Damian Priest Says Rhea Ripley Is One Of His ‘Favorite People’

Damian Priest had a lot of praise for his former Judgment Day stablemate Rhea Ripley, calling her one of his “favorite people” in a new interview. Priest spoke about Ripley in his recent appearance on Cody Rhodes’ What Do You Wanna Talk About?, discussing her road to WWE and how her success inspires him to work harder. You can see some highlights below, per Wrestling Inc:

On Ripley’s path to WWE: “So that idea, her moving across the world and dealing with that internal, like, missing her family. Nobody can identify with it. I can’t even compare to that. No matter how hard I work and how much I push my family aside, they’re still here. So, to me, what she did to achieve her dream, that’s why she’s in the position she’s in, ’cause who’s willing to do so? I don’t know if I would have, but now she inspired me to, like, ‘You know what, no matter what I think I can or cannot do, I’m gonna try to do it anyway because if she did all that, everything else seems so minuscule.'”

On Ripley’s drive to improve as a performer: “So with all that and all that success and watching her, makes you wanna work harder. But on top of that, she also has never changed. She’s still the same girl that I met in NXT. The kind, just compassionate to everyone, willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her own dream without stepping on others. I will forever admire that. And she’s forever one of my favorite people because of that.”