4 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (Jan 24)

1. Priest Can’t Control Damian

Damian Priest
WWE.com

Someone smarter than yours truly is going to have to explain how having a champion who can’t control their schizophrenic “other” side is an effective storyline driver in every feud.

Damian Priest has been dealing with a split personality between his “Damian side” and his “Priest half” since the fall, with the development coming after the draft out of nowhere. This personality change resulted in a popular babyface champion suddenly being unable to contain himself and snapping in matches, with the announcers, wrestlers and Priest himself talking about the alter ego constantly as if he’s Bruce Banner discussing the Hulk.

Monday, we saw “Damian” come out when Kevin Owens once again faked an injury to try to gain the upper hand in their United States Championship match. Priest cornered KO and refused to break on the referee’s count several times, leading to a DQ, which fans (rightly) booed out of the building. It was the third time in the last two months that Priest has lost a match due to kicking too much a** and ignoring the ref. And fans are clearly tiring of this lazy trope.

Seriously WWE, you had a good thing going, and while tweaks are necessary, this one is just terrible and is slowly eroding a rare success story from 2021 and turning him into a joke… a joke who’s holding Raw’s secondary title.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.