Cody Rhodes thinks Damian Priest will be a big player in WWE.
During a recent interview with Gabby LaSpisa of Gabby AF, “The American Nightmare” opened up about his recent experience in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he defeated Priest in a featured singles match at WWE Crown Jewel.
“I’ll say this was my first time in Riyadh,” Rhodes noted. “The last time I was in Saudi was in Jeddah and it was all new to me at that point. I remember the press conference I had done for the show in Saudi was real eye-opening, whereas I didn’t know what type of crowd they are. Our crowds are different all over worldwide. We were just in Germany experiencing that, the UK, all this. But they started singing ‘Kingdom,’ they were singing the lyrics. They were singing the entire song versus the part that most people sing and it was really uplifting in a sense. Like, ‘oh, they’re watching.’
“Because I think when these shows started and I wasn’t with WWE at the time, but it didn’t seem like they had the current product. It seemed like they wanted WWF and nostalgia. And now, they’re very attuned to everything. I did a small meet and greet right before the show and all these kiddos saying ‘yeet,’ talking about what they wanted to see on the show that night, talking about people’s finishing moves. It’s really nice to see a market, from a business perspective, a market develop that way. That means that the next time we go, they’re even more attuned to it. We gotta continue to service this.
Cody Rhodes Praises Damian Priest
Cody Rhodes then gave credit to Damian Priest for the way he has grown as a competitor since they last faced off several years ago.
“Going into the match, I feel like I wanna give credit to Damian Priest — not for anything he’s done recently — I wanna give him credit because I wrestled him at Ring of Honor during the kind of Ring of Honor renaissance that me, Matt, and Nick, and we had rolling there,” Rhodes said. “He’s a completely different individual and to me, a sign of a true pro is, ‘Are you better tomorrow than you were today?’
“Fans aren’t always the most patient but then also they’re the most loyal, so as long as you continue to improve, you can attach to them at some point. I feel like he has a very large future, not just because the briefcase is in hand, but just looking back at what he did with Bad Bunny at Backlash as well, I feel like he has a large future. Across from me? Not gonna happen. But he’s definitely a big player for WWE.”
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If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Gabby AF with a h/t to WrestleZone for the transcription.
