– Damian Priest still walked out of last night’s WWE Money in the Bank 2024 as World Heavyweight Champion. However, there was some controversy due to one of the referee’s calls made during his title match against Seth Rollins, which later became an impromptu Triple Threat Match when Drew McIntyre cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase. Before Drew McIntyre came out, Seth Rollins had Priest in a pinning combination after a Falcon Arrow. However, the referee only counted two, when it looks like there was no visible kick out by Priest from the hold. Triple H has since commented on what took place.
It’s unclear what was exactly supposed to happen when the botch took place. During the post-show press conference, WWE Chief Creative Officer Triple H addressed the controversial pin. Below are some highlights:
Triple H on the referee call: “Referee’s decision is final. I’m looking forward to having a conversation with the referee to see what he saw that I didn’t see, that you didn’t see, that no one saw. You know, look. Human beings in a ring, mistakes happen, things happen. It is what it is.”
On how people will criticize that aspect of Priest’s performance: “But you know, it’s funny, for me, now looking at that, if that was something I was involved in as a talent, I don’t care how good the rest of it was, that would be all I would think about. And to me, it’s a shame that that’s all people will talk about, and that’s all people will hit Damian Priest with, while he had a phenomenal performance tonight, right? But a bunch of people will attack that, criticize that, comment on that. I don’t know why. That’s just the negative outweighs the positive sometimes, and to me, I wish I could just go in the back, shut off his phone, have no one talk to him for a while and just let him think about all the other great stuff that happened in that and the roll that he has been on and how great of a job he has done as world champion, and what he’s done to get there and deserve it. Right? Because he deserves all the credit in the world for all those things.”
On how Priest has stepped up as champion: “And he has stepped up to a place where when you see him as a performer now, I feel like I’m watching out a champion come out. I feel like I’m watching a top-tier guy. That’s on him. That’s how he has handled himself and made himself own that position. He’s done an incredible job of it. I’m incredibly proud of him as a performer late in his career, right? To get to this level. Something that no one ever thought that he would be able to do. Got himself in incredible shape, done an unbelievable job. I hate for it to be, ‘Oh yeah! You’re that guy that didn’t kick out the one time,’ or something. You know what I mean? That’s the shame part to me because his performance tonight was off the charts, as was Seth’s, as was Drew’s, as was Punk’s, as was everybody in this show tonight.”
You can view a clip of the moment in question from the match along with a video of Triple H’s comments about what happened below:
UHHHJMMM????? #MITB pic.twitter.com/rzfhZfWtq6
— V. ✨🐝 (@HaangEmHiigh) July 7, 2024
Triple H addresses the moment when Damian Priest didn't kick out, but the referee continued the match.#MITB pic.twitter.com/Zt9OJKZCzT
— GautamVizz (@LuckyyGautam18) July 7, 2024
