During a recent interview with TV Insider, NXT North American Champion Damian Priest commented on his big win at NXT TakeOver XXX, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On his confidence: “You push yourself to the max and always try to outdo yourself, but there is someone also doing the exact same thing. I love that type of competition. I’m going to keep pushing myself. I’m going to continue what I do, which is to be better than I was yesterday every single day. [And] make sure [that] I keep entertaining and putting out performances worthy of me being the North American champion and employed by WWE.”
On what his title win means to him: “It means everything. This is what we’re here for. I wanted to do something to solidify myself as someone of importance in this business. This is the first step. This is the first major moment for me. I’m still on cloud nine. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted. I’ve wanted success. I’ve wanted the attention. It’s just rewarding when you achieve it. I’m appreciating and enjoying it. I’m going to hold on to this for as long as I can.”
On his evolution and coming into his own as a Superstar: “It came from a piece of advice I got from Triple H, which is basically just to be you. Shawn Michaels has been adamant about that too. Both of them have been on me for months. They [were telling me], ‘this guy, we speak to in the back and we see at the PC [Performance Center] and at shows and on the road, give us that guy.” For so many years I was asked to be a certain type of presentator. I was always cool with that because I always liked the idea of trying to be cool. You never look at yourself in a certain way. You see how others perceive you. I would always pretend to be something else. I think at first I was still pretending to be a version of what I thought people wanted me to be. I was still pretending. Now, I feel there is none of that. I’m living in the moment. So far, it has been so far, so good. I can feel I’ve excelled because of that. It’s crazy to think if I had just been myself from the get-go, who knows. I give credit to Shawn and Hunter for pushing me to just be myself and not worry about anything else.”
