Damian Priest explains why he changed his finisher after Cody Rhodes returned to WWE
Some WWE Superstars change their finisher after a while, based on a change in their character or motivations. Meanwhile, Damian Priest explained why he changed his finisher when Cody Rhodes left AEW and returned to the Stamford-based promotion.
In 2021, Damian Priest used the rolling cutter and named it 'Hit The Lights', which secured the star wins and the United States Championship from Sheamus. However, the move was eventually changed, and Priest returned to South of Heaven chokeslam and The Razor's Edge when Cody Rhodes returned to WWE.
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, the 41-year-old star explained why he changed the finisher and that the company didn't push him to make the change when The American Nightmare arrived in the Stamford-based promotion.
“That was pretty much the conversation. 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 [change it], but they never said change it," Priest said.
Moreover, Cody Rhodes had no objection to it. However, Priest felt fans wouldn't differentiate the two and changed it to South of Heaven.
"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," Priest said. (H/T CVV)
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Cody Rhodes had a short feud with Damian Priest on WWE RAW
Last year, Cody Rhodes was recuperating on Monday Night RAW from his loss at The Grandest Stage of Them All in California against Roman Reigns. The American Nightmare and The Tribal Chief didn't cross paths in WWE for a while, and the two had separate adventures in the company.
During this time, Rhodes often shared the ring with The Judgment Day, whether it was a one-on-one contest or tag team action. Heading into WWE Crown Jewel 2023, Damian Priest attacked Cody Rhdoes' leg and accepted a challenge to face The American Nightmare in Saudi Arabia.
In the end, The Judgment Day was neutralized by Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes scored a win over the then-Senor Money in the Bank at Crown Jewel in Riyadh.