‘The Archer of Infamy’ hasn’t had the easiest start to his WWE main roster career, despite having debuted with a promising history in NXT and massive hype surrounding him following his performance in the 2021 Royal Rumble match. Damian Priest had gone from eliminating Kane, John Morrison and The Miz in the annual Men’s spectacular to being used as hip-hop sensation Bad Bunny’s hired muscle in the space of two weeks.
It’d be hard for any recent debutant to shine as an individual when they’re instantly paired up with a celebrity guest, given little in the way of screen time unless it heavily featured a non-wrestler. This feud between Damian Priest and the duo of Miz and Morrison has now been extended beyond WrestleMania and recently culminated in a Lumberjack match between the former North American Champion and ‘The A-Lister’ at WrestleMania: Backlash.
This was all well and good, Priest was finally given the lone spotlight in a pay-per-view worthy singles feud against a former World Champion, but then the zombies appeared. Yeah, you read that correctly, actual zombies. Of course, this is yet another cash-in on pop-culture, exploiting their sponsorship with Netflix’s Army of the Dead for a cheap comedy skit, if you can call it that. The ‘Lumberjacks’ weren’t the standard crop of undercard wrestlers and performers you’d genuinely forgotten were signed to the company, instead WWE sent out extras from the set to chew scenery while Priest did his absolute best to take the match seriously.
It’s really not the best look when you’re a newcomer trying to win the more casual audiences over. Granted, to the non-smarky fan, seeing a massive dude with dreads kicking shades out of The Miz in the middle of a post-apocalyptic scene sounds pretty fun, but for Damian Priest who has to now show up on Monday Night RAW and do his best to be seen as a legitimate threat to title holders like Bobby Lashley and Sheamus, this just won’t cut it.
Priest really needs some decent performances under his belt to start to build his credibility, and that isn’t taking anything away from his and Bad Bunny’s match at WrestleMania, a genuine barn-burner as far as celebrity matches go. WWE need to step away from the corny storylines and gimmicks and allow Damian Priest to embrace that cool, Scott Hall-like persona we witnessed him grow into as part of the NXT roster.
Priest could easily become a hero in the mid-card, potentially answering Sheamus’ Open Challenge and posing a threat to his United States Championship run, but first he needs to shake off the stink of his Backlash debacle. Cleanly pinning the likes of John Morrison and The Miz is a good start in terms of victories but with the horrible scenes surrounding those matches, and the focus on Bad Bunny, this hasn’t really aided him in stepping up the card. At this point, Damian should be putting together his first championship challenges, yet he’s not even in the conversation as of writing.
With a growing fanbase behind him, there’s plenty of opportunities for Damian Priest to become the star he’s destined to be on the main roster. There are certain aesthetics and gimmicks that are better placed on either RAW or SmackDown Live than they were in NXT – Elias and No Way Jose for example – ‘The Archer of Infamy’ is very much the sort of character that could become very marketable towards the younger audiences, especially if they wanted to appeal to the Hispanic audiences.
There’s a handful of superstars on the main roster who could easily string together instant classic performances with a big man like Damian Priest: Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Drew McIntyre, all fellow hard-hitters who would likely have amazing chemistry with the MMA-enthusiast, putting Priest in the ring with the bigger stars would instantly prove that he’s exactly where he belongs.
Regardless of what storylines Damian Priest enters next, they need to salvage the momentum he first had upon his debut, there’s a lot of potential to explore with ‘The Archer of Infamy’, but unlike his mission statement, it won’t Live Forever. For a company so quick to call out AEW for setting the business back 30 years, it’s high time they took a look at themselves and what skits they choose to feature young talent like Damian Priest in.
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