Note On Damian Priest’s Status For Tonight’s WWE Smackdown

We already know that tonight’s Smackdown features Money in the Bank qualifying matches for men and women. Tatum Paxley vs. Tiffany Stratton vs. Candice LeRae for the women, and Cody Rhodes vs. Kevin Owens vs. Johnny Gargano. In singles matches, Giulia will face Blake Monroe. One superstar who will not be in the ring, however, is Damian Priest.

Per PWInsider, Priest was spotted in New York City this morning, so he can’t be in Denver. If he appears on Smackdown, it can only be in pre-taped segments. Like many of his coworkers, he’s been venturing into other areas of entertainment, doing animation voice-over work on Netflix’s new movie Steps. In this deconstruction of the Cinderella story, told from the stepsisters’ point of view, Priest voices a character named “Cracktor.”

It’s too early to tell yet whether it will be as minimal a vocal performance as Roman Reigns and CM Punk being “Zebros” in Zootopia 2, or something more substantial, a la Dwayne Johnson in Moana. But even Johnson started small — from a few quick scenes of walking in the desert and falling down in The Mummy Returns, a mighty Hollywood career was born.

There’s no guarantee that’s what Priest was doing in New York, but Steps opens next month, so the PR should ramp up soon.