At WrestleMania 40, the sky was the limit on what was next for Damian Priest—who was coming off a successful cash-in. A year later, right before WrestleMania 41, the question returns: what is next for Damian Priest? Since dropping the World Heavyweight Championship, Priest has been a non-factor on Raw. Basically, all of the Judgment Day has been in a doom spiral, but Priest may have suffered the worst of it since he left. With the biggest show of the year just months away, there are rumors that his match set up for the Las Vegas card may have been ruined by an errant spot in the Royal Rumble. The directions WWE could take and the one they likely will take probably aren't the same, though.
What does Damian Priest bring to the WrestleMania 41 festivities?
The first thing to consider is whether Priest needs to be at WrestleMania at all. As "El Campeon," he was in a strong position. While all of his stories fell a bit flat, an issue Gunther and Seth Rollins have had with the World Heavyweight title, and he was having some of the best matches in the ring in all of WWE. That is not nothing, especially for a WrestleMania card. Under Triple H, the Mania cards have nicely balanced star power, longer stories, and high-quality matches to give every fan something to look forward to.
Damian Priest also brings size to the card. Many of the folks on the midcard are smaller, more agile performers. Adding Priest into that crop gives them the prestige of a former world champion while still being relevant, as well as the visual appeal of a David and Goliath or a King Kong story. As a face or as a heel, his size, especially paired with his athleticism and in-ring acumen, would be missed if he somehow managed to miss WrestleMania weekend.
Drew McIntyre is probably next for Damian Priest
Damian Priest eliminated Drew McIntyre from the Royal Rumble, sort of. That would indicate that next for Damian Priest is a grudge match with McIntyre. This comes with several problems. First and foremost, his size and stature are no longer an asset; it actually matches Drew exceptionally well and both guys are established big men. Additionally, the spot was not executed particularly well. LA Knight and Logan Paul got in the way, massively distracting from the moment and making it look almost accidental that Drew McIntyre went over the top rope. Had it looked good, though, the premise would still have been weak for a Mania feud.
Drew McIntyre vs. LA Knight is essentially the only match that makes sense from that disastrous exchange within an otherwise great Rumble match. That means Damian Priest and Logan Paul, both involved in that spot, could be without a match. It is unlikely Logan is going for any of his three Rumble rivals. That being said, Paul and Priest could do quite well together. It isn't the best spot from him, though, which works out great given that Logan Paul is almost certainly not going after Damian Priest in April.
Damian Priest needs a title match and a dominant showing
If Damian wants to recapture the momentum he has lost since last year's peak, he needs a big title match. It can be one-on-one or, even better, a multi-man match. The candidate for that bout should obviously be Bron Breakker, who also needs a strong showing in his first WrestleMania match. Breakker is seen as a future world champion in waiting. To break through to that final level, you need to secure some quality wins against people who have been to the top. It is not surprising that Gunther's best work came after his Randy Orton feud, after all. Priest can easily make himself the gatekeeper for Breakker's breakthrough moment.
Building a match around those two clashing for the Intercontinental Championship, particularly in a ladder or Battle Royal setting, allows multiple stars to collide with a former main eventer and a future main eventer who are both still fairly hot with the live crowds. Either of them winning works fine, so long as they can power through the rest of their opponents and end the match eye-to-eye in a final struggle for the gold. Their dominance over the field will give both of them momentum, and their meeting in the ring will tell the ultimate story of two great champions passing like ships in the night.
Next year, Damian Priest will probably not look much better
If the rumored Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest match goes forward, the following year will be a rough one for Priest. Win or lose that fight, he has nothing to look forward to. If WWE plays it totally safe, there will be two faces for Priest at the top of the card. John Cena, Cody Rhodes, and Jey Uso are the three most probable candidates to be world champion on the Raw after WrestleMania. One match with any of them is certainly possible, but without a premature heel turn, a whole story isn't in the cards. The "real heat" between McIntyre and Knight, plus their history elsewhere, sells that match perfectly. That leaves Damian open to becoming "Intercontinental El Campeon" and sends a heel in Bron Breakker toward whichever of those three unlucky faces he is going to spear toward his first world title in 2025.