Damian Priest on WrestleMania 41 Match and Slayer Entrance: “I’m Proud as Hell” – Damian Priest made his mark at WrestleMania 41 Sunday, competing in his first full singles match on the grand stage against Drew McIntyre in a brutal Sin City Street Fight. Despite going through multiple tables during the clash, Priest walked away with a sense of pride and accomplishment.
Speaking with Denise Salcedo after the show, the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion opened up about the match, the build-up with McIntyre, and his unforgettable entrance, which featured Slayer’s Kerry King.
Priest didn’t hold back in expressing how much the moment meant to him.
“The match, I thought we delivered. I thought for a WrestleMania match with the time we were given, we did our thing. Look, our rivalry, I don’t care what anybody says, it has reason, it has story, and it was heated, and we had our beef. We went at it. We went hard, too. Which is what I was expecting. I know he was expecting it, too. I think we had a performance worthy of a WrestleMania match, and that was that being my first full singles match. I’m proud as hell,” Priest said.
As memorable as the hard-hitting match was, Priest’s entrance added another layer of spectacle to the night. With Slayer’s Kerry King shredding him down the ramp, Priest made an entrance that left a lasting impression—and it all came together with some unlikely help from ECW legend The Blue Meanie.
“They said, yeah, ‘King, Slayer and they’re going to he’s going to play out to the ring.’ I was like, ‘no shot. All right, guys, take it easy,’ and they’re like, ‘no, no, no.’ Then, funny enough, it was Blue Meanie that had hit me up. This is like probably over a month ago. He saw him (Kerry King) at a concert and he said, ‘yeah, I talked to King and he said he’d love to play you to the ring,’” Priest revealed.
From that casual mention, things escalated quickly. Priest pitched the idea to Triple H, which led to an even bigger surprise.
“Then I hear that I’m going to host the Slayer reunion, their first headlining tour and they’re coming back together and performing a few shows and I’m going to be the host of that show and the emcee of the thing. I’m like, this is crazy work. I legit got nervous when they said that to me because I was like, ‘oh, my God, what am I going to say?’ I’m going to embarrass myself on stage. I’m going to be a little boy fan,” he admitted.
As the reality of King performing his entrance set in, Priest said his nerves for the match were actually overshadowed by the pressure of living up to the spectacle of the moment.
“That’s what I fell in love with the business. It wasn’t just the wrestling. So the idea that this happened, I was nervous because I was like, please let it be really good… I think it was pretty cool.”
While Priest didn’t walk away with a win over McIntyre, the match and entrance solidified his presence on the WrestleMania stage and added a new layer to his persona and legacy.
Damian Priest on WrestleMania 41 Match and Slayer Entrance: “I’m Proud as Hell”
