Damian Priest is a bona fide WWE success story. From holding gold in "WWE NXT," to working with Bad Bunny at WWE Backlash to the delight of his native territory, to finally winning the World HeavyweightChampionship, he's already accomplished a lot. That said, things didn't always go so smoothly for Priest, formerly known as Punisher or Punishment Martinez on the independent scene. "The Archer of Infamy" has been through his own personal struggles to get to the top of the world's largest wrestling promotion, and it took some perseverance to help him get there.
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Priest, whose real name isLuis Martinez Jr., was born in New York City, but raised in Puerto Rico, where he initially caught the wrestling bug by watching World Wrestling Council (WWC). He then started training in martial arts, learning Gj-ry karate from his father.The art is the traditional Okinawa style of karate, which features a combination of hard and soft techniques, and its name literally translates to "hard-soft style."Priest won two national championships in full-contact martial arts under the training of his father. He returned to New York, and lived in the Bronx with his family at 10 years old. As he got older and went off on his own, he struggled to make ends meet, but still had his dream of becoming a professional wrestler in mind.
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While the dream was there, it took years of determination, grit, and rediscovering his passion for Priest to make it to Ring of Honor before finding his way in WWE. Before Martinez Jr. would become "El Campion," holding gold in the company, he would earn his dues in the real world, losing an impressive amount of weight to make his dreams in the athletic sphere come true. With that in mind, let's explore his journey from homelessness to WWE superstardom.
One thing Damian Priest has been extremely open about throughout his rise in WWE is his struggles during his younger years.Priest has admitted that he lived on the streets of New York City for a few months, before his friends helped him out, because he had no money. Priest worked at nightclubs and strip clubs, in any job he could get, to be able to afford wrestling training. He said he worked as a bouncer before managing several clubs. It's something he's talked about at length numerous times throughout his career, and he doesn't appear to be forgetting his roots any time soon.
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"Mine was a long road to wrestling and it wasn't easy. For me, if you really want to be a wrestler in your life, you have to try 100 percent,"Priest told Superluchas.com (via Wrestling Inc) in 2021. "I was 50 percent with wrestling and suffered a lot for many years. I lived on the street, I slept on the street, and I was homeless and looking for how to eat. Even having work, I suffered. I tried to pay rent, sometimes I did not know what I was going to eat the next day. I kind of gave up wrestling and started working in nightclubs and earned money."
Priest explained he even got wrestling training in while working as a bouncer, noting that he ran on top of tables to get the drunks out of the establishment. Priest said if they got angry, he wanted them to hit him first, so he could defend himself. That's quite an effective way of learning combat skills for the squared circle.
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Alongside his financial hardships, Damian Priest also struggled greatly with his weight. While working to support his training and his dream, Priest had at least two tryouts with WWE. The first came in 2010.Priest said in his "WWE 24" documentary that after his first tryout with WWE, specifically for FCW, he gained a lot of weight after he was rejected, recalling that he was close to 400 pounds. Priest tried out again for the company in 2014 and again wasn't signed as there wasn't anything for him.
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Following one of these WWE snubs, Priest said that Gerald Brisco offered him advice that he took the wrong way, which led to his downward spiral with his weight. In an interview with FanSided, Priest explained that Brisco was heavily scouting for the Performance Center at the time, and came into contact with him after a camp at the Monster Factory. Priest recalled Brisco asking why he wasn't in better shape a question that he'd been asked by a lot of people, while others said his size was fine for the ring.
"It just came to one day where I finally decided this is what I want to do with my life. I have to give it everything I have. And really give it 100 percent," Priest said.
Priest noted that once he had that thought, he sacrificed more time for professional wrestling, easing up on junk food and training more. He even quit his job at a club that was paying him a good amount of money to focus on wrestling. Priest said that it wasn't that hard once he put in the effort, and he ended up dropping over 100 pounds. When the weight dropped off and he fully committed to his wrestling dreams, that's when Priest's career really started to take off.
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After shedding over 100 pounds and putting in work at the Monster Factory in New Jersey, offers within the wrestling world began rolling in for Priest. He first appeared in Ring of Honor in 2015, where he wrestled in two dark matches under his real name.He made his official Ring of Honor debut in early 2016, under the name Punishment Martinez, and competed in the ROH Top Prospect Tournament. Despite losing to Lio Rush in the semi-finals, Priest was still signed to the promotion.
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He initially competed as a heel alongside B.J. Whitmer and Kevin Sullivan to start out his career. Priest was also able to compete in New Japan Pro-Wrestling during his time with ROH while the two promotions had a working relationship, appearing at Honor Rising: Japan.When he returned to ROH, Priest competed under the name Damian Martinez. He attempted to win a shot at the ROH World Championship, but was unsuccessful in a Manhattan Mayhem Battle Royal.
Priest's big break in ROH came after he defeated Cheeseburger in a six-man Proving Ground match to earn a chance at the ROH World Television Championship. His shot came immediately after the six-way match, and Priest defeated Silas Young to capture the gold.
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In one of his best-known ROH matches, Priest defeated "Hangman" Adam Page in a Baltimore Street Fight to retain the championship. "The Archer of Infamy" hung on to the ROH World Television Championship until he left the company, dropping the title to Jeff Cobb. In 2018, Priest turned down another contract offer from the company where he got his initial start, and moved on to the promotion who turned him down when he was deemed too overweight.
After being turned down by the top company in the wrestling game in the past, Damian Priest was signed to WWE's developmental brand, "NXT," in October 2018.He made his debut that December as heel, still using the Punishment Martinez name. Martinez was reintroduced as Damian Priest in a video vignette in June 2019, and debuted in the ring under his new name and persona a week later.
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Priest has said he could have used the ring name Punishment Martinez in WWE, but Paul "Triple H" Levesque had a better idea.He said Triple H told him he saw someone better in him, and wanted Priest to show his real personality, not the character he portrayed in ROH.
"It was a different life and I could start from zero," Priest told SEScoops in 2021. "We agreed on the name, and I told him that I loved rock music, archers, so many things in life that we decided to put together. And it was very easy and natural. Now, I'm not acting. It's me."
The former ROH star feuded with the likes of Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, and future stablemate Finn Balor while in "NXT." Priest then won the NXT North American Championship, his first gold in WWE, at NXT TakeOver: XXX in August 2020. He held the championship for 65 days, losing to Johnny Gargano in October. He went on to feud with Austin Theory and Karrion Kross after failing to regain the title. He lost to Kross at New Year's Evil in 2022, his final match in the developmental system, before the once floundering star was called up to WWE's big leagues.
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Damian Priest's dramatic weight loss set him up for success to get into the WWE. However, his hard work and dedication only drove him further into the spotlight when he competed alongside, and then against, international superstar Bad Bunny.
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Priest first teamed up alongside the rapper at WWE WrestleMania 37 in the recording star's debut match with the company against The Miz and John Morrison. Priest also helped train the rapper ahead of the matchand said they were in the ring together multiple days a week. The pair went on to win the match in front of a limited-capacity crowd in Tampa, Florida, and both had an impressive showing.
Priest and Bunny became rivals afterward, with the former working as a heel at WWE Backlash in Puerto Rico. This came after Priest and his Judgment Day cohorts attackedBunny during the "WWE Raw" after WrestleMania in April 2023.The recording artist was initially set to be the host of Backlash, but decided to take on his former friend in a Street Fightinstead. Bunny came out on top, but despite the defeat, Priest called the match one of the most important things he had donein his career at the time, for what it represented in the eyes of Hispanic fans.
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Damian Priest's character had been a loner for much of his career, but when he got the opportunity to work alongside WWE Hall of Famer Edge, who created a new stable to shake things up, he jumped at the chance.Edge wanted a stable of darker characters, so he took in Priest and Rhea Ripley following WWE WrestleMania in 2022, after the former Punishment Martinez interfered to help "The Rated R Superstar" win a match against AJ Styles. The slightly supernatural stable wasn't working out or connecting well with the crowd, however, and when Finn Balor joined, Edge was kicked out.
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Despite the members of the Judgment Day, which went on to include Dominik Mysterio, JD McDonagh and Carlito, not having a specified leader, it was often Priest, the biggest physically and most imposing of the group, who took charge and called the shots. The faction feuded with Edge throughout the time he had left in the company, continuing to give Judgment Day the rub of working with a Hall of Fame talent.
Priest won the World Tag Team Championships alongside Balor twice while in the group, and ended up with the company's top gold toward the end of his run with the faction.Throughout his time in Judgment Day, Priest competed in high-profile matches such as the Royal Rumble, as well as the Elimination Chamber, both of which he failed to win. But the hard work he put in both physically and mentally, starting with his initial WWE snubs when trying to break into the business, was about to pay off in a big way.
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In addition to winning his first championship in "NXT" to his runs with the Tag Team Titles, Damian Priest has also held the United States Championship once. His first real opportunity at the big one came when he won the men's Money in the Bank ladder match in 2023."The Archer of Infamy" defeated Pete Dunne (then going by Butch), Santos Escobar, LA Knight, and Logan Paul, scaling the ladder to grab the briefcase with the guaranteed title shot suspended above the ring. Priest held on to the briefcase, despite numerous attempts to cash in on then-World Heavyweight Champions Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins, for over nine months.
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The former Punishment Martinez's time came when he successfully cashed in the briefcase at WrestleMania 40. McIntyre had just won the championship back from Rollins, but with his arch nemesis CM Punk at ringside, got too cocky. Punk took down McIntyre, leaving an opening for Priest to run down the ramp and pin the Scotsman to win the first WWE World Title of his career.
Priest held the gold for 118 days, withthree successful defenses, defeating Jey Uso, McIntyre, and McIntyre and Rollins in a triple threat match.Priestlost the World Heavyweight Championship to GUNTHER at SummerSlam by referee's decision. While Priest no longer holds the World Heavyweight Championship, he's warned the "Ring General" that he's coming back to take what he believes it rightfully his.
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If and when he gets the opportunity to challenge for the championship once again, Priest will be on his own. After Judgment Day interfered on his behalf, costing him the title at SummerSlam, Priest moved on from the faction alongside former stablemate Rhea Ripley.
Despite Finn Balor's best attempts at getting a rematch with Damian Priest, it seems like the "Archer of Infamy" has moved on. He and Rhea Ripley now go by the name The Terror Twins and have competed in mixed tag team action against Judgment Day's Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan, who they defeated, as they both chase their own championship dreams.
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Priest is one of the WWE's best rages-to-riches success stories in history, coming from sleeping on the streets of New York City to hoisting the World Heavyweight Championship at WWE WrestleMania 40. In his "WWE 24/7" documentary series, Paul "Triple H" Levesque praised Priest for all the work he had done for himself after his failed initial tryouts.
"He just got himself in great shape. We gave him some feedback the last time he was here. He implemented that into what he does. So, he clearly takes direction and is driven to try to do more," Levesque said. In his own Cinderella-esque story, Priest credits cutting off people, quitting his well-paying job at a night club, working out, and eating correctly, in a large part, to where he is in the WWE today. "I just did the common sense thing," he said.
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From a self-proclaimed 400 pounds to a now-billed 242 at 42 years old, Priest is in his WWE prime at the moment. He's also setting himself up for the future, potentially in Hollywood,signing with Paradigm talent agency following his championship victory at WrestleMania 40. The agency is set to help Priest build his brand across books, acting, marketing, and more.
