Damian Priest’s first United States Championship defense will take place on tonight’s episode of Raw.
WWE has announced that Priest will kick off tonight’s Raw by issuing a United States Championship open challenge. Priest won the US title by defeating Sheamus at SummerSlam.
On last week’s post-SummerSlam edition of Raw, Priest confronted WWE Champion Bobby Lashley during the opening segment of the show. A non-title match between Lashley and Priest then took place, but it ended in a disqualification when Sheamus attacked Priest. Drew McIntyre then made the save for Priest.
After McIntyre made the save for him, Priest & McIntyre defeated Sheamus & Lashley in a tag team match on Raw last week. Lashley walked out on Sheamus during the match.
Tonight’s Raw is being held at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. Lashley will face Sheamus in a non-title match on the episode.
Doudrop vs. Eva Marie is also set for tonight’s Raw. John Morrison vs. The Miz was announced for the episode but isn’t currently listed on WWE.com’s show preview.
Damian Priest won the WWE United States title tonight at SummerSlam.
The finish of the match had Sheamus applying a knee lock on Priest. After struggling, Priest grabbed the face mask of Sheamus, ripping it off and exposing his face. Both men made it to their feet, where Priest connected with a kick then planted Sheamus with the Reckoning, pinning him to win the WWE United States title for the first time.
Sheamus had held the title for 133 days, defeating Riddle at Elimination Chamber on February 21 of this year. He has held the title three times.
Priest and Sheamus had been feuding ever since Priest won a contender’s match that took place on Raw back on July 26. For the next month, Priest feuded with both Sheamus and the team of John Morrison and The Miz. On the August 2 edition of Raw, Priest and Ricochet teamed together to defeat Morrison and Sheamus.
A United States title match is the latest addition to the card for SummerSlam.
Sheamus will defend his United States Championship against Damian Priest at SummerSlam on Saturday, August 21. The match was announced after Sheamus accepted a challenge from Priest on tonight’s episode of Raw.
Priest was set up as the next challenger for the United States Championship when he defeated Sheamus in a non-title match on Raw two weeks ago.
Sheamus and Priest both picked up wins on tonight’s Raw. Sheamus defeated Ricochet in a non-title match, while Priest defeated John Morrison. Priest then challenged Sheamus to face him at SummerSlam. Sheamus accepted and vowed to put Priest in his place.
Sheamus has been United States Champion since winning the title from Riddle at WrestleMania 37 this April.
SummerSlam is taking place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Here’s the updated card for the pay-per-view:
Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against John Cena
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley defends against Goldberg
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair defends against Sasha Banks
Raw Women’s Champion Nikki A.S.H. defends against Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley in a triple threat match
Edge vs. Seth Rollins
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos defend against Rey & Dominik Mysterio
United States Champion Sheamus defends against Damian Priest
Damian Priest defeated Sheamus in what was billed as a championship contender’s match during tonight’s Raw.
Priest defeated WWE United States champion Sheamus in a non-title match after pinning him following his hit the lights finish. After the match, Sheamus complained that he had re-broken his nose, as the mask that he has been wearing to protect his nose fell during the course of the match.
Priest has crossed paths with Sheamus in recent weeks, helping Humberto Carrillo after Sheamus jumped Carrillo prior to a match earlier this month. He then watched backstage last week as Sheamus defeated Carrillo quickly in a match where Carrillo would have earned a mach against Sheamus for the title if he had won.
In a promo tonight prior to the match, Priest said Sheamus didn’t deserve to be champion, saying he made excuses all the time and attacked people from behind. He eventually called Sheamus a bully.
Damian Priest made his return to WWE television on Raw, narrowly losing out in a battle royal.
He made his return in a battle royal where the winner would face AJ Styles and Drew McIntyre in a triple threat match for the final Raw Men’s Money in the Bank spot. The match came down to him and Riddle. Priest found himself on the apron and fought Riddle, who was in the ring. He lost out, being eliminated after a knee strike.
Priest had not wrestled since the May 17th edition of Raw, where he defeated John Morrison in a lumberjack match, effectively blowing off the feud between himself, The Miz, and Morrison. It was reported by Dave Meltzer that Priest had been out of action due to a back injury.
Randy Orton was originally scheduled to be in the triple threat match on tonight’s Raw. However, Raw started tonight with the announcement that Orton was not there and as a result, a battle royal would take place. Riddle requested and eventually was granted the opportunity to compete in the battle royal, effectively serving as a substitute for Orton.
In what ended up being a bizarre match featuring zombie lumberjacks, Damian Priest defeated The Miz at WrestleMania Backlash.
Prior to the match, John Morrison attempted to curry favor with the lumberjacks by entering their locker room, but quickly found out that they were zombies. After Miz and Priest entered the ring, the zombies arrived. Throughout the match, the zombies would go after both Priest and Miz. The finish of the match had Morrison stand on the guardrail in an attempt to take out the zombies, but was dragged down by zombies hidden in the barricade. Priest then grabbed a distracted Miz and hit the lights out for the win.
After the match, the zombie horde piled on the fallen Miz, with the assumption being that they were consuming him.
The zombies were part of a promotional tie-in for the upcoming movie Army of The Dead, which stars Batista. It was released in theatres on May 14 and will stream on Netflix starting May 21. Batista tweeted prior to tonight’s show that he was sending some of his friends to tonight’s pay-per-view.
A lumberjack match is the latest addition to the card for WrestleMania Backlash.
WWE has announced that Damian Priest will face The Miz in a lumberjack match at WrestleMania Backlash this Sunday (May 16). In storyline, the stipulation was chosen by Priest after he defeated John Morrison on Raw tonight.
The winner of Priest vs. Morrison on tonight’s Raw got to choose the stipulation for Priest and Miz’s match at WrestleMania Backlash. This was the second straight week that Priest has defeated Morrison after a distraction by Miz backfired.
Miz attacked Priest after tonight’s match, but Priest fought out of the Skull Crushing Finale. Miz then bailed when Priest went to hit a big boot. With Miz on the stage, Priest laid out Morrison in the ring with Hit the Lights.
There was a segment earlier on tonight’s Raw where Miz was initially going to say no to the idea of the winner of Priest vs. Morrison getting to choose the stipulation for Priest and Miz’s match at WrestleMania Backlash, but Morrison accepted on Miz’s behalf.
Priest teamed with Bad Bunny to defeat Miz & Morrison at WrestleMania 37 last month. Miz & Morrison won a handicap match against Priest on the Raw after WrestleMania, but Priest has defeated Miz once and Morrison twice in singles matches since then. Priest & The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) also defeated Miz, Elias & Jaxson Ryker in a six-man tag match on Raw two weeks ago.
WrestleMania Backlash will air live on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network everywhere else this Sunday. Here’s the updated card for the pay-per-view:
Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against Cesaro
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley defends against Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman in a triple threat match
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair defends against Bayley
Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley defends against Asuka and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat match
SmackDown Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode defend against Rey & Dominik Mysterio
A recent back injury had originally kept Damian Priest on the sidelines of the Bad Bunny vs. The Miz match at Saturday’s WWE WrestleMania 37 night one, but a recent medical clearance paved the way for it to change to the tag team match that took place instead.
On the post-WrestleMania edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that he was told Priest was cleared “last minute” and it was even “touch and go” whether Priest could still go in the match against Miz and John Morrison.
“He was hurting,” Meltzer said.
Priest and Bunny defeated Miz and Morrison Saturday in a match where Bunny was involved nearly the entire way.
Originally, the match was a singles affair between the pop star and Miz but on last Monday’s Raw, they made it a tag match instead. The show was taped the week prior, but it’s unknown if that was when he was originally cleared. Meltzer had assumed the reason it was a singles match was due to a Morrison injury, but that apparently wasn’t the case.
It’s unknown when or how the injury occurred. Priest had wrestled twice in March with his last one a 35-second squash win over Jaxson Ryker on the March 15th Raw. Saturday’s tag match was only his seventh of the calendar year including his debut at the Royal Rumble.
WWE has announced a change to one of the matches for WrestleMania 37.
At WrestleMania 37 night one this Saturday, it will now be Bad Bunny & Damian Priest teaming together against The Miz & John Morrison. The bout had originally been announced as a singles match between Bad Bunny and Miz.
The change to the match was made official when Miz & Morrison accepted a challenge from Bad Bunny & Priest on Raw tonight. In an angle earlier on the show, Miz and Morrison defaced Bad Bunny’s $3.6 million Bugatti by painting on it. When Bad Bunny came to see what Miz and Morrison had done to his car, Miz and Morrison attacked him from behind.
Bad Bunny will be making his in-ring debut at WrestleMania 37. The music superstar first appeared for WWE when he performed his song “Booker T” at the Royal Rumble this January. Bad Bunny & Priest have been feuding with Miz & Morrison since then.
WrestleMania 37 is taking place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida this Saturday and Sunday. Both nights will air live on Peacock in the United States and live on the WWE Network everywhere else.
Here are the updated cards for both nights of WrestleMania 37:
WrestleMania 37 night one (Saturday, April 10) —
SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks defends against Bianca Belair
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley defends against Drew McIntyre
Bad Bunny & Damian Priest vs. The Miz & John Morrison
Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) defend against AJ Styles & Omos
Steel cage match: Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon
Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro
Tag Team Turmoil match for a WWE Women’s Tag Team title shot at WrestleMania 37 night two
WrestleMania 37 night two (Sunday, April 11) —
Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against Edge and Daniel Bryan in a triple threat match
Raw Women’s Champion Asuka defends against Rhea Ripley
“The Fiend” Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton
Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
Intercontinental Champion Big E defends against Apollo Crews in a Nigerian Drum Fight
United States Champion Riddle defends against Sheamus
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler defend against the winners of the Tag Team Turmoil match from night one
Damian Priest arrived on Raw on tonight’s post-Royal Rumble episode of the show.
In his Raw debut, Priest defeated The Miz. The match was set up by a Miz TV segment where rapper Bad Bunny appeared as the guest.
Miz went to use his Money in the Bank briefcase as a weapon during the match, but Bad Bunny pulled it out of the way. Bad Bunny then dropped John Morrison with a microphone shot. Miz was distracted and then got hit with The Reckoning by Priest. Priest pinned Miz to get the win.
Priest was also an entrant in Sunday’s men’s Royal Rumble. He eliminated Miz, Morrison, Elias, and Kane during the match.
Bad Bunny performed his song “Booker T” live at the Royal Rumble. After a backstage segment where Bad Bunny refused to collaborate with The Miz and Morrison, Miz destroyed Bad Bunny’s musical equipment. Bad Bunny then hit a crossbody from the top rope on Miz and Morrison after they were eliminated from the Royal Rumble by Priest.
Bad Bunny and Priest were shown backstage together on tonight’s Raw. During Miz TV, Miz and Morrison again tried to get Bad Bunny to help them record an album. Bad Bunny said he wasn’t interested and then told Miz and Morrison that he was only there because he had a friend who wanted to be on Miz TV. Priest came down to the ring and dropped Miz with a forearm.
Priest’s call-up to the main roster had been imminent since he lost to Karrion Kross at NXT New Year’s Evil last month.
Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest both appeared at the Royal Rumble tonight as part of what looks to be main roster call-ups.
Ripley was an entrant in the women’s Royal Rumble match, coming in at number 14 and making it to the final two before being eliminated by women’s Rumble winner Bianca Belair. Priest also entered the men’s Royal Rumble match at number 14. He was eliminated by United States Champion Bobby Lashley.
Ripley eliminated seven wrestlers in the women’s Rumble, while Priest eliminated four wrestlers in the men’s Rumble.
One of Ripley’s eliminations was her throwing Alexa Bliss out of the ring as Bliss was about to turn into a Fiend-like version of herself. Ripley also eliminated Toni Storm, Santana Garrett, Dana Brooke, Dakota Kai, Mandy Rose, and Charlotte Flair. Ripley and Belair worked together to eliminate Charlotte.
Priest eliminated Elias, The Miz, John Morrison, and Kane.
Dave Meltzer reported earlier this month that Ripley and Priest were both expected to be called up to the main roster imminently. Ripley lost a Last Woman Standing match to Raquel Gonzalez at NXT New Year’s Evil in January. Priest lost to Karrion Kross at New Year’s Evil.
Ahead of the Royal Rumble, Meltzer wrote about Priest in Sunday’s Daily Update: “Damian Priest could debut since he’s been ready to start on Raw or SmackDown for a few weeks. Last we heard was a Raw debut the day after the Rumble, but that stuff changes as he was first scheduled a few weeks back.”
Former NXT North American Champion Damian Priest is going to be called up to WWE imminently even after a last minute SmackDown debut last week was nixed.
On Wednesday’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that a decision was made last Thursday that Priest was to debut on the blue brand last Friday as Kevin Owens’ best friend. He and Owens were then going to face WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Jey Uso on the show.
Owens, while willing to go through with the angle, didn’t think that made sense as the two don’t have anything in common that would back that up. Reigns agreed and the plan was scrapped even though Priest was there and ready.
As of Wednesday morning, Meltzer said the 38-year-old was expected to be part of Raw as early as late-January, but that obviously could change. Meltzer said that NXT talent isn’t supposed to be called up without several months of planning, but this flew in the face of that.
The former Punishment Martinez signed a WWE deal in October 2018. He eventually made his way to NXT TV under his new name in the summer of 2019. He won the North American title at last August’s TakeOver XXX before losing the title to Johnny Gargano after two months. Priest was defeated by Karrion Kross in a grudge match Wednesday.
WWE has made two new announcements for NXT New Year’s Evil.
The New Year’s Evil episode of NXT is taking place on Wednesday, January 6 and will air live on the USA Network at 8 p.m. Eastern time. It was announced on tonight’s NXT that Dexter Lumis will be the host of New Year’s Evil. Later in the night, it was also confirmed that Karrion Kross vs. Damian Priest will take place at New Year’s Evil.
For the first time since suffering a separated shoulder and having to relinquish the NXT Championship this August, Kross returned to in-ring action on tonight’s NXT. After demolishing Desmond Troy, Kross looked into the camera and issued a challenge to Priest.
Kross appeared on NXT last week, attacked Priest, and put him through a table. Priest had insulted Scarlett and Kross earlier in the night after Kyle O’Reilly, Pete Dunne, Priest, and Scarlett all confronted NXT Champion Finn Balor.
Lumis was shown sketching a picture throughout tonight’s NXT, with it being revealed that he was drawing the New Year’s Evil logo with him as the host of the show.
Lumis defeated Cameron Grimes in a strap match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames earlier this month.
New Year’s Evil will also feature Balor defending his NXT Championship against O’Reilly. O’Reilly defeated Dunne on NXT tonight to become the number one contender to Balor’s title.
Johnny Gargano is now a three-time NXT North American Champion.
The unexpected title reign of Leon Ruff came to an end as Gargano defeated Ruff and Damian Priest in a triple threat match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames tonight. Gargano hit One Final Beat and pinned Ruff after getting help from the returning Austin Theory.
Several people wearing Ghostface costumes from the movie “Scream” got involved in tonight’s match and tried to help Gargano. Two groups of people in Ghostface costumes were taken out by Priest hitting dives to the outside. But as Priest was going for The Reckoning on Gargano at the end of the match, another person in a Ghostface costume appeared and hit Priest with a lead pipe. It was revealed to be Theory when he unmasked after Gargano’s win. Theory said it was him all along and celebrated with Gargano after the match.
Gargano had won the North American Championship from Priest at NXT Halloween Havoc this October after interference by someone wearing a Ghostface costume. Gargano tried to break his title defense curse by facing Ruff two weeks after Halloween Havoc, but Ruff won the title after Priest distracted Gargano. Ruff then retained the North American Championship in a rematch against Gargano after Priest punched Ruff so the match would end in a disqualification and Gargano wouldn’t win the title back. Ruff got mad at Priest for treating him like a joke and has been feuding with Gargano and Priest since.
This was the first time Theory has appeared since an angle on the October 21 episode of NXT where Theory said he was quitting after losing two matches to Bronson Reed.
Gargano is the only wrestler who has held the North American Championship multiple times.
A shocking title change took place on last night’s NXT.
With the help of Damian Priest, Leon Ruff defeated Johnny Gargano last night to win the NXT North American Championship. Ruff got the win with a crucifix bomb after Gargano was distracted by Priest.
In storyline, Gargano was looking to break his title defense curse by facing an easy opponent. Gargano’s “Wheel of Challengers” that decided his opponent had Ruff’s name written over one of the spots and was made so it would land on Ruff’s name.
Priest celebrated with Ruff on the stage as Gargano was furious and in shock about his loss. Priest tried to put the North American title around Ruff’s waist, but it fell off due to Ruff being too small.
Gargano had won the North American title from Priest at Halloween Havoc two weeks ago after getting help from interference by someone wearing a Scream costume. That person was revealed to be Indi Hartwell last night.
Ruff, who is a former EVOLVE Tag Team Champion, has been making frequent appearances on WWE television since March. He was officially announced as a new Performance Center signee last month.
Two other title matches also took place on last night’s show. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch defended their NXT Tag Team titles against former champions Breezango in the main event. Santos Escobar also put his NXT Cruiserweight Championship on the line against Jake Atlas.
