Kevin Nash Says This WWE Champ Has ‘Risen To The Occasion’

After years of Roman Reigns dominating the world championship scene in WWE, the promotion now has two distinct champions in Cody Rhodes and Damian Priest. 

In a recent episode of his “Kliq This” podcast, Kevin Nash explained why he believes that Priest — who dethroned Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 40 — has risen to the occasion as a champion.

“I just think that Damian has really fucking risen to the occasion,” Nash said. He then explained how he feels Priest’s star power made him seem physically larger than he actually is, especially in comparison to Drew McIntyre. “Like, he just looked like a star, he looks so comfortable, he looked like he should have that belt.”

Some fans were, at first, not too positive about Priest’s title run in the early days of his reign, but Nash claims that he, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman (X-Pac in WWE) knew great things were coming back in “NXT.” “I thought he was going to be a star. Scott and I both, but Scott was the one, you know, that really was dead on with him, as was Kid [X-Pac].”

Despite this, Rhea Ripley is far more over in The Judgment Day than any of its members, and Nash believes that Priest might just be carrying some of her star power right now. “She’s a once-in-a-generation talent, so when you’re packaged with her and you’re going out and she’s doing a lot of the mic work, you know. Like, how much of that is now he’s carrying the torch along with the strap?”

Since becoming champion, Priest has defended his title against Jey Uso at a televised event and is set to face Drew McIntyre at Clash at the Castle later this month.

Damian Priest Leaves WWE WrestleMania 40 With World Heavyweight Title Thanks To CM Punk

The Judgment Day’s Damian Priest cashed in his Money in the Bank contract during Night 2 of WrestleMania 40 — with a little help from CM Punk, who was on commentary for the initial match.

Drew McIntyre won the World Heavyweight Championship from Seth Rollins in the night’s opening match with a Claymore Kick in a battle of finishers. McIntyre started off the match against Rollins hot, hitting the Claymore within seconds and attempting to pin the former champion. McIntyre and Rollins traded finishers and attempts at them throughout the match. At one point, Rollins was able to hit a Stomp from the Spanish announce desk to McIntyre’s head on the English announce desk. McIntyre was still able to pull out the victory and took the championship ringside to his wife. He then got in Punk’s face; Punk swept McIntyre — who was on top of the announce desk at that point — off his feet, took off his triceps brace, and started to beat the new champion down.

That’s when Priest’s music hit. The former Punishment Martinez ran down the ramp with the briefcase, hit McIntyre with it, rolled back in the ring, and cashed in, hitting the South of Heaven for the win. Priest met the rest of The Judgment Day at the top of the ramp in celebration, leaving Philadelphia the new World Heavyweight Champion one night after he and Finn Balor lost the Undisputed tag team championship in a six-team ladder match on Night 1.

Popular WWE Star Earning HUGE Backstage Praise

Damian Priest continues to draw considerable backstage praise in WWE, reports PWInsider’s Mike Johnson.

The report states that in recent months, the Judgment Day man has impressed WWE management for “how hard and physical he’s worked,” having “gutted through” periods of injury and wear and tear. Despite these issues, Priest has kept going.

PWInsider had reported in May that Priest was seen as a “top-level player” in WWE, with decision-makers eyeing him for a major Raw push. Damian has since won the 2023 Money in the Bank contract, guaranteeing him a future World Title shot – and PWInsider notes that his rave reviews have continued.

Priest currently stars as one of WWE Raw’s top acts in the Judgment Day, alongside Rhea Ripley, Dominik Mysterio, Finn Balor, and JD McDonagh. As announced on Monday’s Raw, the heel group’s male contingent will face Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes, Jey Uso, and Sami Zayn in this year’s men’s WarGames match at Survivor Series 2023 (25 November).

Damian, 41, has been with WWE since signing in October 2018. His status as Señor Money in the Bank makes him the red-hot favourite to dethrone Rollins, the current World Heavyweight Champion.

Cody Rhodes And Jey Uso Defeat The Judgment Day, Win Tag Team Titles At WWE Fastlane

A little over six months ago, Jey Uso was in the corner of Roman Reigns as he defeated Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania, putting an end to Rhodes’ attempt at “finishing the story” in pursuit of the WWE Undisputed Heavyweight Championship. Tonight, the pair finished a different story together, capturing the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championships, defeating Finn Balor and Damian Priest of The Judgment Day.

The match was your typical back-and-forth affair until Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio came down the ramp to join their Judgment Day allies. After Mysterio ate a superkick from Uso, the latter resumed his recent flirtation with Ripley, which was distraction enough to turn the tides for Priest as Uso made his way back into the ring. Senor Money in the Bank hit a hurricanrana on Uso, but appeared to tweak his knee in the process.

Priest’s knee would play a factor in the finish as, while he was attempting to introduce Rhodes to the announce table, JD McDonagh appeared and swung the Money in the Bank briefcase at Rhodes, only to miss and hit Priest square in the injured knee. That led to teamwork from Uso and Rhodes back in the ring with Uso holding Balor as Rhodes hit a Cody Cutter that came across a lot like a 1D for the 1-2-3.

New United States Champion Crowned On WWE Raw

Finn Balor won the WWE United States Championship on Raw last night, defeating Damian Priest to capture the title for the first time in his career.

Balor won the title after a 10-minute back-and-forth match that saw him counter a Priest attempt at the Reckoning with an inverted elbow drop, followed by a shotgun dropkick and Coup de Grace. The win marked Finn’s first main roster title since he held the Intercontinental Championship during the spring and summer of 2019. He also held the NXT Championship for seven months in 2020-21.

It’s been a rocky road for Balor, who returned to the main roster last year and was injected into a main event feud against Roman Reigns, which ended when the Demon character suffered his first loss when the top rope broke. After that, Finn meandered about until he was drafted to Raw last fall. We later learned that WWE higher-ups don’t view him as someone to really push and is more there to get other guys over, which makes this title win part confusing, part suspect that this might be a pretty short reign.

As for Priest, his six-month reign came to an abrupt end and then was punctuated with a heel turn, as he laid out Balor after chastising the fans for not rallying behind him more. Damian promised to try to win the title back soon, so perhaps we’ll see him recapture his championship in short order, making Balor’s win just the catalyst for the heel turn.

Scarlett Bordeaux Reveals Which WWE Superstar She Was Supposed To Manage

While interacting with fans at a recent Signed By Superstars event, Scarlett Bordeaux revealed that she was originally supposed to manage United States Champion Damian Priest in the WWE.

“I don’t know if you know this, but the original plan was for me to manage Damian Priest, because we weren’t sure if Kross was going to be free,” Scarlett revealed. “Then Kross got signed (by WWE).”

Bordeaux didn’t go into specifics on whether she would have managed Priest on just NXT or also the main roster. She would eventually serve as a valet to her fiancé Karrion Kross (Killer Kross) during her NXT run.

Bordeaux was signed by WWE in November 2019, prior to which she worked with Kross on the indie circuit. It wasn’t until February of 2020 that Kross joined WWE.

Both Bordeaux and Kross were released by WWE as part of the November 4 budget cuts. While Kross had a brief run on RAW, Bordeaux was never called up to WWE’s main roster.

Bordeaux has already returned to the indie scene after her WWE non-compete clause expired, with Kross set to become a free agent on February 2, 2022. As we’ve noted, Kross recently joined the Control Your Narrative movement, alongside EC3 and Adam Scherr (Braun Strowman).

New Champion Crowned At WWE SummerSlam

Damian Priest is your new WWE United States Champion.

Last night’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view saw Priest capture the strap from Sheamus.

This is Priest’s first title reign in WWE. Sheamus won the title from Riddle back at WrestleMania 37 Night Two on April 11, and held the title for 129 days.

New WWE SummerSlam Title Match Revealed

The WWE United States Title match is now official for SummerSlam.

After weeks of feuding between Damian Priest and WWE United States Champion Sheamus, their title match was confirmed for SummerSlam during tonight’s RAW episode from Orlando.

RAW saw Sheamus defeat Ricochet in singles action, right before Priest defeated John Morrison. After that match, Priest cut a promo on Sheamus until The Celtic Warrior interrupted him. They had words on the mic until Priest issued a challenge for the pay-per-view. Sheamus accepted the challenge and the match was confirmed.

WWE SummerSlam takes place on Saturday, August 21 from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Below is the updated confirmed card, along with a few related shots from tonight’s segment on RAW:

WWE Universal Title Match
John Cena vs. Roman Reigns (c)

WWE Title Match
Bill Goldberg vs. Bobby Lashley (c)

Triple Threat for the RAW Women’s Title
Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Nikki A.S.H. (c)

SmackDown Women’s Title Match
Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair (c)

SmackDown Tag Team Titles Match
The Mysterios (Rey Mysterio, Dominik Mysterio) vs. The Usos (Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso) (c)

WWE United States Title Match
Damian Priest vs. Sheamus (c)

Edge vs. Seth Rollins

Why Damian Priest Has Vanished From WWE Television

Damian Priest is dealing with a back injury, hence why he hasn’t been on WWE television in over two months.

This is according to Dave Meltzer. Speaking on today’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer commented on Priest’s known back issues, saying he worked through them at WrestleMania 37 and beyond.

Priest teamed with Bad Bunny to defeat John Morrison and The Miz that night. The former NXT North American Champion kept a busy schedule afterwards, working every single episode of Raw and the WrestleMania Backlash pay-per-view until 17 May, when he beat Morrison in a lumberjack match. This was the last time the 39-year-old competed on WWE television.

There is currently no word on the severity of Priest’s back injury or how long he will be on the shelf for.

Priest left NXT for the main roster in January, signing off with a defeat to Karrion Kross, who became NXT Champion three months later. The big man was quickly pegged for a considerable push on Raw, hence his positioning alongside a major mainstream celebrity in Bad Bunny. His back issues have presumably put a halt to that for now.

WWE Sees Damian Priest As Its Next Big Latin Star

WWE sees Damian Preist as its next big Latin American star.

Dave Meltzer reported as much on today’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, giving the 38-year-old a “real good chance” of filling that void, talking up his look, promos, and in-ring ability.

WWE has been looking for another Latin star since Alberto Del Rio left the promotion, according to Meltzer. They like Priest, who is coming off really well on television and has benefitted from his partnership with Bad Bunny, as positioning him opposite the world-famous recording artist means Vince McMahon can’t afford to let Damian’s booking waver.

Meltzer added that Priest will be protected until at least WrestleMania 37, and probably after. He won’t be losing many matches until Bunny leaves – if any.

Priest and Bunny have been linked with a WrestleMania tag team match against John Morrison and The Miz. This would be dependent on Miz losing the WWE Championship, which he is expected to do before ‘Mania.

The former NXT North American Champion was called up to the main roster in this year’s Royal Rumble, having been written off NXT television after a loss to Karrion Kross earlier in January.