For a time, Damian Priest and Bad Bunny were thick as thieves in WWE; they're both from Puerto Rico, both have loved wrestling from a young age, and both found unlikely success in America, with the former signing with WWE deep into his 30s at the suggestion of Matt Riddle and the latter largely rapping in Spanish.
So naturally, when Bunny expressed interest in working matches as a member of WWE, it made sense to pair up Priest with the Vega Baja native and allow the duo to work together in a match against The Miz and John Morrison at WrestleMania 37. Priest could provide cover for the developing star, set things up against his fellow co-workers, and provide the perfect opportunities for Bunny to pop off the screen with incredible moves like his Bunny Destroyer, aka the Canadian Destroyer pulled off by a bad, Bad Bunny.
Sitting down for an interview with Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick on After The Bell, the RAW commentary team asked Priest how he could turn on his longtime friend and promise unspeakable violence at Backlash. For “The Punishment of The Judgement Day,” it wasn't so much turning on his friend but standing up for his family.
“Not in the moment. In the moment, I’m reacting to what’s happening. To me, he got involved at WrestleMania. I even said it then, ‘I get it. That’s it, it’s over, don’t get involved with our stuff anymore.’ You asked, ‘You guys used to be friends; how can you do that?’ I was asking everyone the same question. If a friend of yours does something to a family member, what do you do? That’s what he did. I was defending my family. In the moment, I didn’t see my friend. I didn’t see Bad Bunny, the music star. I saw somebody that I had to lay out and put in their place to defend my family. That’s what it was. The aftermath has been wild. I wasn’t expecting all that, but I’ll take it and use it to my advantage,” Damian Priest said via Fightful.
“He’s had success in WWE, probably because I was watching his back. I was his protector. I felt that entire year when he was around, I was playing protector, making sure he didn’t get hurt and if someone stepped up to him, I was the one to stand in front of them. Now, he has to be confused. He’s definitely confused the fans because they believe he has a shot at beating me up. This is what I do. I hurt professional athletes. He is not a professional athlete. I don’t know what he expects out of this match, I know for him it’s a dream to have a singles match and it’s in Puerto Rico and it all sounds cool on paper, but I’m going to bust him up. I’m going to hit him hard. I’m going to hurt him. He’s going to be injured. When The Undertaker, toward the end of his career, he told me that he wrestled once a year because he needed a whole year to recover. That’s the Undertaker. How long do you think Bad Bunny is going to need to recover? If he ever recovers. This is not going to go the way he thinks. This is not going to be a good day for Bad Bunny. I’m not going to treat him like a music artist. He made this match, a street fight at that. I don’t know what he expects, but I’m going to treat him like I would any other WWE superstar and I’m going to do it in a street fight in Puerto Rico. It’s a whole other level of violence that he’s not ready for.”
Whoa, does Priest actually have a point? Did Bunny's decision to put his finger on the scale at WrestleMania 39 act as a declaration of war against The Judgement Day, with Priest siding with his new family over his old friend? Either way, if he's willing to put an Undertaker-style beatdown on Bunny in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Grammy-winner's Puerto Rico Street Fight may rapidly turn into his own Boneyard match.
What does @ArcherOfInfamy have in store for @sanbenito at #WWEBacklash? Find out as he joins @WWEGraves & @kev_egan on #AfterTheBell, available wherever you get podcasts!
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— WWE After The Bell (@AfterTheBellWWE) May 5, 2023
Damian Priest plans to make history at Backlash at Bad Bunny's expense.
Continuing on with his pre-show assault on Bad Bunny before their match at Backlash, Damian Priest noted just how crazy it is for his fellow Puerto Rican native to request a match in San Juan, especially a Puerto Rican Street Fight, as it borderline guarantees a punishing effort for his inexperienced foe.
“This is nuts. I’m not sure if he understands it,” Damian Priest said. “He can’t, or else he would not have made the decision that he made. I really believe that he looks at himself in the mirror and he’s not thinking about what’s going to happen, he’s thinking about the idea. It sounds cool, it sounds awesome. ‘I get to show off in front of my fans. Everyone is going to be so happy. I get to perform in front of my family.’ No. He’s not looking at what’s going to happen.
“What’s going to happen is, he’s going to get in the ring and I’m going to beat the living hell out of him, and I’m not going to feel bad. If anything, I’m probably going to come at him harder than I would another superstar just out of spite. I’m not going to his concert, getting on stage and grabbing the mic, and singing his songs. Yet he thinks he can get in the ring and fight like I do. You’re crazy. You’re crazy if you think that’s going to fly and be okay. He’s crazy to think that just because we were cool, that maybe I’m not going to hurt him as bad. He’s not walking out of the arena. He’s not walking out. He brought a stick. Okay. Now, what happens when I can grab one. What happens when I put him through a table. A second one, a third one. What happens when I put him through the ground. He hit me with a stick a bunch of times, it’s done, he marked me up, I look like I got a bunch of mosquito bites. Cool. Watch when I smack him in his face and his whole face lights up like a Christmas tree. I’m not worried about it. It’s going to be historic music because there will be nothing else coming from Bad Bunny.”
Jeez, for all of the smack Priest had been talking on Bad Bunny ahead of Backlash, and believe you me, there has been some serious smack talked, this might be the biggest shot of them all, as not only is The Judgement Day's muscle promising “punishment” in Puerto Rico but he's now suggesting that he plans to end Bunny's musical career too.
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