WWE Superstar reveals The Undertaker almost broke his nose during training
WWE RAW Superstar Damien Priest has recalled an interaction he had with The Undertaker at the WWE Performance Center that almost led to him losing his nose.
Priest recently arrived on Monday Night RAW from WWE NXT, and he's already showing his potential. During his time in the black and gold brand, Priest held the NXT North American Championship for over two months. He also competed in Ring of Honor under the ring name Punishment Martinez.
During his recent appearance on Metal Injection's Squared Circle Pit podcast, Damian Priest spoke about a session with The Undertaker during The Deadman's visit to the WWE Performance Center.
Priest revealed that he got to mix it up with 'Taker in the ring, and while the latter was explaining something to others, he almost punched The Archer of Infamy in the nose.
"And then what wasn’t on it [the footage of Undertaker being at the Performance Center], we actually got to get in the ring a little bit with Undertaker, and man he put on the gloves and everything. I was like, ‘Oh no, he’s gonna beat us up,’ and then I actually got to lock [up], throw some blows with him and I remember he was showing somebody something and he threw a punch and he was just explaining something so he wasn’t actually trying to hit me, but he threw it full speed and it touched my face and he pulled back, I mean just before he broke my nose and I was like — and I looked around and I was like, ‘Man! That was awesome, do it again.’ So cool. Again, the fan in me couldn’t help it." (H/T POST Wrestling)
Damien Priest revealed in an interview a couple of months back that he learned a lot from The Phenom during their session at the WWE PC. He noted things such as ring positioning, awareness, and being overly aware of your surroundings during a match.
It's always good when a young, up-and-coming star gets advised by a major WWE name. It's extra special when that person is The Undertaker himself.
Damien Priest on his WWE tryout
The Archer of Infamy also opened up on the tryouts he had with WWE during the interview. Although he wasn't successful at signing with WWE at first, the company contacted him while his contract with Ring of Honor was almost up.
"I had a tryout with WWE in 2014 I believe, and at the time, they liked me. They all said, ‘You’re a yes for the company,’ that, ‘You’re the type of guy we’d wanna hire but there’s just nothing for you right now’ and then I said, ‘Oh okay’ and then I spoke to one of the scouts and coaches and he was like, ‘Go make a bigger name for yourself.’ He goes, ‘And make yourself undeniable to the company.’ I said okay and that’s what I did. I started making a bigger name for myself and then I kinda contacted the company a year after that, and again, it was just like, ‘Nothing for you now’ and then I kind of wrote it off as far as, ‘I’ll probably never work there but it’s okay.
"I’m okay with that and I’m not gonna stop working as hard as I am. I’ll continue working hard and keep improving and just having fun, enjoying what I love doing’ and then a year later they called me which is crazy. They’re like, ‘Hey, would you be interested?’ And I’m like, ‘Of course I’m interested.’ You know, my contract had came up. I was working for Ring of Honor at the time, my contract was up and they called me at literally a perfect time and they were like, ‘Hey, are you under contract?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, until the end of the month.’ They’re like, ‘This month?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah,’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, would you mind if we give you a call then?’ And I was like, ‘No, okay’ and that’s what they did. They called me like the same day. They called me and we made it work, crazy."
And as they say, the rest is history. Damien Priest is a very talented wrestler with a bright future ahead of him in WWE.