Has Damian Priest Done Enough To Be A Top Guy In WWE?
Damian Priest might be the WWE World Heavyweight Champion as of this writing, but this does not make him a top guy in WWE. In fact, holding a championship does not make anyone a top name in the company. Anyone, at any time, can win a championship. One only reaches “top guy” status when they become a mainstay in the main event. In fact, there is an old saying in the world of professional wrestling. A title should not make the man, but the man needs to make the title.
This is true, as a title is only as good as those who hold it. This is often why independent companies love to have major names, especially former WWE stars, hold their top prize. A title’s lineage can be crucial because every single person who holds it adds to its prestige. While this is mostly important to companies and wrestling marks, if a title has a long line of major names, it makes it a title that people want to hold.
The WWE Championship has existed for over 50 years, so its lineage is massive. This means that anyone can win it and will automatically be considered worthy of respect among fans. However, if someone is just randomly given the title in hopes that it’ll help them stand out, it can start to ruin the title’s legacy. Think of someone like Jinder Mahal, who only held the title because WWE was trying to expand into India more.
Not only did WWE not understand the Indian market, but they threw the title on Jinder without building him up to win it. Some feel the same type of issue has happened with Damian Priest.
THE MAN MAKING THE TITLE
For the longest time, people only wanted to be the NWA World Champion. Every promotion under the NWA system had its own champion, including the WWE. While known as the WWWF and owned by Vince McMahon, Sr., the company had its own World Title separate from the NWA. However, they were still within the NWA system, and the person at the top was always the NWA World Champion. This was a person everyone had to vote in favor of among the governing body members, too.
A promotion’s titles are only decided upon by the promoter, but a champion like the one NWA had was a traveling champ. He’d defend the title across all promotions. This is why most promoters needed to be in favor of the champion. It was also important to a promoter that a top guy from their territory held the top prize. It only helped to make their territory more prestigious. The issue, however, is that one needed major opponents to work with that could help a promotion make a lot of money.
The same issues are in play today, where a champion needs quality opponents. However, the champion must also come across as a credible top name. You could see them in the main event with or without the title, basically.
Look at someone like Seth Rollins, for example. Even though he used the Money in the Bank briefcase to win the WWE Championship, he had great matches with everyone he worked with. He became the company’s top heel, but he had already been built up as a quality star well before he won that title. After he lost it, Rollins was still constantly a main event-level competitor. That made him a top guy in WWE.
DAMIAN PRIEST HAS STRUGGLED
Unlike Rollins, Damian Priest has constantly been seen as lesser than others. It is not exactly his fault, as he has been able to put on relatively good performances while holding the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Despite this, Priest has run into an issue that Triple H likely did not prepare for. WWE is trying to do way too much with Damian while he holds the gold.
Not only does he have a ton of Judgment Day drama to deal with, but he’s slowly turning babyface. While the normal heel Priest has been fine with cutting corners and doing whatever he could to win, he did not want to do that as World Champion. Suddenly, he decided to be honorable and fair. He was fine with beating down opponents even in a win, but now he’s against it. Damian was fine with using weapons or employing outside interference from his faction. Now, he’s against that as well.
He wants to win matches 100% clean. WWE even had a moment where he nearly did just that, as he was legitimately injured due to a rope issue when facing Drew McIntyre. Of course, Drew is always a threat to win any title. He had Priest many times, but Damian kept going. He was working essentially on one leg, and fans were cheering him for his toughness.
Then WWE decided to have CM Punk come in as a referee distraction to mess with Drew. This has led to the tainting of every single title defense he’s had. The same thing happened with Drew and Seth right after when the MITB case became a big issue. Seriously, every defense so far has had some random issue that assisted Priest, even as WWE tries to make him into a babyface.
THE FACE TURN CONCEPT:
In all fairness, the clear love Rhea Ripley has from fans made Judgment Day more likable. Of course, some of its members, like Dominik Mysterio, are incredibly good heels that WWE does not need to change. Eventually, it seems like WWE will set the stage for Finn Balor to turn on Damian Priest. Honestly, it could happen within the next month or two. Likely leading to Priest losing the World Heavyweight Title or costing him as he tries to win it back.
We get that they want Priest to be set up as a babyface to get into the rivalry with Balor, leading to the destruction of Judgment Day.
However, would that automatically become the top story on the RAW Brand? It should, but without the World Title, it won’t be what the RAW brand is focused on. It will most certainly not focus on it over Gunther’s World Title reign. Triple H has been setting this up on a slow burn for roughly five years now. He most certainly will make that the main focus for RAW.
The organic rise of Jey Uso and the use of Wyatt Sicks will also get a lot of attention. That does not even address what WWE does with CM Punk and Seth Rollins on the brand. Plus, the Liv Morgan/Rhea Ripley rivalry will get a ton of attention, too.
That makes the Judgment Day drama one of perhaps more important storylines on the very brand it is on.
WHERE DOES DAMIAN PRIEST GO FROM HERE?
As referenced, WWE has put together a storyline where they are trying to do a ton of things with Judgment Day. At the same time, it seems that their B-Story is Priest’s World Championship story-arc. They want to turn Priest into babyface while still having him escape as champion in every single title defense. WWE is making it hard for people to respect the title run Damian Priest is having. If he can’t beat Gunther, much less beat him cleanly, his title run will have ended without showing how worthy he was to hold the title.
Can Priest call himself a “top guy” after this title run? Not in the slightest. WWE could have made him into one through all of this, as he has all the tools to be a threat to any champion. His size and ability in the ring alone make him worthy of such respect. Add in his ability to cut a promo with a legitimately threatening voice. However, this title run makes him someone WWE just wanted to use to help move along other storylines. None of which had to do with HIS title run.
Damian Priest has everything you want to be a top guy, but he has done nothing to earn that. Therefore, after losing the title, he might not be back in the title picture for a long time. Meanwhile, guys like Drew McIntyre, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins will likely remain in the title picture for a long time to come. Not to mention guys like Gunther and other stars they have developed.
They could rebuild Priest again, but when they do, they need him to show he can do it without outside help. Otherwise, what’s the point?
