Damian Priest stopped using The Reckoning when Cody Rhodes returned to the WWE, but no one forced his hand.
The former World Heavyweight Champion changed his finisher after The American Nightmare returned to the WWE at WrestleMania 38. He originally used a variation of the Cross Rhodes, called The Reckoning on NXT and the main roster.
However, after Cody Rhodes left AEW to come back to WWE, Damian Priest made a change. Instead, he borrowed the Razor’s Edge from Scott Hall, getting permission from the late WWE Hall of Famer to do so.
Damian Priest recently spoke with Chris Van Vliet. He was asked if he stopped using The Reckoning because of Cody Rhodes.
He confirmed that was the case, but that nobody told him he couldn’t. They did have a conversation, and even Cody Rhodes told him he didn’t need to change it. However, he did.
“That was pretty much the conversation.” Damian Priest said. “Actually, they didn’t say you can’t do it anymore. It was like a conversation of look, obviously, it’s a similar move, it’s different, but it’s still similar. I do it differently, but it’s one of those things. They’re like, you might want to [think about it], but they never said change it.”
“And even Cody was like, You don’t have to change it. I was like, Yeah, but if you come back and I’m doing this move every time I hit it, people are gonna think of you. But at the end of the day, it is a rolling cutter, right? So I was okay with it. So basically, anytime I face Cody, I’m gonna hit him with it [laughs].” Damian Priest added.
Damian Priest Didn’t Want People To Think About Cody Rhodes When He Hit The Move
Damian Priest added that he was happy to go back to his previous finishers, or a new one.
He noted that he didn’t want everyone to think about Cody Rhodes whenever he hit the move, which encouraged him to change it.
“But look, it’s a move. It’s not that serious.” Damian Priest told Chris Van Vliet. “I think everybody else thinks it’s more serious than we do. I really didn’t care. I was like, Okay, I’ll just go back to using the South of Heaven or Razor’s Edge or the flat liner that I do. I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to use. I haven’t even started using submissions yet, and I’ve got a few!”
“That’s what I mean, there’s a lot of stuff that we can do. I wasn’t mad, I wasn’t upset, I just didn’t want everyone to think of him every time that I did a move. It’s one thing paying homage to somebody, it’s one thing to do a move similar to someone who works somewhere else, but when they work in the same company, on the same show, it’s like alright, there’s got to be a difference.”
