Damian Priest made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania 37 when he teamed with Bad Bunny against The Miz & John Morrison.
It was not only Priest's Mania debut after being called up to the main roster at WWE Royal Rumble, it was Bad Bunny's first-ever match. Given the magnitude of the bout and Priest being a rookie on the main roster, not everyone was sure he could handle the pressure.
"I feel good that they trusted me in that role. I'm sure there was talk, 'how can you trust someone that you don't know?' Hunter knew I was fine and he is the reason why it ended up working out. I almost got switched out," Priest said on the Masked Man Show.
When asked who was going to replace him, Priest revealed that Rey Mysterio was the name on deck.
"His original partner was Rey Mysterio. Well, I was the original partner, but it was like, 'Maybe he's not ready or what if this is too much pressure for him, we don't know.' It was talked about that Rey would be the guy. When they told me that, I wasn't even mad. I was like, 'that makes sense.' I got it, I wasn't even upset. If I was in their shoes, 100%, that would have been the way to go," he said.
Priest continued, saying it was Triple H who made sure he got the match and explained how he and Bad Bunny took the pressure off each other through friendship.
"Hunter went to bat for me. He was like, 'I'm sorry they even told you that it's not going to be you now. I'm going to go have a conversation.' He explained why I should be trusted. I wasn't in the meeting, but I'm guessing that's what he would have done. 'I trust him. Let's trust him. He's going to be fine.' 'Okay, let's go with Priest.' It's crazy how it worked out. Through the process Bad Bunny and I ended up becoming friends and all those nerves and that pressure of my first WrestleMania, with someone else who is in their first WrestleMania but also their first match and they're not from this world. It was a lot, but because we became friends and through the training and preparation, we just joking around, putting in the hard work, but having fun doing it. That took a lot of pressure off. I'm grateful that's the way it happen. It probably worked out better for me, from a pressure standpoint," he said.
Priest credited Triple H for always believing in him and giving him confidence in himself, saying there would be no Damian Priest without Triple H.
Priest & Bad Bunny were victorious in their tag team bout. As of now, Priest is not currently booked for either night of WrestleMania 38. Fans can check out the lineup for both nights at Fightful's events section.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
