Damian Priest Looking Forward To Tonight’s NXT Fatal 4-Way

In an interview with PWInsider, Damian Priest spoke about his upcoming match on tonight’s NXT, a Fatal 4-way with Keith Lee, Dominick Dijakovic and Cameron Grimes. Here are highlights:

On enjoying the ride so far: “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.”

On tonight’s NXT main event: “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.”

On putting pressure on himself: “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.”