bye. We’re gonna go 20-plus minutes, have to get everybody emotionally invested into this. And it’s more than just again, just people clapping hands for a celebrity. People needed to feel sympathy, excitement, fear, you know, all of it, that’s what you want. So that there was nerves. In that sense, I knew that the work was going to be put in on Bunny’s side, like I did not worry about him not being ready. But you never know of how things are going to play out.”
“I would think there had to have been a concern in the office too. Like, yes, there’s confidence in me, but at the same time, they had to have been like did we make the right decision here?”
“Thank you. I don’t think so either, and I don’t think they do either. But I’m sure beforehand, because there was talk of changing it to a tag match. But at the same time, Bad Bunny and I were very adamant. We were like we don’t want to do a tag match, and I was proud of that one. Because, obviously I helped train Bad Bunny. I pieced this match together the way I envisioned it, and he did as well. He had input, and he had great ideas, and then I was very adamant about all the representation. I wanted to use the LWO, I requested Carlito and Savio maybe requested it under the guise of, you know, Bad Bunny thought it was a good idea [laugh]. But they added so much, especially for the crowd. It was a cool moment, it wasn’t a typical match. So it’s like, Well then let’s go all out. If we’re going to do it, let’s go all out. And it was great that everybody was receptive and they thought it was the right move and clearly it was. I mean, every moment of that match, I thought was great. Hands down my favorite match, just because of what it represented. It was bigger than any win or loss.”
“When we were training, and it was one of those things, I was like, we got to train a little harder than we did the last time. I explained to him, I was like, I’m gonna hit you really hard, I have to. This is one on one, it’s a street fight. I was like, I need you to not hold back like you’re in a street fight for real, give me all you got. I was like, I’m not gonna give you all I got because you’ll die, but I’ll give you a lot. And I did, and I gave it to him. That was the one thing like you got to respect the guy that’s not from this business. His body is not used to taking that much physical impact and he kept on getting up. Granted he told me that it took him a few weeks to recover, and he messaged me like three days after, and he was like, I finally feel good enough to walk around like he was, he was like, I barely come out of my bedroom, I’ve been so much pain, I feel like I’ve been in a train wreck. And I think the worst thing for him was one of the Kendo stick shots, and I only got one. He gave me like 20 of them. I gave him one shot, but I did tell him. I was like, I’m only gonna hit you once. Don’t worry. And he goes, Oh, okay. He goes, You sure? I was like, Yeah, I’m sure. And it was one I swung like a baseball bat.”
“No, no, that’s one of those things like we’ll see what happens. When I won the briefcase, I wasn’t sure if I was going to cash in that night. They don’t tell you everything, just putting that out there. And other people think that we know. They might have a long-term plan, which I know they did, yeah, but they don’t really articulate it fully to you, probably for the main reason. Also the reason of, they don’t want you to get amped up and hyped, and then, sorry, things change, then you’re heartbroken, because that’s not cool, either. So I’m pretty sure they like to keep it [secret], but when they do tell you, they tell you things can change. So take it with a grain of salt type of thing.”
“The world has changed. When they say my age out loud, like you just did, it reminds me of like, oh, wow, I actually am that age. But I don’t think that way. I don’t feel that way. Maybe because I am immature, I don’t know [laughs].”
“That was pretty much the conversation. Actually, they didn’t say you can’t do it anymore. It was like a conversation of look, obviously, it’s a similar move, it’s different, but it’s still similar. I do it differently, but it’s one of those things. They’re like, you might want to [think about it], but they never said change it. And even Cody was like, You don’t have to change it. I was like, Yeah, but if you come back and I’m doing this move every time I hit it, people are gonna think of you. But at the end of the day, it is a rolling cutter, right? So I was okay with it. So basically, anytime I face Cody, I’m gonna hit him with it [laughs]. But look, it’s a move. It’s not that serious. I think everybody else thinks it’s more serious than we do. I really didn’t care. I was like, Okay, I’ll just go back to using the South of Heaven or Razor’s Edge or the flat liner that I do. I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to use. I haven’t even started using submissions yet, and I’ve got a few! That’s what I mean, there’s a lot of stuff that we can do. I wasn’t mad, I wasn’t upset, I just didn’t want everyone to think of him every time that I did a move. It’s one thing paying homage to somebody, it’s one thing to do a move similar to someone who works somewhere else, but when they work in the same company, on the same show, it’s like alright, there’s got to be a difference.”
“I can’t even, there’s no explanation, there’s nothing you can compare it to. I don’t know, grab a frying pan and have somebody swinging as hard as they can against your chest. But him and Drew, these guys just with these heavy hands, just ginormous people, and they’ve perfected the art of slapping, which is crazy. It’s ridiculous. It’s brutal. I mean, you’ve seen it. It sucks. Like, there’s no other word for it. It sucks. I hate being marked up like that, and it doesn’t go away right away. You’re just marked up and you take a shower, it hurts. Take a deep breath, it hurts. You put on a t-shirt. It hurts, like it all hurts. So, yeah, not fun.”
“To help my family, that I have changed my life around and that my story can inspire others.”
