Report: Potential Damian Priest call up

WWE SmackDown may be in line for an important call-up to the blue brand in the coming days according to multiple reports.

News broke on Wednesday of an apparent plan to call up Damian Priest from NXT to the main roster, perhaps with his involvement to take part in the Kevin Owens versus Roman Reigns storyline. The news was first reported by WrestleVotes on Twitter, followed up by a report from Fightful Select.

“Just heard an interesting story. NXT talent was slated to be called up to SmackDown last week.” WrestleVotes tweeted. “Was written into the main event segment with Reigns, Uso, and KO. Said talent is on tonight’s big NXT card so curious to see if it was pushed a week or scrapped altogether.”

The tweet did not mention Priest at all, but the report from Fightful select did mention the plan to call up Priest but did not confirm whether he will be involved in one of the biggest angles on WWE television today. Priest is currently slated to face off against the returning Karrion Kross at NXT New Year’s Evil.

Priest, a former NXT North American champion, has been a central part of NXT booking since joining the brand back in 2018. After getting off to a slow start under his original ring name of Punishment Martinez, the rebranding into Damian Priest helped improve his position on the roster.

At his height Priest was involved with top names like Finn Balor, Tommaso Ciampa, Pete Dunne, and Keith Lee. He won the North American title at NXT TakeOver XXX where he defeated Bronson Reed, Cameron Grimes, Johnny Gargano, and Velveteen Dream in a ladder match. He would hold onto that title until NXT Halloween Havoc where he dropped the belt to Gargano, picking up wins over Timothy Thatcher, Austin Theory, Dexter Lumis, and Gargano in the process.

Stay tuned to Daily DDT for more news on a potential Damian Priest call up and other stories and analysis across the wrestling industry.