Damian Priest shares how The Undertaker had a profound effect on him.
As a young kid, Damian Priest dreamed of being a professional wrestler. 30 years later, Priest now finds himself near the top of the WWE rankings, with one WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign under his belt.
During a recent appearance on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, Priest looked back on the performers that initially inspired his childhood dream, with WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker being the biggest.
“There’s a lot, but the main one was The Undertaker,” Priest said. “I’ve never been shy about that one. That was my idol, watching him. It wasn’t even so much the wrestling, it was just the aura, the presentation, everything. I remember how I felt, and then that’s when I knew I needed to make people feel this way. Because I was big into comics, I wanted to be a comic book superhero or supervillain, where people are that emotionally invested in me, like even as a little kid I knew that. Maybe I couldn’t articulate it that way, but I knew that.”
Other Influences
Alongside The Undertaker, Damian Priest identified the likes of Razor Ramon (aka Scott Hall), Sting, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin as other key influences.
“I saw Razor Ramon, who I legit thought was a Latino. As a little kid, you don’t know the difference. I’m sure my dad knew, this guy had a fake accent, but I didn’t know. I sort of was like, ‘Yo, he’s one of us,'” Priest recalled.
“Then as you get older, you learn of other wrestlers. Sting was another one, I loved Sting. Still do. Just the character, especially when it became The Crow, and I thought it was the coolest thing. And then Attitude Era obviously happened and I was in high school, so Austin and Rock were my favorites. Obviously, Taker was always there, then DX. I was a Bret fan but then nWo took over, and then that was it for me, nWo all the way.”
As a tribute to one of the nWo’s founding members, Scott Hall, Priest currently utilizes the Razor’s Edge as one of his signature in-ring moves. Priest previously revealed that he obtained permission to use the move prior to Hall’s death in 2022.
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