Reason For Damian Priest Absence From WWE TV – Fans have been wondering why Damian Priest has been missing from WWE TV for over a month and it all comes down to an injury.
Priest has not wrestled since defeating John Morrison in the Lumberjack Match on the May 17 RAW, which came one night after his Zombie Lumberjack Match win over The Miz at the WrestleMania Backlash pay-per-view.
During the Q&A portion of today’s Wrestling Observer Radio, a fan asked why Priest hasn’t been on WWE television in recent weeks. Dave Meltzer noted that Priest is out with a back injury. “bad back, right?…he’s injured.” Bryan Alvarez pointed out how Priest had a bad back at WrestleMania 37 as well and still worked the match. Meltzer responded with, “yeah, he worked the match, but it was still a bad back.”
However, Fightful Select reports that the rumors of a back injury keeping Priest away from the ring right now were denied, and that Priest will be available as soon as next week, if WWE has any creative plans for him.
Priest was reportedly unavailable for the past few weeks due to other reasons that were not disclosed. It was also said that he has been healing up, but a back injury was denied.
WWE officials were hopeful at one point that Priest would be involved in the qualifying matches for Money In the Bank. Last night’s RAW saw Morrison, Ricochet, and Riddle qualify for the first three RAW spots in the Men’s Ladder Match. Next week’s RAW will feature a Second Chance Triple Threat Qualifier for the final RAW spot, with Randy Orton vs. RAW Tag Team Champion AJ Styles vs. Drew McIntyre. There should be four SmackDown qualifiers to fill the final 4 spots of the eight-man match.
There were pre-WrestleMania 37 reports of Priest dealing with a back injury, one that almost kept him from the match with Bad Bunny. Priest and Morrison both ended up overcoming injuries to work WrestleMania in the tag match that saw Bunny and Priest get the win over Morrison and The Miz.
Stay tuned for more on Priest’s WWE status.
