Damian Priest Recalls Randy Orton Thanking Bad Bunny For Taking Wrestling Seriously

Damian Priest talks celebrities in the world of pro wrestling.

Priest has found himself clashing with celebrities in his run with WWE, both teaming and facing off with Bad Bunny at two separate events for the company. More notably, the pair would meet in a San Juan Street Fight at WWE Backlash in 2023.

While speaking to Sam Roberts in a new interview, Damian was asked about celebrities in the world of professional wrestling, recalling how Randy Orton thanked Bad Bunny for taking the sport of pro wrestling seriously.

“I didn’t work here before, when the celebrities were that way, the negative way, but I’ve heard stories. But now when I say, for instance, Bad Bunny, when we first teamed for my first WrestleMania and his first WrestleMania as well- I remember in the lead up to that, Randy Orton going up to him out of the blue and just thanking him for treating the business how it should be treated and taking it seriously and putting in the work and actually being in it to help, not just to promote, and I was standing there and I was like, man, that’s crazy high praise coming from like Randy Orton. He (Bad Bunny) understood that because he was very appreciative that Randy said that to him. He took it to heart, and when we had our match, it was the same thing. He trained like a madman to get ready for that match and everything he did in between, and the company itself, look, they weren’t sure. They were thinking about a tag match. They were thinking about moving Backlash out of Puerto Rico, and Bunny was like, ‘nope, we’re doing it in Puerto Rico and it’s going to be a singles match. It’s me and Damian and they said, ‘hey, we prefer this,’ and I’m like, ‘well, I’m with Bunny, man. I think we’re fine.’ If he’s this adamant, I know he’ll be ready. I was like, I’ll be ready. I was like, I just don’t think anybody else will be and I think that’s what happened. Nobody was ready for that.”

Priest continued, noting how much the meant to him for it’s cultural impact.

“A lot of emotion in that match. We talk about the importance of matches and what they mean to you in your career. In a loss, that was the most important match for me because of what it did culturally, for Latinos, for Hispanics all over the world, not just Puerto Ricans. Then what we did for the island, obviously, specifically. It was huge, and I’m very proud of that one.”

Priest is currently scheduled to face off with Aleister Black on the August 1st edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown. You can read more about that here.

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