Not every celebrity who dabbles in sports entertainment makes a lasting impression with their in-ring work, but Bad Bunny raised eyebrows with his performance at WrestleMania 37. As his tag team partner, Damian Priest had more insight into how the music megastar was able to look so at home in WWE.
“If you want to do this, and you want to be successful, even if it’s for one match or whatever, you’ve got to commit yourself, which is what he did,” Priest told host Phil Strum on the latest episode of the Under the Ring podcast. “I was so impressed, I think everybody was impressed by that internally. Just his commitment to making sure he delivered.
“He didn’t want to embarrass himself, he didn’t want to embarrass his family, his friends, his fans, and he didn’t want to embarrass our business. That was a big thing for him. He wanted to earn the respect of everyone.”
Priest is now turning heads himself as a member of The Judgment Day, alongside Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley. During this episode, which you can hear in full above, he discussed how he and his teammates align on their look and approach, and why he thinks the best is yet to come.
Other topics Priest and Strum cover include:
- Getting to work with Edge, who Priest calls “a wizard” in the pro wrestling business
- His specific journey to make it to the WWE main roster, and who helped him most along the way
- Learning from Scott Hall and the influence the Bad Guy has had on his career
- How his Puerto Rican heritage influences his work and how WWE gives him a platform to share it
Under the Ring drops new episodes every Monday, as Strum sits down and chats with a fascinating personality from the world of pro wrestling each week. Recent guests have included veteran grappler Davey Richards, former WCW President Eric Bischoff and recent NWA Champion Matt Cardona.
To make sure you don’t miss an episode, subscribe to Under the Ring on Apple Podcasts or your podcast provider of choice, or check out the Under the Ring YouTube channel to see all of the interviews in video form.