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.

Mark Henry Talks Owen Hart, What Winning The World Heavyweight Championship Meant

Throughout Mark Henry’s wrestling career, he has soared through the competition, especially during his time in the WWE. During his interview on Sportskeeda’s Perched On The Top Rope podcast, he discusses knowing prominent wrestlers like Owen Hart. Henry discussed being a young man at the time when he first met Hart, and how he was one of the most entertaining people he has ever met.

“It was great knowing Owen,” Henry said. “He was one of the funniest, more entertaining human beings that I ever met in my life. I really appreciate the fact that I was blessed to be able to ride in the car and get the kind of lessons you need as a youngster.”

Speaking of lessons he learned, Henry would go through quite the transformation character wise, starting off as one member of The Nation, to being The World’s Strongest Man, and who couldn’t forget, Sexual Chocolate. Though he was a fan of the gimmicks, there seemed to be some people who were upset with how fast his character developed.

“Naw, I was a fan, so I loved it unconditionally. When I first started, there was a lot of people that were jealous of the fact that what I made, and me being somebody coming into the sport. I hadn’t really paid any dues, but I never really wanted to quit; I just wanted them to go away,” Henry stated.

Henry put his World’s Strongest Man character to good use, when he went up against Randy Orton for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions 2011. When Henry took the win and the title, it seemed that not only was his victory rewarding, but also how he was treated by the members of the locker room afterward.

“It was very validating and fulfilling,” Henry said. “The level of respect in the locker room and with the company raised because when you’re able to be champion, you’re on every show. You’re a draw. You’re a guy that leads the locker room. You’re the guy that has to make sure everything is working properly. I relished that moment. I was just waiting for it.”

Dolph Ziggler Talks When He Found Out About 2013 WWE MITB Cash-In, Dream WrestleMania Opponent

Ziggler spoke with 98.5’s Wrestling Inside the Ropesabout when he found out about cashing-in for the WWEWorld Heavyweight Championship back in 2013, how he thought it might have taken place one night prior, and who his WrestleMania dream opponent is.

In 2012, Ziggler defeated Christian, Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow, Santino Marella, Sin Cara, Tensai, and Tyson Kiddto win the Money in the Bank contract. He would take until the RAW after WrestleMania 29 before finally cashing-in and receiving one of the loudest pops in WWE history. Ziggler was asked when he found out it was time for his opportunity.

“Before I answer directly, I’ll answer politically,” Ziggler began. “Because it’s such a weird business when you think you’re wrestling someone that day and find out a couple hours later it’s different, then another hour later it’s different. Things change so much in those days, so, I was told I was doing something special that day, but nothing much more. Even then, sometimes when you have an important match or a big segment on the show it gets cut before the show. I was told to standby for the most part. … In this business you don’t think anything is happening until it actually happens.”

Even though it provided a memorable moment on that April 8 episode of RAW, Ziggler thought it had potential to happen the night before at WrestleMania, due to the crowd chanting his name during Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger’s title match.

“The night before at ‘Mania, I was also sitting by waiting just in case they say, ‘Hey, grab Dolph, we’re going with this’ because we do fly by the seat of our pants,” Ziggler said. “And I did hear those reactions—where during a World Title match that I wasn’t involved in—75,000 people were chanting my name and I go, ‘Man, maybe Vince is gonna say let’s go for it right here,’ so that’s why I stayed and I was a little disappointed when nothing happened. But the next night was amazing.”

With it being WrestleMania season, Ziggler was then asked who he’d like to take on and he immediately went into why he’d like to take on Kofi Kingston.

“It would have been a really cool answer if I would had said Kofi Kingston any time before three weeks ago,” Ziggler responded. “The fans know what he can do, I know what he can do, we had a best-out-of-500 series for about five years, five years ago. I know how good he is and what kind of matches we can have, if there’s a story there. For years we never had any story it was just like, ‘Hey, there’s two guys who will have a good match’ and they would put us out there a bunch.

“But knowing we have that invested time and the world is—myself included—catching ‘KofiMania’ and the cool thing about that is the locker room is behind Kofi as much as the fans are, if not more. Because we know what he’s done over the years, so I think it would be pretty awesome if it was me vs. Kofi. Of course, I’d be the bad guy, it’s who you are in real life really matches up better at WWE. I would love to see him come within an inch of becoming World Champion and I screw him out of it and then have us fight for it or something. That or 1997 Shawn Michaels and see if he can hang with me.”

Bruce Prichard Reveals CM Punk’s Reaction To Forfeiting World Heavyweight Title At Unforgiven 2008

The first World Heavyweight Championship run of CM Punk’s career came to an abrupt end at Unforgiven 2008 when he was attacked backstage by Randy Ortonand Legacy. On a recent episode of Something To Wrestle with Bruce Prichard, the former WWE producer recapped the pay-per-view and shed some light on the situation.

Punk won the world heavyweight title by cashing in his Money In The Bankbriefcase during an episode of RAW. Prichard revealed that the reason WWE put the title on him was because of injuries to top stars John Cena and Randy Orton. Despite not being considered a top star by many backstage officials, Punk had a dedicated fan base that mostly consisted of the younger audience and WWE figured it was the right time to give him a run with the title.

“CM Punk was somebody who was on the rise, and someone from the television studios – which is a much younger group of guys – really liked CM Punk for whatever reason,” Prichard said. “If you were to ask someone like me or Vince McMahon or Michael Hayes what the appeal was to CM Punk, we couldn’t tell you.

“It was until I took him up and sat him down and you actually take the time to know someone. John Cena is out, Randy Orton is out, all these guys are out. You have to make the move. It forces you to pull the trigger to make the move and pull the trigger, and with CM Punk we did that. We felt that this was his opportunity where one door shuts and the opportunity comes your way to make the most out of it. We went with CM Punk during that time, which was all there was to it. It wasn’t much more thought other than necessity that we lost all of those guys at once due to injuries that we had to put somebody else in there, you have to play the game and you needed players which were how CM Punk originally got in there. From my vantage point, and me speaking my opinion, I thought CM Punk deserved it and I thought that Punk would do well in that role.”

Punk was expected to defend his title in a Championship Scramble match during the main event of Unforgiven. However, the backstage assault that included Orton punting Punk in the face rendered him unable to compete in the match, and he was forced to forfeit his championship. Chris Jericho eventually won the title, and Prichard said it was because the WWE wanted to raise the stakes of his rivalry with Shawn Michaels. Prichard said it was a clear mistake to take the title off of Punk at the time because he needed it to elevate his status. Prichard revealed that Punk was not happy about the situation.

“CM Punk was confused. Really confused, and when you look back, to me [Chris] Jericho and Shawn [Michaels] did not need that title. They needed a prop for a ladder match, okay, but they sure as hell didn’t need the championship. I thought CM Punk needed the championship. I thought that the championship helped Punk, but at that point, it was needed for a prop to have a ladder match so as crazy and as many conspiracy theories people want to throw out there it is as simple as that,” Prichard said. “It sucked, and you can see, hindsight being 20/20 you see the interview with CM Punk where they [Legacy] jump him and Punk is not even into it. He’s frustrated and probably upset, all rightfully so by the way, so you feel before he even gets jumped he’s thinking, okay fine, I’m going to do this f**k it. It did suck because it made no sense.”

Batista On Why He Was Upset With WWE Over WrestleMania 23 Match With The Undertaker

As noted, ‘Good Ol’ J.R.’ Jim Ross recently interviewed Dave Bautista, a.k.a. WWE’s Batista, on The Ross Report. Among other things, Batista talked about his early struggles finding his way in pro wrestling, when he came into his own, and his classic match versus The Undertaker at WrestleMania 23.

 Despite coming in as a 30 year old rookie, Batista admitted that learning the ropes of pro wrestling was not easy for him. Moreover, ‘The Animal’ claimed that he was not ready for his push early on in WWE.

“There [were] a few people that believed in me and there [were] a few people that just didn’t know what the hell to make of me. And sometimes, I didn’t know what the hell to make of myself. I tell people I got into [pro] wrestling for all the wrong reasons. I was desperate, man. I was going on 30 [years old] and I didn’t have a dime to my name and I just didn’t know what to do with myself. I was somewhat of an athlete and I had somewhat of a look. I had some athletic capability, so I gave it a shot. And then, once I did, I just fell in love with it. I was obsessed with it, but often times, I found myself lost. I didn’t know what to do with myself, who to be. It was a big puzzle I was trying to figure out.

“Even when I moved up in WWE, I wasn’t ready. It took me a long time to figure out things. I just kind of… I just kept putting my best foot forward and kind of tried to show people I was working hard and that I really wanted it, but I was still trying to figure out that puzzle of being very much an introvert and it wasn’t easy. A lot of times, people took me the wrong way, so, no, it definitely wasn’t easy and I have to be the first to say I wasn’t ready.”

Batista said he felt like he came into his own around the time of his WrestleMania 23 match with The Undertaker.

“It was weird because by the time I came in for my first run with Take, going into WrestleMania 23, I believe it was, I was really starting to come into my own. And I think that match we had at WrestleMania was when I actually felt like I had really come into my own and I could really carry my own weight. I didn’t feel like people were carrying me through matches anymore or building me. It was actually that time that I could start to build other guys. That was that time when I felt like the company’s investment in me had paid off, that I was really going to start making some money for them, serious money for them.”

Additionally, Batista unapologetically offered that his match with The Undertaker should have closed the show at WrestleMania 23.

“I was really upset that we weren’t the main event. I just felt like we should have been. We deserved to be. We set some milestones with that and I know with the exchange of title and everything, it was just more significant of a match. And I also just felt like Take deserved that to be the main event and should’ve gone on last. So I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder. It was [John] Cena/ Shawn [Michaels], I believe. And I just didn’t.. I felt like we got robbed of that top spot and we should’ve had it. And I felt like our match speaks for itself. I think we had the match of the night. And I just felt like Taker should have been the last thing that people saw that night, so I had a chip on my shoulder and I was a little bent out of shape that we didn’t.”

Batista continued, “it was just a special night. It was the first time [Undertaker] held that particular title. And I still feel like we should’ve [closed the show]. Again, I say our match speaks for itself. I believe personally that we stole the show that night. I’ll just kind of leave it at that.”