– Insight with Chris Van Vliet recently spoke to former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest about his career, winning the world title at WrestleMania 40, wrestling Bad Bunny at Backlash in Puerto Rico, and more. Below are some highlights:
Damian Priest on facing Bad Bunny in a Street Fight at WWE Backlash in Puerto Rico: “I would think there had to have been a concern in the office too. Yes, there’s confidence in me, but at the same time, they had to have been like did we make the wrong decision here? [Clearly, they did not make the wrong decision]. 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’ [laughs]. 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.”
On what hurt Bad Bunny the most in their Street Fight: “He was in a lot of pain. 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’m gonna hit you really hard, I have to. This is one on one, it’s a street fight. I need you to not hold back. [Fight] like you’re in a street fight for real, give me all you got. I’m not gonna give you all I got because you’ll die, but I’ll give you a lot.’ And I did, I gave it to him. The one thing you have to respect, the guy is 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 three days after and he was like, I finally feel good enough to walk around. He was like, I barely come out of my bedroom, I’ve been in so much pain I feel like I’ve been in a train wreck. 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. You sure?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m sure.’ And it was one I swung like a baseball bat.”
Damian Priest on winning the World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania 40: “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? 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.”
On being chopped by Gunther: “There’s no explanation, there’s nothing you can compare it to. I don’t know, grab a frying pan and have somebody swing it 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, 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, it all hurts. So, yeah, not fun.”
Damian Priest was victorious at last Saturday’s WWE Bash in Berlin. He and Terror Twins tag team partner Rhea Ripley beat The Judgment Day’s Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan in a mixed tag team match.
