7 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (12 Aug - Results & Review)

6. Priest’s Face Turn Takes Hold

WWE Raw Rhea Ripley JD McDonagh Damian Priest
WWE

For the past several weeks, Damian Priest has been dabbling in a babyface turn, espousing heroic lines and qualities but not quite there.

Then, SummerSlam went down, leaving it abundantly clear where Priest landed on the spectrum. And lo and behold, the fans not only accepted him as a hero, but they’ve apparently gone ga-ga for him. Monday night, Damian looked like an upper-tier babyface who has been a fan favorite for eons, not a couple weeks.

Whether it was stalking Dominik Mysterio, battering Carlito or planting JD McDonagh, Priest was wildly cheered at every turn. It’s quite a dramatic success for WWE considering where he was just a few months ago, a tweener holding the Money in the Bank briefcase and looking like he might be another guy who falls short of expectations.

Instead, Priest looks like a bona fide superstar right now, with fans hot to see him get his revenge on Finn Balor. One can only hope they sustain this long enough to make Priest a made man.

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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.