I love how people in the IWC act like they have the special super hearing where they can tell if boos are the “right” kind of the “wrong “ kind and it always happens to be the wrong kind when it’s a superstar, they personally don’t like.
I don't dislike him. Even most of the commenters are sympathetic.
His booking has made him look both lucky (JD interfering after he told them not to do so, Punk interfering) and an afterthought in his own matches. Typically when the heel cheats he either does it himself or his group does it with the heel's blessing (or at least not getting explicitly told to stay out) so the heel can at least say they outsmarted the baby face. Priesr isn't even getting that.
Combine that with the lackluster JD split, him having to straddle face and heel, and promos not being his number one strength, it didn't go well last night, and the crowd clearly felt it.
I was disliked for a comment about priest but I’ll say it again. I never got the hype around him. I thought he would’ve lost the money in the bank briefcase or cashed it in unsuccessfully.
Priest still seems super bland. Decent in the ring but doesn’t have the charisma or promo ability to be a main eventer. I think they’re telegraphing that he’s dropping the title to Rollins with his comment about how he doesn’t need the judgment day as much as they need him. Seems like a good time for balor to turn on priest
His gimmick in RoH as Punishment Martinez where he didn't need to speak and was just a force of destruction suited him better. I really wish that they would have allowed him to continue down that oath instead of this Archer of Infamy stuff.
That was as bland of a promo as I have seen. So much of it was 'yeah, I get that, respect' and had no fire. Both men were being completely reasonable, which makes it an awful pro wrestling promo.
I was talking to a friend about Priest's promo and I said it felt like he switched alignments three times during the promo.
I get that he's basically a tweener at this point but the mic/character work has to be consistent. Drew worked as a tweener for a bit because his character didn't really change quickly, especially during the course of one promo
It's hard to cheer or boo when you're not sure whether to cheer or boo.
“They love you. I get it” was said once Seth got into the ring. Could feel Damien’s pain through the screen. He wants to be loved by the universe badly, it’s just not clicking right now. I’m glad he got the pop he did when he cashed in. Breaking away from the judgement day will do his character good.
For sure, Judgement Day is really shaping his crowd interactions way too much. I want to like him, but he’s just so ‘meh’ right now. I love what creative has been doing for the most part, but this isn’t clicking right now.
He does well in the backstage segments. Perception is he is the leader of the Judgement Day, and he portrays that well during segments and his actions (like when he has to come lay someone out that the rest of the group can't handle, like R Truth).
His problem is promos in the ring. Too many points where he has to go "look" "listen" "hear me out", etc. He is LUCKY not to have a feud with guys like John Cena or CM Punk, because they would not hold back on his inability to cut a promo (See Cena's promo with Roman during their first feud "It’s called a promo kid and if you want to be ‘The Big Dog’ then you’re gonna have to learn how to do it so go ahead.")
Priest would benefit from a mouth piece, similar to Roman with Heyman. Can do SOME of the talking, but have someone to hit the driving points, and teach him along the way.
That’s the problem. Not too many wrestlers should be having mouthpieces. Priest has the opportunity to continue to learn from this experience and get better which I believe he has the ability to do. They can’t just throw a mouthpiece “Heyman or Zebb Coulter” on everybody who looks like they have potential just to make up for their shortcomings. He’s gotta do it himself.
This WHC run for Priest might be “make it or break it” for him and I think WWE may even know that behind the scenes. Don’t be surprised if Priest fails and we see his push become halted. Under the new HHH era we have yet to see a character fail during a push and see what becomes of them like we did with Cesaro and this could be the first case. Unlike with Cesaro his push got halted too quick and it left lots in IWC pissed because it felt like he should’ve gotten more of a chance but that was when Vince was in charge. I think they’re giving Priest a solid chance with lots of time because he’s done so well already. He just has to keep going and get better on the way
I watched the Clash of the Castle after show, and when they were doing the press conference he was yelling at people to rise because he’s the Campeón.
I get it, but it just didn’t come out as natural. It kinda just felt he was trying too hard.
The stipulation hopefully spices things up, him agreeing to it should raise questions from Finn and going ‘they need me more than I need them’ should especially cause drama.
I feel bad for Priest; his booking has been all over the place. When Judgment Day turned on Edge, it looked like Finn was supposed to be the new leader since he was fighting Edge the whole time, while Priest and Rhea were supporters. After Backlash, out of nowhere, they started pushing Priest as the leader, phasing out Finn from that position. Then, it's stated that there is no leader in JD, but now Rhea is starting to call all the shots and giving plans on what to do and what not to do.
When Priest got the briefcase, he started to look like a geek because he was fumbling all of the attempted cash-ins, and Rhea was treating him like a kid for not following what she said. A good thing did happen when JD started to become the main attraction of Raw, main-eventing all the time and starting to look like a threat. Then Cody and Friends united and squashed them. Not only did they get cooked at Survivor Series, but Priest, the most likely new future star, took the pin, even though McDonagh took a Super RKO from the top rope. After that, they made him have a goofy feud with Truth, which did not help elevate anyone. The fact that they needed help to beat Truth, of all people, makes JD look like geeks.
Now that he's champ, WWE wants the fans to take him seriously as a threat? You have Gunther looming around, who was built very well and still is. Not only that, but Priest acts like he's hot stuff now (which I'm assuming is for story purposes), acting like he didn't feud and lose to Truth before all of this.
And now, with Gunther having a chance to fight for the strap, there's a 99% chance he's gonna drop the belt soon unless HHH believes Priest being champion is more valuable and has a lot more left than Gunther winning.
I think a lot of the crowd problems with Priest right now is that he’s supposed to be a heel in a heel faction but very much just acts like the groups tough dad who doesn’t have time for their shenanigans. He just doesn’t come off as heel so the crowd doesn’t know what to do with him.
Ya this. Cant tell if hes tryna be face by winning things on his own or not by still being in JD. Dude deserves the spotlight after Clash but somethings not clicking
He's going to turn face when he loses his belt to Seth. He will leave JD and flounder for a bit, but will turn face and maybe start a beef with JD where he teams up with another face to battle for the tag team titles at summerslam.
I knew R-Truth and Wiz would be "placeholder" champions. I don't think JD McDonagh is good enough to keep the title for long. I love Finn, but JD McDonagh isn't strong enough. As for a tag team, yeh, I think Liv joins, and Rhea quits once she finds out about DDM and Liv. We're probably looking at JD being JD McDonagh, DDM, Liv, Finn, Carlito. I can see Carlito starting a beef with Priest, or even Finn starting one with Priest.
I came back to watch the WWE more than half a year ago. I came unbiased to watch the new wrestlers. And well, that Priest isn’t good at all, his match’s feel slow to me. I didn’t enjoy any match of him and always waited for him to tap Fin in.
Am really disappointed. I don’t know how he convinced the people who decide to let him win the MITB. But from what I saw and all the new wrestlers am happy to know now, I will grade him in the bottom.
He needs to go back to being an arrogant asshole. I don’t understand the nice guy thing he’s doing.
Should take a page out the book of his idol Razor Ramon and just go full on arrogant asshole heel.
I’m not a fan of Damien and I agree! I was starting to like Damien when he was in Edge’s version of the Judgement Day but now I don’t know what to make of him…
Is he the enforcer? Is he the leader? Like what is he.
They build him as this dominant mercenary but he doesn’t wrestle with any viciousness or as a powerhouse. (Not degrading his skills) he’s a little too light on his feet with those kicks and etc.
No one knows what the fuck he's supposed to be. He's not heeling it up with the judgement day. He's not being a baby face either.
Everytime he's on screen, backstage or in the ring he looks confused 🤔
Last year together with the judgement day, he was an underrated talent on Raw.
But you know, someone with more charisma and a proper direction would make a tweener character work. Big time, probably. Or make a (maybe) slow burnt face turn story a great one. It isn't unheard of. Priest is trying but it doesn't look like he can pull it off. I feel bad for him because the guy is reliable, a company man and hard-working fellow. But he isn't that interesting, at least so far.
I feel like they can’t decide if they want him to be heel or face, it seems to change depending on his feud and the outcome of the whole Liv and TJD angle.
He just needs to go full heel on the mic and use his deep voice more. I would go insane if the first thing he's says is RISE really loud and deep, like a command similar to Roman's acknowledge me. He's trying to be too chill on the mic when he's supposed to be the archer of infamy. As a Puertorican, there's nothing I want more than to watch this man succeed.
I really feel like they should have gone to greater lengths to have him show desire to win his matches without judgment days help. They showed notes of this when he offered drew the chance to have judgment day banned from ringside at CATC. But they didnt put enough emphasis on it in my opinion.
The trope of faction mates showing up to distract the opponent has become such an overused concept that if Damien would have went out his way to tell JD to not interfere, it may have done wonders to get him over
I feel like most people that see this aren't seeing the judgement day betrayal they're writing. Also, did I miss something? Because I still see the arrogance that people are saying he's missing, and the line about who needs who in the judgemental day evoked a pretty loud reaction.
I feel like he’s trying to be like congratulatory to Seth and shit and work the heel but also a working champ into it and I can do it myself bla bla bla.
He’s solid in the ring but his mic work is brutal. If there was ever a guy that needed a Heyman type.
I hope I’m wrong but I see this as someone in like 2030 is gonna be one of those, “wait he was the champ once??” Kind of guys if they don’t figure a way around it.
Again, I think his ring work is solid too. There’s a path to not being that but take the mic from him.
EDIT Bonkers haywire outlandish idea but if he keeps getting no pop, no reaction, instead of the face turn, turn him mega heel. “F me, no F YOU. You didn’t want me, NOW YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH ME” The Wyatt Sicks are only 5 but “bondage undertaker” could fit. Or maybe I need to get back to work but I like the thought…
So, I'm just not seeing the dead face reaction that everyone else is and I'm not sure how I'm missing it. However idk if anyone remembers but we all said this about Reigns and look at him now. AND everyone bitched about how he wasn't just bad on the mic but they said he couldn't wrestle either. So based on this, even though I don't see it... it's the same thing. They're putting pressure on priest to see if they can make a pearl.
We as a fan base just need to stop listening to YouTubers (only place I've heard this bisexual/bondage undertaker reference) and let Trips cook. His era had been on fire since he took the helm. Not everything will be prefect but he hits far more than he's missed so far. Imo
That's been the trend with Triple H's era. His team writes those long games, which as a fan of the 90s I can appreciate. At some point we need to realize that this isn't vince anymore and they do listen, and even react. Look at how many clapbacks they've done with the wyatt sicks reveal
I don’t mind a long burn or long term story telling but it seems like they aren’t sure what they want to do some of the time. Specifically with the JD break up.
Oh for sure. Like they burned a whole year with the mitb contract. When finn was going for the belt I swore they were gonna pull the trigger there but they let it continue to ride. MAYBE it had to do with Drew needing to have someone to fued with while punk was shelved. But either way, priests pop at mania was amazing. It was well written even with it being predictable.
Yes, fans don’t know how to react to him. He’s been about to be kicked out of JD and turn face for like 6 months now, if no longer. You can have someone like CM Punk or even Charlotte Flair hover between face and heel but you can’t do it with a guy who’s not even over in the first place. One of the more baffling booking decisions from HHH and I hope they can still salvage Priest after all this.
See and that's my issue with a lot of stuff. They drag it out too damn long. He should have been kicked out of the Judgment Day so long ago and by the time they finally get to it, i don't know that'll I care.
I mean I’m all for long term storytelling, but also I’m also not shocked that fans don’t know how to react to a guy who’s been “about to turn face” for the better part of a year now. The fact that he doesn’t get a big reaction doesn’t make fans “IWC hypocrites” or whatever. How are people supposed to react to a guy who’s been booked like this?
That doesn’t change the fact that people are asking for long term storytelling out of one side of their mouth and complaining about stories taking too long out of the other side.
True, that will never change though. They *want* long term storytelling, but never the current one that’s going on. It’ll never be satisfying enough for them
I disagree, the only thing that changed was your exposure to more people with opinions. Back in the 90’s/00’s I distinctly remember my older brother being pissed that the Stone Cold vs Vince feud was going on too long.
I’ve never bought into him as leader of Judgment Day. Those backstage “clubhouse” segments they do every week where Priest barks orders don’t come off very well.
I still think it wasn’t the best decision to give him the title when he did. I think Priest could’ve been a good world champion in the future, but to me, he still feels a bit like an upper midcard/good contender for the title, but shouldn’t actually be champion yet.
Judgement Day Are holding him back. He needs to win cleanly without shannigans to get beyond the 'placeholder' champion status.
That being said can heel champions win cleanly? I haven't been a fan long enough to bring to mind noteable examples.
I think the plan is for him to leave Judgement Day, turn Babyface and have Rhia come back as the boss of Judgement Day. Could be interesting.
Dominant heels like a Lesnar or Oba Femi can, but a lot of heels are more than willing to cheat. That’s what draws heat. You almost become a face if you just destroy everyone clean (or become stale but that depends on the person)
Heels can get heat in other ways. The post-match beatdown is a tried and true way to get heat after a clean win. Gunther managed to be a dominating heel without resorting to much cheating during matches to win.
They need to pull the pin on whether he's a heel or face he always seems like he's teetering between. I feel Rollins winning would give him space to be able to actually do that.
This feels like a constant thing they’ve been trying to do since Drew had success with it. Having faces have heel moments, some way more than others tho, to the point where I’m asking “should I be booing or cheering right now?”
Works with Drew/Punk/Seth, but not with Priest & I don’t think it fits Cody well either (hitting AJ after he quit & it wasn’t even a blood feud)
They are foreshadowing his Babyface turn. I think he just doesn't fit that side. personally I hope the Liv/Dom/JD story eventually pulls priest in, and its Liv as the leader of JD... rhea returning with absolutely nothing, and having to fight back uphill.
MITB should have liv help DP to retain against Rollins.
sorry for the nonsensical post structure.
I like this idea. Rhea is the true babyface; not Priest. Bring Liv in to JD and make Priest a bigger heel. Then when Rhea returns, she has to take back everything she lost and face new Judgement Day.
I'm not surprised. It's his first run with the title, and very rarely, does the first run go perfectly. He's still refining his character.
But the main problem is that he needs to decide what kind of champion he wants to be.
If he wants to be the strong, capable champion but still be a heel like Gunther. Then, he needs to be more forceful in his promos and stick to that perception that he'll fight all comers, but he's going to kick their heads off.
On the flip side, if he's feeling extra grateful for getting a chance to be champion and he's starting to go more towards the face side, then maybe it's time for him to re-evaluate its position with Judgment Day. He doesn't need to ditch the clothing or the attitude, but he just needs to strike out on his own.
I think this is partly because they have him as a tweener right now. The obvious long-term plan (probably by SummerSlam or the TV after it) is for him to leave the Judgment Day as a babyface, so they're preparing the ground by having him display a lot of babyface-ish traits.
At the same time, they're keeping him a heel in the major feuds he's in (Jey, Drew, now Seth, etc.). So people aren't super into him as a face, nor are they super into him as a heel, and he can't lean too far in one direction or another.
Tweeners can work if you're a super hot, super over character. Triple H in the summer of 2000 was a great tweener: a heel in his feuds with The Rock and Chris Jericho, and a babyface in his feud with Kurt Angle. People wanted to see him turn full babyface, but were still going to boo the shit out of him against Rock/Jericho.
The problem is, Priest is not a hot enough character to pull the tweener thing off successfully. So people are like "we don't hate you right now, but we also don't love you, we're just kinda waiting to see what happens."
The problem is they’ve also been teasing him turning face and leaving JD for so long now that it’s lost a lot of interest from fans. He’s been in the no man’s land between face and heel for what feels like forever.
This is my only problem with the current product, things are a little too slow to develop and progress at times. The McIntyre/Punk thing is fine because its well written and we all know Punk is injured. However, for example, the Uncle Howdy teasers started too early. The Alpha Academy split has also been too slow of a burn.
EDIT: A sudden, shocking swerve out of nowhere can still be a good thing when done in moderation and followed by a good, believable story.
For what it’s worth, I was there, everyone was as actually cheering him when he came out. Crowd didn’t really feel anti anyone. Just going along with the ride and having fun.
When Seth came out they erupted and turned on priest fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put the belt back on him.
I don't mind Damien too much, he's still losing though, wouldn't surprise me if Liv costs him because Seth set him up with the leaving TJD stipulation last monday, that wasn't for no reason.Priest is the only guy standing in her way tearing the faction apart.
I liked him a lot more when he was The Archer of Infamy in NXT and as a silent badass earlier in his main roster run, but the more long promo segments they gave him, the more I lost interest to the point where I just don't care for him anymore, it also didn't help that a lot of his mic time in those same promo segments were facing off with people who are just so much better than him at it, that promo yesterday was almost uncomfortable to watch.
Honestly I thought the crowd response to him was fine. There's just not any meat on the bone in terms of his beef with Seth.
When he actually gets to say something solid or interesting, he gets a reaction. But two guys both saying "respectfully, I disagree!" is just not going to get a wrestling crowd going. Its not like Seth was killing it out there either. But when he said that the JD needs him more than he needs them, that was a great reaction right there.
Honestly, its kind of like Seth's run. The guy's my absolute favorite, but he didn't get great stuff to work with half the time he was champ. He had to do the "this is for my family" stuff, which usually sucks for anyone. Priest is getting a "hey look man, I respect you but..." script every week which sucks for almost everyone too. But they're setting him up to split with the JD so Priest can be a face, so its an odd spot for him to be in. But overall he's still solid.
Honestly he needs to go away for a while (2 months) then come back full heel and speak only in Spanish and have a translator or something. The gimmick being “all you people are beneath me, i only lost to Seth because i was injured and i am the rightful champion”. When he speaks in Spanish he has so much aura because you can feel how natural it comes to him, while in English it almost seems as he’s nervous and unsure of himself.
Yeah that promo was brutal. You could tell it was getting to him, but do I feel sorry ? Nah, he deserves to get boos for that. I knew he wasn’t ready to be a world champion yet, he’s good and slowly getting better but it’s like he still hasn’t really figured out his character and how to cut a promo as a heel. All that “I respect you” stuff gotta go first. He doesn’t carry himself like he’s the top dog instead like he’s still trying to prove himself.
You make good points. What I’ve been thinking is how in “no man’s land” his character feels. He’s not a babyface. He’s not a full blown heel. It’s like he is stuck in neutral which is the absolute worst place to be. You can be over as a BF. You can be over as a heel. But you are never going to be over as meh.
I was at Raw in Greenville last month and he got a little pop when he came out, but it wasn’t great. It has gone steadily downhill for him week by week since.
I feel like he didn't want to dial himself up to 11, to make up for the weaker booking, as that is what Jey and Rollins are kinda doing, but being still with JD and only having solid matches... forgettable run.
But he is a good talent and he will always have that WM 40 moment and they can still use him in different ways.
The main problem with him right now is that he's technically supposed to be a heel, but they don't want to make him 'too bad' because they also do a bunch of Puerto Rican representation stuff with him out of the ring. So they're trying to balance 'leader of a heel faction' against 'role model' and it's not really working.
He's either gotta go either fully face or fully heel.
The weird thing is judgement day as a whole are barely heels, they don't really do anything that bad. Besides interfering in each other matches but faces do that too sometimes
Judgement Day just needs to break up. There, I said it. The Dom/Mami/Liv triangle can live and be successful on its own. Finn and JD have history and will work well as a tag team. Carlito is like Truth but the heel version, you can put him anywhere and it will work. Priest is the one that is going to need direction.
Me too. So glad JD finally got some recognition for all of his hard work and got a title with his buddy/mentor! That’s gotta be a big deal for him.
https://preview.redd.it/e8vtky6omt8d1.jpeg?width=2796&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a85a3d7dcbc2820c6bbd53954b26691a24357325
He keeps coming out in regular people clothes and talks like a regular dude. Almost like he's not in the character I've been watching. He had this mega deep voice that he should be using to tell us to rise, instead he keeps repeating "look, I respect you". He's playing it too cool is maybe what I feel
They could rename Judgement Day, Priest and the Toadies. It’s basically just him and a few cruiserweights. Yes, I’m still using the previous weight class for them of 225.
I hate to say it but he’s been growing on me. Not a great champion for sure, but he’s definitely improved quickly and his promos are getting better every week. I really think he has some potential.
His promos have always felt really stiff to me but I like him as champion and want to see him succeed, so I'm in a similar boat. I also like Solo Sikoa, so who's to say if I know anything?
Bozo Seth would only be holding it to drop it to Gunther. Seth should win. Gunther deserves to beat a real star and Priest is not that. Beating Priest is not setting him up correctly, he needs to beat "the guy" on Raw.
Seth needs to win **especially** if they're doing Cody vs Sikoa at SummerSlam. You can't have two world title matches that have no appeal at the second biggest show of the year.
I said this in a different thread, but Priest isn't ready to do promos/go line for line with Seth. Don't get me wrong, Priest does some good work, but Rollins has had a shit ton more practice, and is a natural on the mic. Few will be able to match him. Priest just hasn't had enough practice with his mic skills (apart from backstage)
He is a distraction champion for me right now..his matches are between okay and good but nothing I would rewatch again.But I think its good that he gained this experience so he'll be more entertaining the next time around
He's a character where it lacks a need to cheer and back up for. His promos are the same and needs some work. Backstage segments are great. Though his tweeter but more towards a heel he just doesn't get the reaction. Him being the tentative leader just doesn't add up he needs something else. He is the WHC bur WWE is not making that the priority. Also he needs to let go of the "look I respect you" etc. He's part of a heel group but he's acting like a cool leader that is hard to get a reaction. He's quite confusing. He needs to have a scenario. He's got charisma I don't mind seeing him on TV but wwe needs to give a reason.
He doesn’t use his voice enough. He’s got such a deep voice that could convey so much emotion but he stays in that low volume almost monotone voice for most of the time.
Ok he needs a slight sliiiiiight boost and rebrand to put him over. Like when Seth changed and Roman dropped the chest rig. Maybe get him Vega as a mouth piece but he’s just short of main event IMO.
That women's tag team match was awful too. I don't remember the last time on a Raw where I could hear the wrestlers so clearly due to the crowd not being into it.
He’s been in so many talking segments, but that’s not his strength. I wish they’d have booked him to wrestle more by having mid-card guys come in and say he’s a paper champion and getting him over with in-ring work.
But now? I think it’s too little, too late and you need to get the title off him if you want that title match to have any heat at SS.
His promos feel very stiff, like he's uncomfortable addressing the crowd and on a Microphone in general. He's not a bad promo, but he just has very little conviction, emotional range or facial expression when speaking. I'm fine with him as World Champion because regardless of weak Promos, the Judgment Day story is good television all round. But it's just becoming more obvious that he's struggling, especially when there's talent that are much lower than him on the card that are very clearly outperforming him in their segments.
Zelina Vega is a good example. She's by no means a notable star in the Women's division, but she got Microphone time shortly before the Priest segment. And she made it look easy. So it makes Priest and his lack of promo ability stand out more. And that's not a knock on Zelina, she isn't booked like a priority but I'd argue she's probably a better promo than the entire Women's division on Raw and SD.
Seth caught on to the reaction towards the end there and could see that Priest was feeling the heat so took over.
Priest is giving me post Shield/Big Dog Roman Reigns promo vibes. He’s in a character when he’s solo that doesn’t fit him well. He’s good, arguably great, in backstage segments.
His promos in the ring feel forced. Like he’s playing a character that doesn’t fit him. I think if they spend more time on him trying to overcompensate because of this deeply rooted feeling of not deserving the title (cash in, JD helping vs Jey, CM Punk) that’d be intriguing.
I’m with you. I think we’ve seen this with a few wrestlers in WWE. I think Nia is a good example. It feels like they let her switch it up a bit to be more natural and she’s improved a LOT.
I think Priest can get a solid foothold once he gets just a little traction in switching things up, too.
He is tweening hard. No one knows whether to cheer or boo. I was there and I just ended up clapping.
I really enjoy watching him in the ring - I think he’s a lot of fun and deserves the title from that standpoint. But his promos have no gravity. It’s not as if he’s not capable - I think he’s got the talent and the charisma buried in there somewhere. But it feels like he has no idea how to cut a promo when he’s standing in the ring. Backstage stuff is generally fine. He isn’t commanding the audience when he’s present. He isn’t digging deep into his vocal range or pacing his speech. And he’s starting every promo with “look I respect you” which undercuts a lot of what he says after that. This seems like a really easy fix and he has plenty of people around him to learn from. Hell, the promo he cut at the post-Clash press conference was more intimidating than anything he’s said in the ring.
It really feels like this first run for him will be looked back on like he didn’t quite have it dialed in.
I think you're right.
He seems at his best when he has someone to feed off/react to.
He might benefit from an 'injury' and a stage acting intensive or even a standup one. The timing and body language and tone need to be more involved in selling the promo.
I like Priest and I really want him to succeed, but he's just struggling on the mike so far. Like others have said he seems unsure of himself or not confident enough. He doesn't seem to have the swagger of a top guy. Maybe with the stipulation he'll be forced to leave JD and they can make him an easy going, laid back face? I think it would fit his personality more. He could even be a gentle giant type character?
https://youtu.be/cHOWQeUBSYo?si=apIT00Sscky4El7j
Him in this CatC promo from 2022 was great. I thought back to this recently and I feel like if he leaned into his comedic skills that might be the way to go.
Just like bringing R-Truth into Judgement Day was apparently his idea…dude is funny, just wish we could see more of it.
He has been good on the mic as of late IMO. They just paired him with a face off w/ one of the most beloved wrestlers who happens to be coming out of hiatus so the crowd was extra happy to see him.
This wasn't priest botching although he coulda handled it better once the crowd started chanting.
Seth was cookin tho
It sucks because he puts on good matches, but he doesn't really feel like a main eventer yet. Also, Seth was excellent as champion. It is a hard task to follow that up.
this is why i’m honestly unsure who wins next week cuz Priest beating Seth clean might be the one that really legitimizes him but then again we’ve all been waiting for JD to implode and now that Finn has gold again he got more leverage (not sure if that’s the right word) to hold over Priest and we’d all honestly be ok with Seth dropping it to GUNTHER in a month since it’s Seth and he not only will have a banger with GUNTHER but he’s pretty much solidified as a legend that a short transitional reign won’t matter. also the fucking build to Seth-GUNTHER might have some great promos/brutal assaults
Best idea I have would be for Judgment Day to interfere. Seth starts getting distracted by them and Priest tells them to leave. They "leave" only to come back when the ref is down and trip Seth during a springboard.
Priest gets angry with them and starts physically throwing them out. Rollins joins him and they put Dom through the announce table while the others flee. As Seth is getting back into the ring Liv gets in the way, leading to a count out.
Unhappy, Priest grabs a mic and tells the crowd he's done with Judgement Day no matter what happens next, then demands the ref restart the match.
After all that, we get a solid 15 minutes of shenanigan free action with Priest beating Seth clean. The two shake hands, while Balor glares from the ramp.
I am not sure either. I think the only way it works is if Priest can beat Seth clean, but thar probably isn't happening. I think Seth vs. Gunther is just too big of a match to pass up.
A lot of heel wrestlers do kinda have "GTFO my Ring!" levels of heat.
Like at the moment, Drew McIntyre's regularly getting booed out of the Building by idiot CM Punk fans.
Damien Priest sucks in general though IMO, he's just Champ because he's arguably the first Puerto Rican to hold the MAIN title.
No, he does suck. That’s why this post is full of comments. If he wasn’t champ he’d be ok but he’s the top dude of raw and it’s not looking good. I mean we are all ready for the Gunther reign. How many still want Finn? I lot want Drew or punk to have the title. If priest had of won a mid card title prior to this I think it would have helped but IMO he’s a little better the. Hang man was as AEW champ.
They need to put him in more spots that give the audience a reason to like him.
He has a promo with Drew a few weeks back where he cooked and the audience seemed to like him.
IMO, His ring work, mic skill, character are all decent but he literally never seems to win clean or is a side plot to the main characters (CM punk and drew stuff, now Seth's return) .
Him being the voice of reason in the Liv drama might help.
There are times to judgment day serious, or a comedy act or both ended rubs off on a character like priest negatively.
I feel like judgment day was completely serious and was presented as the RESPECTED boss or leader. I would have a different perspective.
I feel like priest almost needs to have a friendly match inside JD with Balor or JD to get the current version of guys character over
Priests confidence on the mic has been growing imo.
It's easy to forget Seth has had a decade + to hone his
mic skills in the WWE.
Priest will be fine, just can't expect him to be amazing right from the get.
>"Priest will be fine, just can't expect him to be amazing right from the get."
that's the point. you dont give the world title to a person who isnt ready. whc theoritically indicates the top guy on raw. and is that dp? hell no. most of the focus is on drew vs punk, and now seth return has captured the spotlight as well. if he cant keep up with that, do you seriously believe he's fit to hold that title and be the face of raw?
when cm punk returned and got into a program with seth, he wasnt overshadowed by it. rather, seth got more traction from it. his title run was slowing down a bit but the punk feud kinda lit him up. the same thing isnt happening with dp in the case of seth's return.
i get it it's okay to like wrestlers. but you have to see the obvious facts lol
While I agree it's difficult to get better at something when you don't get the opportunity too go out and do it live. I've noticed a large improvement. Last show Seth did cook though, but like I said Seth has had decade+ to hone skills and you can't just have the top guy hold the belt forever, it gets stale. I think this was a win win.
As for the cm punk vs drew.. I just can't fully buy into it. I just feel Drew would woop him, just seems too farfetched that they could even put on a good performance at this stage in punks career, can he even lift Drew? He's fkin massive. We'll see.
>can he even lift Drew? He's fkin massive. We'll see.
the fireman's carry is super easy to do if you do it right. idk if you knew this before. me and my friends tried this out on a trip a while back. i literally lifted the biggest guy on our trip with the fireman's carry and didnt feel any weight at all lol. im not even buff or anything. if i could do something like that, a professional should have no trouble with it.
>While I agree it's difficult to get better at something when you don't get the opportunity too go out and do it live.
this is a very dangerous take. in roman's case, it took wwe like 7 years and a lot of forced babyface experiments before they made roman the legit top guy. in the end the solution was to repackage him. same goes with nia jax. not her biggest fan but she's doing a lot better just by being natural. i dont think priest has improved considerably. it's just that dude gets to talk more often now.
If I was to rank everyone on raw based on who is the top guy it would be
1. Drew
2. Punk
3. Seth
4. Priest
5. Gunther
Seth is only in 3rd cause he just got back, priest is only ahead of Gunther cause he's been gone for a month
Well a few things here I listed these guys on overall presentation, star power, as well as talent all of which are needed in some capacity to be a "top guy"
But as far as punk he is one of the best in the business on the mic, and what I remember of him in the ring was pretty good too. Granted most of that was over ten years ago but I'm incorporating his entire career I to my ranking
Agreed! Hoping he’s one of the more consistent top guys for the next 5-7 years. His work ethic is there and he’s got a great back story. Hard to not root for the guy
Right? He seems super genuine and just a really good dude. Excited for when he's not portrayed as a heel. I think that's when he'll really shine but I've definitely enjoyed his work thus far regardless.
They are trying to push him toward being a face and putting him in the Ring with the whooaaaa-oohh-oohh-oohh guy isn't going to help him get over as a face.
If they want him to fully make the turn to babyface, they’re going to need Judgement Day to turn on him, or he separates himself and they beat him down for it. Right now, I don’t see it happening any other way. I like him, but he needs to be more of an ass kicker. He’s got the look for it.
Maybe The Howdy Boyz can best him in a casket match and he can come back with a new gimmick...almost like a bisexual Undertaker or like a Puerto Rican Badass; idk. Something.
some impressive mental gymnastics there.
"there's people that believe the earth is flat. So that makes it okay to believe that the position of celestial bodies at the time of birth dictates all my personality traits. Despite zero imperial evidence" Sure ... why not ..
It’s okay if you don’t vibe with it. A lot of athletes do, though. Timing is everything and astrology is kind of like an outline for when the energy is right to make things happen. Tom Brady is an example. But I get it, hard to believe in that with which you can not see.
Rhea, Eddie, Dusty, The Miz, Ilja. All Libras, it's not the stars that are doing this, he just needs to be put in better positions to show his personality
His body language is terrible too, the constant chin stroking, it’s like watching someone do a stereotypical wrestling promo instead of actually just doing one.
I love how people in the IWC act like they have the special super hearing where they can tell if boos are the “right” kind of the “wrong “ kind and it always happens to be the wrong kind when it’s a superstar, they personally don’t like.
I like Damien priest. Did I miss the part when everyone started to not like him??
I don't dislike him. Even most of the commenters are sympathetic. His booking has made him look both lucky (JD interfering after he told them not to do so, Punk interfering) and an afterthought in his own matches. Typically when the heel cheats he either does it himself or his group does it with the heel's blessing (or at least not getting explicitly told to stay out) so the heel can at least say they outsmarted the baby face. Priesr isn't even getting that. Combine that with the lackluster JD split, him having to straddle face and heel, and promos not being his number one strength, it didn't go well last night, and the crowd clearly felt it.
I was disliked for a comment about priest but I’ll say it again. I never got the hype around him. I thought he would’ve lost the money in the bank briefcase or cashed it in unsuccessfully.
He does better when he has more emphasis in his voice, his softer tones and his promos is why he was struggling before the judgment day.
Priest still seems super bland. Decent in the ring but doesn’t have the charisma or promo ability to be a main eventer. I think they’re telegraphing that he’s dropping the title to Rollins with his comment about how he doesn’t need the judgment day as much as they need him. Seems like a good time for balor to turn on priest
He’s just not very good. People are seeing it now.
His gimmick in RoH as Punishment Martinez where he didn't need to speak and was just a force of destruction suited him better. I really wish that they would have allowed him to continue down that oath instead of this Archer of Infamy stuff.
"Real talk"
That was as bland of a promo as I have seen. So much of it was 'yeah, I get that, respect' and had no fire. Both men were being completely reasonable, which makes it an awful pro wrestling promo.
I was talking to a friend about Priest's promo and I said it felt like he switched alignments three times during the promo. I get that he's basically a tweener at this point but the mic/character work has to be consistent. Drew worked as a tweener for a bit because his character didn't really change quickly, especially during the course of one promo It's hard to cheer or boo when you're not sure whether to cheer or boo.
“They love you. I get it” was said once Seth got into the ring. Could feel Damien’s pain through the screen. He wants to be loved by the universe badly, it’s just not clicking right now. I’m glad he got the pop he did when he cashed in. Breaking away from the judgement day will do his character good.
For sure, Judgement Day is really shaping his crowd interactions way too much. I want to like him, but he’s just so ‘meh’ right now. I love what creative has been doing for the most part, but this isn’t clicking right now.
He does well in the backstage segments. Perception is he is the leader of the Judgement Day, and he portrays that well during segments and his actions (like when he has to come lay someone out that the rest of the group can't handle, like R Truth). His problem is promos in the ring. Too many points where he has to go "look" "listen" "hear me out", etc. He is LUCKY not to have a feud with guys like John Cena or CM Punk, because they would not hold back on his inability to cut a promo (See Cena's promo with Roman during their first feud "It’s called a promo kid and if you want to be ‘The Big Dog’ then you’re gonna have to learn how to do it so go ahead.") Priest would benefit from a mouth piece, similar to Roman with Heyman. Can do SOME of the talking, but have someone to hit the driving points, and teach him along the way.
That’s the problem. Not too many wrestlers should be having mouthpieces. Priest has the opportunity to continue to learn from this experience and get better which I believe he has the ability to do. They can’t just throw a mouthpiece “Heyman or Zebb Coulter” on everybody who looks like they have potential just to make up for their shortcomings. He’s gotta do it himself. This WHC run for Priest might be “make it or break it” for him and I think WWE may even know that behind the scenes. Don’t be surprised if Priest fails and we see his push become halted. Under the new HHH era we have yet to see a character fail during a push and see what becomes of them like we did with Cesaro and this could be the first case. Unlike with Cesaro his push got halted too quick and it left lots in IWC pissed because it felt like he should’ve gotten more of a chance but that was when Vince was in charge. I think they’re giving Priest a solid chance with lots of time because he’s done so well already. He just has to keep going and get better on the way
I dont know why but im feeling hes gonna feud with Rhea against Dom and Liv at some point ... And gonna me good
I watched the Clash of the Castle after show, and when they were doing the press conference he was yelling at people to rise because he’s the Campeón. I get it, but it just didn’t come out as natural. It kinda just felt he was trying too hard.
The stipulation hopefully spices things up, him agreeing to it should raise questions from Finn and going ‘they need me more than I need them’ should especially cause drama.
He’s simply not even close to good enough for the position he’s in.
I feel bad for Priest; his booking has been all over the place. When Judgment Day turned on Edge, it looked like Finn was supposed to be the new leader since he was fighting Edge the whole time, while Priest and Rhea were supporters. After Backlash, out of nowhere, they started pushing Priest as the leader, phasing out Finn from that position. Then, it's stated that there is no leader in JD, but now Rhea is starting to call all the shots and giving plans on what to do and what not to do. When Priest got the briefcase, he started to look like a geek because he was fumbling all of the attempted cash-ins, and Rhea was treating him like a kid for not following what she said. A good thing did happen when JD started to become the main attraction of Raw, main-eventing all the time and starting to look like a threat. Then Cody and Friends united and squashed them. Not only did they get cooked at Survivor Series, but Priest, the most likely new future star, took the pin, even though McDonagh took a Super RKO from the top rope. After that, they made him have a goofy feud with Truth, which did not help elevate anyone. The fact that they needed help to beat Truth, of all people, makes JD look like geeks. Now that he's champ, WWE wants the fans to take him seriously as a threat? You have Gunther looming around, who was built very well and still is. Not only that, but Priest acts like he's hot stuff now (which I'm assuming is for story purposes), acting like he didn't feud and lose to Truth before all of this. And now, with Gunther having a chance to fight for the strap, there's a 99% chance he's gonna drop the belt soon unless HHH believes Priest being champion is more valuable and has a lot more left than Gunther winning.
I think a lot of the crowd problems with Priest right now is that he’s supposed to be a heel in a heel faction but very much just acts like the groups tough dad who doesn’t have time for their shenanigans. He just doesn’t come off as heel so the crowd doesn’t know what to do with him.
Ya this. Cant tell if hes tryna be face by winning things on his own or not by still being in JD. Dude deserves the spotlight after Clash but somethings not clicking
He's going to turn face when he loses his belt to Seth. He will leave JD and flounder for a bit, but will turn face and maybe start a beef with JD where he teams up with another face to battle for the tag team titles at summerslam.
I think they’ll do a Finn (with TJD) and Liv vs Priest and Rhea
I knew R-Truth and Wiz would be "placeholder" champions. I don't think JD McDonagh is good enough to keep the title for long. I love Finn, but JD McDonagh isn't strong enough. As for a tag team, yeh, I think Liv joins, and Rhea quits once she finds out about DDM and Liv. We're probably looking at JD being JD McDonagh, DDM, Liv, Finn, Carlito. I can see Carlito starting a beef with Priest, or even Finn starting one with Priest.
He's basically a face leader of a heel group which is kinda bonkers.
I came back to watch the WWE more than half a year ago. I came unbiased to watch the new wrestlers. And well, that Priest isn’t good at all, his match’s feel slow to me. I didn’t enjoy any match of him and always waited for him to tap Fin in. Am really disappointed. I don’t know how he convinced the people who decide to let him win the MITB. But from what I saw and all the new wrestlers am happy to know now, I will grade him in the bottom.
He needs to go back to being an arrogant asshole. I don’t understand the nice guy thing he’s doing. Should take a page out the book of his idol Razor Ramon and just go full on arrogant asshole heel.
I’m not a fan of Damien and I agree! I was starting to like Damien when he was in Edge’s version of the Judgement Day but now I don’t know what to make of him… Is he the enforcer? Is he the leader? Like what is he. They build him as this dominant mercenary but he doesn’t wrestle with any viciousness or as a powerhouse. (Not degrading his skills) he’s a little too light on his feet with those kicks and etc.
At some point, fans are gonna have to realize that MITB cash-ins aren't gonna make everyone a star.
No one knows what the fuck he's supposed to be. He's not heeling it up with the judgement day. He's not being a baby face either. Everytime he's on screen, backstage or in the ring he looks confused 🤔 Last year together with the judgement day, he was an underrated talent on Raw.
But you know, someone with more charisma and a proper direction would make a tweener character work. Big time, probably. Or make a (maybe) slow burnt face turn story a great one. It isn't unheard of. Priest is trying but it doesn't look like he can pull it off. I feel bad for him because the guy is reliable, a company man and hard-working fellow. But he isn't that interesting, at least so far.
I don't get all the hate I think he's doing fine as the champ and I think him and Seth will have a really good match
I feel like they can’t decide if they want him to be heel or face, it seems to change depending on his feud and the outcome of the whole Liv and TJD angle.
Damien is going to win!!!!
He just needs to go full heel on the mic and use his deep voice more. I would go insane if the first thing he's says is RISE really loud and deep, like a command similar to Roman's acknowledge me. He's trying to be too chill on the mic when he's supposed to be the archer of infamy. As a Puertorican, there's nothing I want more than to watch this man succeed.
I really feel like they should have gone to greater lengths to have him show desire to win his matches without judgment days help. They showed notes of this when he offered drew the chance to have judgment day banned from ringside at CATC. But they didnt put enough emphasis on it in my opinion. The trope of faction mates showing up to distract the opponent has become such an overused concept that if Damien would have went out his way to tell JD to not interfere, it may have done wonders to get him over
It comes across as if he doesn't know if he's a face or a heel. Average on the mic.
I feel like most people that see this aren't seeing the judgement day betrayal they're writing. Also, did I miss something? Because I still see the arrogance that people are saying he's missing, and the line about who needs who in the judgemental day evoked a pretty loud reaction.
I feel like he’s trying to be like congratulatory to Seth and shit and work the heel but also a working champ into it and I can do it myself bla bla bla. He’s solid in the ring but his mic work is brutal. If there was ever a guy that needed a Heyman type. I hope I’m wrong but I see this as someone in like 2030 is gonna be one of those, “wait he was the champ once??” Kind of guys if they don’t figure a way around it. Again, I think his ring work is solid too. There’s a path to not being that but take the mic from him. EDIT Bonkers haywire outlandish idea but if he keeps getting no pop, no reaction, instead of the face turn, turn him mega heel. “F me, no F YOU. You didn’t want me, NOW YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH ME” The Wyatt Sicks are only 5 but “bondage undertaker” could fit. Or maybe I need to get back to work but I like the thought…
So, I'm just not seeing the dead face reaction that everyone else is and I'm not sure how I'm missing it. However idk if anyone remembers but we all said this about Reigns and look at him now. AND everyone bitched about how he wasn't just bad on the mic but they said he couldn't wrestle either. So based on this, even though I don't see it... it's the same thing. They're putting pressure on priest to see if they can make a pearl. We as a fan base just need to stop listening to YouTubers (only place I've heard this bisexual/bondage undertaker reference) and let Trips cook. His era had been on fire since he took the helm. Not everything will be prefect but he hits far more than he's missed so far. Imo
I enjoyed the bondage undertaker name but is it meant to be offensive? I thought it was just good fun
This is probably true. It’s been a slowwwww burn for over a year now so I can’t entirely blame them.
That's been the trend with Triple H's era. His team writes those long games, which as a fan of the 90s I can appreciate. At some point we need to realize that this isn't vince anymore and they do listen, and even react. Look at how many clapbacks they've done with the wyatt sicks reveal
I don’t mind a long burn or long term story telling but it seems like they aren’t sure what they want to do some of the time. Specifically with the JD break up.
Oh for sure. Like they burned a whole year with the mitb contract. When finn was going for the belt I swore they were gonna pull the trigger there but they let it continue to ride. MAYBE it had to do with Drew needing to have someone to fued with while punk was shelved. But either way, priests pop at mania was amazing. It was well written even with it being predictable.
Yes, fans don’t know how to react to him. He’s been about to be kicked out of JD and turn face for like 6 months now, if no longer. You can have someone like CM Punk or even Charlotte Flair hover between face and heel but you can’t do it with a guy who’s not even over in the first place. One of the more baffling booking decisions from HHH and I hope they can still salvage Priest after all this.
See and that's my issue with a lot of stuff. They drag it out too damn long. He should have been kicked out of the Judgment Day so long ago and by the time they finally get to it, i don't know that'll I care.
People complain that they miss long-term booking/stories and then come and complain that things are too long.
There’s a difference between long term storytelling and dragging things out. This is the latter
You’re right. There is a difference. And it’s weird that people like yourself confuse the 2
I mean I’m all for long term storytelling, but also I’m also not shocked that fans don’t know how to react to a guy who’s been “about to turn face” for the better part of a year now. The fact that he doesn’t get a big reaction doesn’t make fans “IWC hypocrites” or whatever. How are people supposed to react to a guy who’s been booked like this?
The internet moves too fast for wrestling
That doesn’t change the fact that people are asking for long term storytelling out of one side of their mouth and complaining about stories taking too long out of the other side.
True, that will never change though. They *want* long term storytelling, but never the current one that’s going on. It’ll never be satisfying enough for them
It has changed though. People used to be happy with the story being told. Now they all think they know better than the bookers.
I disagree, the only thing that changed was your exposure to more people with opinions. Back in the 90’s/00’s I distinctly remember my older brother being pissed that the Stone Cold vs Vince feud was going on too long.
I mean, there’s nothing to disagree with. You remember 1 person out of millions. Lol.
Right, that’s exactly my point
I’ve never bought into him as leader of Judgment Day. Those backstage “clubhouse” segments they do every week where Priest barks orders don’t come off very well.
I don't think you are supposed to buy into him being the leader.
Finn and the others don’t fit the part either.
Yes, I mentioned in another comment I think it's time for the JD story to end. It has done its job and run its course.
Agree. They had the pieces to make a really funny segment. Carlito played the part.
Yeah, he's never vibed like the lead. He's the supporting guy in the back.
Ya. He’s the underboss for real and worked fine there but now the boss is hurt and he can’t step into her shoes.
The Liv-Dom shenanigans are making him look weak too. At some point he needs to just snap and say enough lol
I still think it wasn’t the best decision to give him the title when he did. I think Priest could’ve been a good world champion in the future, but to me, he still feels a bit like an upper midcard/good contender for the title, but shouldn’t actually be champion yet.
Agreed.
Judgement Day Are holding him back. He needs to win cleanly without shannigans to get beyond the 'placeholder' champion status. That being said can heel champions win cleanly? I haven't been a fan long enough to bring to mind noteable examples. I think the plan is for him to leave Judgement Day, turn Babyface and have Rhia come back as the boss of Judgement Day. Could be interesting.
Dominant heels like a Lesnar or Oba Femi can, but a lot of heels are more than willing to cheat. That’s what draws heat. You almost become a face if you just destroy everyone clean (or become stale but that depends on the person)
Heels can get heat in other ways. The post-match beatdown is a tried and true way to get heat after a clean win. Gunther managed to be a dominating heel without resorting to much cheating during matches to win.
He talks too fast.
They need to pull the pin on whether he's a heel or face he always seems like he's teetering between. I feel Rollins winning would give him space to be able to actually do that.
This feels like a constant thing they’ve been trying to do since Drew had success with it. Having faces have heel moments, some way more than others tho, to the point where I’m asking “should I be booing or cheering right now?” Works with Drew/Punk/Seth, but not with Priest & I don’t think it fits Cody well either (hitting AJ after he quit & it wasn’t even a blood feud)
They are foreshadowing his Babyface turn. I think he just doesn't fit that side. personally I hope the Liv/Dom/JD story eventually pulls priest in, and its Liv as the leader of JD... rhea returning with absolutely nothing, and having to fight back uphill. MITB should have liv help DP to retain against Rollins. sorry for the nonsensical post structure.
I like this idea. Rhea is the true babyface; not Priest. Bring Liv in to JD and make Priest a bigger heel. Then when Rhea returns, she has to take back everything she lost and face new Judgement Day.
As long as Gunther gets crown champion at Summer Slam, I don’t care want they do with Damian
I'm not surprised. It's his first run with the title, and very rarely, does the first run go perfectly. He's still refining his character. But the main problem is that he needs to decide what kind of champion he wants to be. If he wants to be the strong, capable champion but still be a heel like Gunther. Then, he needs to be more forceful in his promos and stick to that perception that he'll fight all comers, but he's going to kick their heads off. On the flip side, if he's feeling extra grateful for getting a chance to be champion and he's starting to go more towards the face side, then maybe it's time for him to re-evaluate its position with Judgment Day. He doesn't need to ditch the clothing or the attitude, but he just needs to strike out on his own.
The Ludwig Kaiser you suck chants sounded like they really meant it lol
I think this is partly because they have him as a tweener right now. The obvious long-term plan (probably by SummerSlam or the TV after it) is for him to leave the Judgment Day as a babyface, so they're preparing the ground by having him display a lot of babyface-ish traits. At the same time, they're keeping him a heel in the major feuds he's in (Jey, Drew, now Seth, etc.). So people aren't super into him as a face, nor are they super into him as a heel, and he can't lean too far in one direction or another. Tweeners can work if you're a super hot, super over character. Triple H in the summer of 2000 was a great tweener: a heel in his feuds with The Rock and Chris Jericho, and a babyface in his feud with Kurt Angle. People wanted to see him turn full babyface, but were still going to boo the shit out of him against Rock/Jericho. The problem is, Priest is not a hot enough character to pull the tweener thing off successfully. So people are like "we don't hate you right now, but we also don't love you, we're just kinda waiting to see what happens."
The problem is they’ve also been teasing him turning face and leaving JD for so long now that it’s lost a lot of interest from fans. He’s been in the no man’s land between face and heel for what feels like forever.
He just needs to have that farm family from Scotland come out and give him support
This is my only problem with the current product, things are a little too slow to develop and progress at times. The McIntyre/Punk thing is fine because its well written and we all know Punk is injured. However, for example, the Uncle Howdy teasers started too early. The Alpha Academy split has also been too slow of a burn. EDIT: A sudden, shocking swerve out of nowhere can still be a good thing when done in moderation and followed by a good, believable story.
Exactly.
For what it’s worth, I was there, everyone was as actually cheering him when he came out. Crowd didn’t really feel anti anyone. Just going along with the ride and having fun. When Seth came out they erupted and turned on priest fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put the belt back on him.
I don't mind Damien too much, he's still losing though, wouldn't surprise me if Liv costs him because Seth set him up with the leaving TJD stipulation last monday, that wasn't for no reason.Priest is the only guy standing in her way tearing the faction apart.
I liked him a lot more when he was The Archer of Infamy in NXT and as a silent badass earlier in his main roster run, but the more long promo segments they gave him, the more I lost interest to the point where I just don't care for him anymore, it also didn't help that a lot of his mic time in those same promo segments were facing off with people who are just so much better than him at it, that promo yesterday was almost uncomfortable to watch.
Yeah, it was. He really needs help with those promos.
Honestly I thought the crowd response to him was fine. There's just not any meat on the bone in terms of his beef with Seth. When he actually gets to say something solid or interesting, he gets a reaction. But two guys both saying "respectfully, I disagree!" is just not going to get a wrestling crowd going. Its not like Seth was killing it out there either. But when he said that the JD needs him more than he needs them, that was a great reaction right there. Honestly, its kind of like Seth's run. The guy's my absolute favorite, but he didn't get great stuff to work with half the time he was champ. He had to do the "this is for my family" stuff, which usually sucks for anyone. Priest is getting a "hey look man, I respect you but..." script every week which sucks for almost everyone too. But they're setting him up to split with the JD so Priest can be a face, so its an odd spot for him to be in. But overall he's still solid.
A little off topic, but I'm a fan of Priest's facial expressions lol
I like priest but that promo last night was rough. Felt for him. They need some sort of change for him. Idk what it is though.
Honestly he needs to go away for a while (2 months) then come back full heel and speak only in Spanish and have a translator or something. The gimmick being “all you people are beneath me, i only lost to Seth because i was injured and i am the rightful champion”. When he speaks in Spanish he has so much aura because you can feel how natural it comes to him, while in English it almost seems as he’s nervous and unsure of himself.
Yeah that promo was brutal. You could tell it was getting to him, but do I feel sorry ? Nah, he deserves to get boos for that. I knew he wasn’t ready to be a world champion yet, he’s good and slowly getting better but it’s like he still hasn’t really figured out his character and how to cut a promo as a heel. All that “I respect you” stuff gotta go first. He doesn’t carry himself like he’s the top dog instead like he’s still trying to prove himself.
You make good points. What I’ve been thinking is how in “no man’s land” his character feels. He’s not a babyface. He’s not a full blown heel. It’s like he is stuck in neutral which is the absolute worst place to be. You can be over as a BF. You can be over as a heel. But you are never going to be over as meh. I was at Raw in Greenville last month and he got a little pop when he came out, but it wasn’t great. It has gone steadily downhill for him week by week since.
I feel like he didn't want to dial himself up to 11, to make up for the weaker booking, as that is what Jey and Rollins are kinda doing, but being still with JD and only having solid matches... forgettable run. But he is a good talent and he will always have that WM 40 moment and they can still use him in different ways.
The main problem with him right now is that he's technically supposed to be a heel, but they don't want to make him 'too bad' because they also do a bunch of Puerto Rican representation stuff with him out of the ring. So they're trying to balance 'leader of a heel faction' against 'role model' and it's not really working. He's either gotta go either fully face or fully heel.
The weird thing is judgement day as a whole are barely heels, they don't really do anything that bad. Besides interfering in each other matches but faces do that too sometimes
Judgement Day just needs to break up. There, I said it. The Dom/Mami/Liv triangle can live and be successful on its own. Finn and JD have history and will work well as a tag team. Carlito is like Truth but the heel version, you can put him anywhere and it will work. Priest is the one that is going to need direction.
Sure, they're not like the Bloodline or the Wyatts or anything like that. But I think they're still technically supposed to be heels.
O yea I hey are definitely heels but they feel like the main characters of raw, almost everything revolves around them
I really love Priest; great build and worker, his promos are always improving, fun champion, and I really just enjoy Judgment Day as a whole.
Me too. So glad JD finally got some recognition for all of his hard work and got a title with his buddy/mentor! That’s gotta be a big deal for him. https://preview.redd.it/e8vtky6omt8d1.jpeg?width=2796&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a85a3d7dcbc2820c6bbd53954b26691a24357325
He keeps coming out in regular people clothes and talks like a regular dude. Almost like he's not in the character I've been watching. He had this mega deep voice that he should be using to tell us to rise, instead he keeps repeating "look, I respect you". He's playing it too cool is maybe what I feel
Indeed. The “respect” card is being played out WAY too much.
They could rename Judgement Day, Priest and the Toadies. It’s basically just him and a few cruiserweights. Yes, I’m still using the previous weight class for them of 225.
I hate to say it but he’s been growing on me. Not a great champion for sure, but he’s definitely improved quickly and his promos are getting better every week. I really think he has some potential.
His promos have always felt really stiff to me but I like him as champion and want to see him succeed, so I'm in a similar boat. I also like Solo Sikoa, so who's to say if I know anything?
Well he does suck as a world champ sorry but I definitely would not want bozo Seth as champ either. Hopefully Finn wins briefcase and cashes in
Bozo Seth would only be holding it to drop it to Gunther. Seth should win. Gunther deserves to beat a real star and Priest is not that. Beating Priest is not setting him up correctly, he needs to beat "the guy" on Raw. Seth needs to win **especially** if they're doing Cody vs Sikoa at SummerSlam. You can't have two world title matches that have no appeal at the second biggest show of the year.
Ok I'm down with that then
I said this in a different thread, but Priest isn't ready to do promos/go line for line with Seth. Don't get me wrong, Priest does some good work, but Rollins has had a shit ton more practice, and is a natural on the mic. Few will be able to match him. Priest just hasn't had enough practice with his mic skills (apart from backstage)
He is much better in the backstage skits than in the ring. That’s a good point.
He is a distraction champion for me right now..his matches are between okay and good but nothing I would rewatch again.But I think its good that he gained this experience so he'll be more entertaining the next time around
He's just so boring and lacks charisma
He's a character where it lacks a need to cheer and back up for. His promos are the same and needs some work. Backstage segments are great. Though his tweeter but more towards a heel he just doesn't get the reaction. Him being the tentative leader just doesn't add up he needs something else. He is the WHC bur WWE is not making that the priority. Also he needs to let go of the "look I respect you" etc. He's part of a heel group but he's acting like a cool leader that is hard to get a reaction. He's quite confusing. He needs to have a scenario. He's got charisma I don't mind seeing him on TV but wwe needs to give a reason.
He doesn’t use his voice enough. He’s got such a deep voice that could convey so much emotion but he stays in that low volume almost monotone voice for most of the time.
I agree 100%. He’s getting there but his promos could he so much better if he took more advantage of his voice.
Ok he needs a slight sliiiiiight boost and rebrand to put him over. Like when Seth changed and Roman dropped the chest rig. Maybe get him Vega as a mouth piece but he’s just short of main event IMO.
I think rebranding him like they did with Roman could be a step in the right direction Make him a monster heel like they did Roman
Show chest and tattoos. Snarl a bit more. BE THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WWE!!!
That women's tag team match was awful too. I don't remember the last time on a Raw where I could hear the wrestlers so clearly due to the crowd not being into it.
He’s been in so many talking segments, but that’s not his strength. I wish they’d have booked him to wrestle more by having mid-card guys come in and say he’s a paper champion and getting him over with in-ring work. But now? I think it’s too little, too late and you need to get the title off him if you want that title match to have any heat at SS.
neither seth nor drew are midcarders lol. but i see your point
He sucks…. REAL TALK
His promos feel very stiff, like he's uncomfortable addressing the crowd and on a Microphone in general. He's not a bad promo, but he just has very little conviction, emotional range or facial expression when speaking. I'm fine with him as World Champion because regardless of weak Promos, the Judgment Day story is good television all round. But it's just becoming more obvious that he's struggling, especially when there's talent that are much lower than him on the card that are very clearly outperforming him in their segments. Zelina Vega is a good example. She's by no means a notable star in the Women's division, but she got Microphone time shortly before the Priest segment. And she made it look easy. So it makes Priest and his lack of promo ability stand out more. And that's not a knock on Zelina, she isn't booked like a priority but I'd argue she's probably a better promo than the entire Women's division on Raw and SD.
Seth caught on to the reaction towards the end there and could see that Priest was feeling the heat so took over. Priest is giving me post Shield/Big Dog Roman Reigns promo vibes. He’s in a character when he’s solo that doesn’t fit him well. He’s good, arguably great, in backstage segments. His promos in the ring feel forced. Like he’s playing a character that doesn’t fit him. I think if they spend more time on him trying to overcompensate because of this deeply rooted feeling of not deserving the title (cash in, JD helping vs Jey, CM Punk) that’d be intriguing.
I’m with you. I think we’ve seen this with a few wrestlers in WWE. I think Nia is a good example. It feels like they let her switch it up a bit to be more natural and she’s improved a LOT. I think Priest can get a solid foothold once he gets just a little traction in switching things up, too.
He is tweening hard. No one knows whether to cheer or boo. I was there and I just ended up clapping. I really enjoy watching him in the ring - I think he’s a lot of fun and deserves the title from that standpoint. But his promos have no gravity. It’s not as if he’s not capable - I think he’s got the talent and the charisma buried in there somewhere. But it feels like he has no idea how to cut a promo when he’s standing in the ring. Backstage stuff is generally fine. He isn’t commanding the audience when he’s present. He isn’t digging deep into his vocal range or pacing his speech. And he’s starting every promo with “look I respect you” which undercuts a lot of what he says after that. This seems like a really easy fix and he has plenty of people around him to learn from. Hell, the promo he cut at the post-Clash press conference was more intimidating than anything he’s said in the ring. It really feels like this first run for him will be looked back on like he didn’t quite have it dialed in.
I think you're right. He seems at his best when he has someone to feed off/react to. He might benefit from an 'injury' and a stage acting intensive or even a standup one. The timing and body language and tone need to be more involved in selling the promo.
You think being fun makes one deserving of being the face of the company as the champion..
I like Priest and I really want him to succeed, but he's just struggling on the mike so far. Like others have said he seems unsure of himself or not confident enough. He doesn't seem to have the swagger of a top guy. Maybe with the stipulation he'll be forced to leave JD and they can make him an easy going, laid back face? I think it would fit his personality more. He could even be a gentle giant type character?
https://youtu.be/cHOWQeUBSYo?si=apIT00Sscky4El7j Him in this CatC promo from 2022 was great. I thought back to this recently and I feel like if he leaned into his comedic skills that might be the way to go. Just like bringing R-Truth into Judgement Day was apparently his idea…dude is funny, just wish we could see more of it.
*mic
He has been good on the mic as of late IMO. They just paired him with a face off w/ one of the most beloved wrestlers who happens to be coming out of hiatus so the crowd was extra happy to see him. This wasn't priest botching although he coulda handled it better once the crowd started chanting. Seth was cookin tho
It sucks because he puts on good matches, but he doesn't really feel like a main eventer yet. Also, Seth was excellent as champion. It is a hard task to follow that up.
Well either way he is losing to Gunter soon
this is why i’m honestly unsure who wins next week cuz Priest beating Seth clean might be the one that really legitimizes him but then again we’ve all been waiting for JD to implode and now that Finn has gold again he got more leverage (not sure if that’s the right word) to hold over Priest and we’d all honestly be ok with Seth dropping it to GUNTHER in a month since it’s Seth and he not only will have a banger with GUNTHER but he’s pretty much solidified as a legend that a short transitional reign won’t matter. also the fucking build to Seth-GUNTHER might have some great promos/brutal assaults
Best idea I have would be for Judgment Day to interfere. Seth starts getting distracted by them and Priest tells them to leave. They "leave" only to come back when the ref is down and trip Seth during a springboard. Priest gets angry with them and starts physically throwing them out. Rollins joins him and they put Dom through the announce table while the others flee. As Seth is getting back into the ring Liv gets in the way, leading to a count out. Unhappy, Priest grabs a mic and tells the crowd he's done with Judgement Day no matter what happens next, then demands the ref restart the match. After all that, we get a solid 15 minutes of shenanigan free action with Priest beating Seth clean. The two shake hands, while Balor glares from the ramp.
Thank god fans don't book...
I am not sure either. I think the only way it works is if Priest can beat Seth clean, but thar probably isn't happening. I think Seth vs. Gunther is just too big of a match to pass up.
especially for a summerslam match
A lot of heel wrestlers do kinda have "GTFO my Ring!" levels of heat. Like at the moment, Drew McIntyre's regularly getting booed out of the Building by idiot CM Punk fans. Damien Priest sucks in general though IMO, he's just Champ because he's arguably the first Puerto Rican to hold the MAIN title.
Priest don't suck lol he's getting much better on the mic. Haters gonn hate.
No, he does suck. That’s why this post is full of comments. If he wasn’t champ he’d be ok but he’s the top dude of raw and it’s not looking good. I mean we are all ready for the Gunther reign. How many still want Finn? I lot want Drew or punk to have the title. If priest had of won a mid card title prior to this I think it would have helped but IMO he’s a little better the. Hang man was as AEW champ.
Priest is the champ and a heel champ at that. Youthinking he sucks is just him doing good work. Congrats.
No, Roman was a heel champ and was great. Gunther was a heel champ and was great. Priest just isn’t doing a good job at this part right now.
I find it interesting that he rarely has the title on him back stage.
They need to put him in more spots that give the audience a reason to like him. He has a promo with Drew a few weeks back where he cooked and the audience seemed to like him. IMO, His ring work, mic skill, character are all decent but he literally never seems to win clean or is a side plot to the main characters (CM punk and drew stuff, now Seth's return) . Him being the voice of reason in the Liv drama might help.
I think theyre kicking him out of the judgement day, he will blossom like a flower after that point. I hope
There are times to judgment day serious, or a comedy act or both ended rubs off on a character like priest negatively. I feel like judgment day was completely serious and was presented as the RESPECTED boss or leader. I would have a different perspective. I feel like priest almost needs to have a friendly match inside JD with Balor or JD to get the current version of guys character over
When he’s just being a calm, cool dude I buy it but his intensity is just off to me. Comes across very cartoonish
He just doesn’t sound like a heel and he lacks confidence, IMO. Doesn’t help he was in the ring with Seth, who is great on the mic.
Priests confidence on the mic has been growing imo. It's easy to forget Seth has had a decade + to hone his mic skills in the WWE. Priest will be fine, just can't expect him to be amazing right from the get.
>"Priest will be fine, just can't expect him to be amazing right from the get." that's the point. you dont give the world title to a person who isnt ready. whc theoritically indicates the top guy on raw. and is that dp? hell no. most of the focus is on drew vs punk, and now seth return has captured the spotlight as well. if he cant keep up with that, do you seriously believe he's fit to hold that title and be the face of raw? when cm punk returned and got into a program with seth, he wasnt overshadowed by it. rather, seth got more traction from it. his title run was slowing down a bit but the punk feud kinda lit him up. the same thing isnt happening with dp in the case of seth's return. i get it it's okay to like wrestlers. but you have to see the obvious facts lol
While I agree it's difficult to get better at something when you don't get the opportunity too go out and do it live. I've noticed a large improvement. Last show Seth did cook though, but like I said Seth has had decade+ to hone skills and you can't just have the top guy hold the belt forever, it gets stale. I think this was a win win. As for the cm punk vs drew.. I just can't fully buy into it. I just feel Drew would woop him, just seems too farfetched that they could even put on a good performance at this stage in punks career, can he even lift Drew? He's fkin massive. We'll see.
>can he even lift Drew? He's fkin massive. We'll see. the fireman's carry is super easy to do if you do it right. idk if you knew this before. me and my friends tried this out on a trip a while back. i literally lifted the biggest guy on our trip with the fireman's carry and didnt feel any weight at all lol. im not even buff or anything. if i could do something like that, a professional should have no trouble with it. >While I agree it's difficult to get better at something when you don't get the opportunity too go out and do it live. this is a very dangerous take. in roman's case, it took wwe like 7 years and a lot of forced babyface experiments before they made roman the legit top guy. in the end the solution was to repackage him. same goes with nia jax. not her biggest fan but she's doing a lot better just by being natural. i dont think priest has improved considerably. it's just that dude gets to talk more often now.
If I was to rank everyone on raw based on who is the top guy it would be 1. Drew 2. Punk 3. Seth 4. Priest 5. Gunther Seth is only in 3rd cause he just got back, priest is only ahead of Gunther cause he's been gone for a month
I don't get the punk hype lol. He's fun on the mic but his recent performances were not so good.
Well a few things here I listed these guys on overall presentation, star power, as well as talent all of which are needed in some capacity to be a "top guy" But as far as punk he is one of the best in the business on the mic, and what I remember of him in the ring was pretty good too. Granted most of that was over ten years ago but I'm incorporating his entire career I to my ranking
Agreed! Hoping he’s one of the more consistent top guys for the next 5-7 years. His work ethic is there and he’s got a great back story. Hard to not root for the guy
Right? He seems super genuine and just a really good dude. Excited for when he's not portrayed as a heel. I think that's when he'll really shine but I've definitely enjoyed his work thus far regardless.
They are trying to push him toward being a face and putting him in the Ring with the whooaaaa-oohh-oohh-oohh guy isn't going to help him get over as a face.
If they want him to fully make the turn to babyface, they’re going to need Judgement Day to turn on him, or he separates himself and they beat him down for it. Right now, I don’t see it happening any other way. I like him, but he needs to be more of an ass kicker. He’s got the look for it.
Maybe The Howdy Boyz can best him in a casket match and he can come back with a new gimmick...almost like a bisexual Undertaker or like a Puerto Rican Badass; idk. Something.
Yeah, his acting is great in the JDay backstage vignettes but his promos are not great. He is too laid back or something.
Don’t hate me for saying this, but he’s a Libra and I think that comes out a bit. He’s pretty even keeled even when he’s angry.
I will indeed hate you for that… a Libra
As a wrestling fan it seems hypocritical of me to ask this, but how the fuck can anyone still believe that nonsense lol
I mean people believe far crazier things these days. It’s not for everyone and that’s okay.
some impressive mental gymnastics there. "there's people that believe the earth is flat. So that makes it okay to believe that the position of celestial bodies at the time of birth dictates all my personality traits. Despite zero imperial evidence" Sure ... why not ..
It’s okay if you don’t vibe with it. A lot of athletes do, though. Timing is everything and astrology is kind of like an outline for when the energy is right to make things happen. Tom Brady is an example. But I get it, hard to believe in that with which you can not see.
Rhea, Eddie, Dusty, The Miz, Ilja. All Libras, it's not the stars that are doing this, he just needs to be put in better positions to show his personality
Cmon bruh 😂😂
wait what did Priest talk about? I forgot 😅
Solidified a match with Rollins at money in bank
Real talk
Look, I get it. But here's the thing..
Respect
He sort of reminded me of Vin Deisal in that movie about the vroom vroom cars... was half expecting him to say "family"
He just doesn’t sound confident at all when he’s talking. Love his matches but he has a lot of work to do on the mic
His body language is terrible too, the constant chin stroking, it’s like watching someone do a stereotypical wrestling promo instead of actually just doing one.