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DAMIAN PRIEST DISCUSSES TONIGHT'S WWE NXT FATAL FOUR WAY, THE PRESSURE HE PUTS ON HIMSELF, WORKING SURVIVOR SERIES, THE ONE NXT TALENT HE WANTS IN THE RING & MUCH MORE: COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

The following interview was conducted on Monday 1/7.

Mike Johnson: WWE NXT kicks off their 2020 live broadcasts this week with the Dusty Classic, but will be headlined by a Fatal 4-Way with the winner becoming the new number one contender to WWE NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong. We are on the line with one of the competitors in that Fatal 4-Way, Damian Priest, who had quite a year in 2019 making his way to NXT, debuting at Survivor Series, which was his first appearance on a top cornerstone WWE Pay-Per-View. And he's going to be one of the competitors this week in the Fatal 4-Way.  So, hello sir, it's been an interesting year for you since the last time we spoke to you, and now you have a big opportunity on Wednesday. Have you had a chance to kind of take it all in? And you've always been someone whose kind of put your head down and been all business, but have you had a chance to kind of enjoy the journey at least?

Damian Priest:  This time, hell yeah. I have. And I'll say that because like you said, you've known me for a little bit, so you know that I usually don't take anything for granted, and I just kind of put my head down and keep charging forward. But this one, this is never going to happen again. This feeling, this starting fresh. I'm never going to get to enjoy this side, especially not here. I mean, you only got your first chance at first impression, especially in this company. And right now I really, at first it was continuously head down and move forward. But now especially we just had a little break and it was kind of really cool to look back and just look at videos and pictures from this year and see where I am. And it's pretty cool, Mike. I really do say, I can't say it enough that I'm grateful. But yeah, it's awesome.

Mike Johnson: So one of the things you and I have talked about in the past is how much you enjoy the physicality of pro wrestling. And that you really enjoy, you've joked about you enjoy the pain, you enjoy the physicality and just the fighting aspect of pro wrestling. Wednesday night, you're in the ring with Keith Lee, you're in the ring with Dominik Dijakovic, and you're in the room with Cameron Grimes. Keith Lee especially has been a force of nature of late in NXT. Dijakovic is right behind him. Cameron Grimes is a very physical, smaller, but he's a very physical performer as well. How much are you, Damian Priest the competitor, looking forward to testing yourself in this 4-Way, knowing how physical things are going to get?

Damian Priest: Oh man, I'm just way looking forward to it. You could be in the ring going with anybody and especially in this company and particularly this brand. There's so much talent and so the end ring, you know it's going to be top notch. But you put me in a scenario with three of the most physical and imposing as far as just ability and strength and whatnot in one match. Yes, I'm looking forward to it. And it also helps me because it's a guaranteed opportunity where I get to show out and it's going to stand out. There's going to be a lot of eyes on this match, and I look forward to it because the idea of who I am, Damian Priest, I want everybody to remember me. So this is a perfect opportunity for me to showcase who I am, what I am, and what I could do with some of the top, top level talent in this brand and the idea is to come out on top too. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it, and I know what it means. I know that this is extremely important, not just because the winner gets an opportunity at a championship, but just this was the first advertised match of the year for the NXT brand. This is going to be the first main event match of the year for the NXT brand. And it means a whole hell of a lot to me that I'm in it and I'm in it with this talent that's on fire right now. Because everybody in that match is on fire, and I look forward to just showing out and showing what I can do with them.

Mike Johnson: You've always talked about how you hold your own feet to the fire. Early on in your career, you felt you coasted a little bit too much and then you had to readjust and get far more focused. You've been someone who I think in the last couple of years has put a lot of pressure on yourself, and it's worked for you. But what sort of pressure do you put on yourself knowing you're walking into this situation, knowing that it's the first advertised main event for an NXT show for their television series this year? What sort of pressure is on Damien Priest that you're putting on yourself that maybe you didn't put on when you were wrestling Killian Dane at the end of the year, or didn't put on yourself even going into the last TakeOver in the 3-Way match? This is a big deal, a big match. So what sort of pressure are you putting on yourself?

Damian Priest: Well, the pressure is to deliver even more and that should be always the case. And like you said, you know me, Mike, I always try to improve. I always try to figure out how to be better. And that's the main pressure here. I mean, you just said it yourself, I just had to TakeOver match. I was on Survivor Series. I just had a great match with Killian Dane. I've had amazing matches with Pete Dunne before that. So it's like, "How do I keep improving?"  Now I'm in a 4-Way. So it's a lot of pressure because I got to figure out how to outdo each one of those individual matches. And then create it times another, times another because there's three guys in the ring with me. So I basically want to put on that type of performance that I have been consistently and prove it and then make it times three because there's three other opponents in the ring with me. So I got to increase every single one. So there's a lot of pressure because all I can think about is, "How am I going to adapt and really showcase what I can do with each person in that ring?" It's not just one. And stand out, be the focus and basically the main memory of the match? How can I create a moment that stands out above all the other moments that are inevitably going to happen in this match? So there is a lot going into it.

Mike Johnson: So it's been a little bit over 14 months since it was announced that you signed with WWE. You talked about morphing and improving and showing who you are. You were a veteran when you made it down to the Performance Center. How much do you think coming to NXT has helped you grow as a performer, as a personality, as a person in relation to previous runs in other companies and with other schools? What was the importance of the NXT system in terms of helping you in terms of branding and things like that, even though you've been around, you know the way of the world, you've traveled to Japan, you've been all over the place, but how much has NXT and the Performance Center helped even someone like you who had a great grasp on pro wrestling?

Damian Priest: It was basically like turning back the clock and becoming a novice and a rookie all over again. And I was willing to do that. I mean when you're sitting around a table and you have a Shawn Michaels, Terry Taylor, Matt Bloom, Robbie Brookside and Norman Smiley. I don't want to leave people out so I'll stop there. But there's so many coaches, and there's so many legends that even stop by and talk to us on a regular basis that if you can't learn, if you can't improve, if you can't appreciate the knowledge that's being bestowed on you, then you don't belong here in the first place. There's a reason why the top talent on the NXT brand are on TV. Is because they're willing to accept that knowledge no matter how long they've been working, no matter how much they think they know, and I was for sure one of those that came in basically like I knew nothing and just had open ears and just teach me so to speak. And that wasn't what they were about either. The Performance Center is not about someone that has experience. "Yeah, we're going to teach you from scratch. We're going to teach you all the basics all over again and we got to reprogram you." That is not what the case, which I think a lot of people think. It was basically making me who I am, the best version of me. So let's take you with what you do and who you are and just do it in a way that is the best possible way for yourself. The lessons were invaluable. And then the atmosphere where you actually, I get to go into the PC now and help others, which in turn helps me, and I just feel like it just shows the love for this business.   There's so much love for this business that it reminds you why we fell in love with this business in the first place. And it's that passion that you've seen in so many people and the positivity, just wanting to succeed and make not just ourselves, but the whole brand, the company, the business better. I love, love every second that I've gotten to spend at the Performance Center. And even days that I don't have to be there, I go in. I will be there later today, and I don't have to go in today, but I will be there just because I love being around it because the atmosphere it's intoxicating in a positive way, and I'm grateful for all the time that I spent there.

Interview continues on Page 2!
 

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