 Well, we are at WWE World just a couple of days away from WrestleMania 40, having a ball. Michael, of course, not with us in his home studio today after traveling with the Yankees. And I'm very excited speaking of the Yankees to bring on maybe the biggest Yankee fan in all of WWE. He's senior money in the bank. He's a World Tag Team Champion. Give it up for Damian Priest, everyone, coming to hang out on the Michael K Show. Thanks for having me, boys. Michael, I'm telling you, I don't know if we've ever had a guest on the show who was this looking forward to coming on the show. I'm thrilled about it. I love it. Love that he's a Yankee fan. Yeah, big, big. This was a big one for me. I was psyched as soon as I heard I was going to be on this. I've been listening to you guys for years. When I used to Barton in the city every morning, that's that was the right end is listening to the show. Cool. Awesome. Thank you very much. How are you? How are you feeling? We'll get to we'll get to WrestleMania of a big week, a huge title defense. It's a couple of days away. But I know right now you're six and one. We just had a caller, for example, who was really going overboard. This feels like 98 blah, blah, blah. OK, it's a great start. You are a realistic and smart Yankee fan. How do you feel with where this team is right now? I mean, as a fan, of course, is exciting and I'm happy with what they're doing and they're looking good and considering, you know, all the newer guys are producing and it's exciting and it's promising. But realistically, it's a small sample size, right? So I'm positive. I'm like, I hope it stays like this all year. But, you know, we're going to go through our dips and people will slump and it is what it is. But this is the start is good for morale is good. I think it's good for everybody, you know, and the teams for for them to feel optimistic about. Well, I got I've got to say one thing. I mean, I'm glad you're a Yankee fan. I'm glad you're great in the WWE. But you should be an announcer. I mean, what a voice on this guy, you know what? I'm telling you the truth. I have always known he has a deep voice. It was not until he just started talking that I was like, kind of feel like this guy should be in the wrong unbelievable. Well, and also, I don't want to give this guy too much love at one time. People start to question things. You have very handsome man as well. By the way, I didn't even quite realize that either. Oh, one day, my wife was just like, Damian Priest really hot. I was like, I never even thought about it. So you got the voice, got the looks, you got the briefcase, got the titles and your six and one, your titles on the line at WrestleMania. Is this a very good time in your life? You've you've been through a lot in this career. I'm not going to lie. This is a good time in my life right now. Very happy and positive. And how long have you been at it? Like how long have you been trying to make your wrestling dreams happen? So it took me. 18 years to make it. Wow. Yeah, I was my own worst enemy. I was lazy, complacent. And I was one of those that everybody's like, yeah, just keep doing what you're doing. You're going to be fine. And I just wanted things handed to me, you know, I didn't realize that. Oh, you have to work for your dream, you know, you want you want something. You've actually got to put in the work. And it was like a switch one day. I decided to change my life. I mean, I was overweight. I lost almost 200 pounds. Wow. Wait, wait, wait, you lost almost 200 pounds. Yeah, this is and this was maybe 10 years ago. And this was before Osempic. Yeah, this is well pre-Osempic. Yeah, yeah, right, right. But was there was there a turning point? Was there a moment that you said the little switch? Was there anything that happened that made you turn? Yeah, well, I know I was working in Atlantic City at the time at a club. And I remember my boss goes, hey, we love what you're doing. We want to give you a bump and pay and everything. We just need you to stop doing that wrestling thing you do sometimes. And for whatever reason, that day I was like, you have my two weeks. Notice that's not my wrestling thing. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. But then as soon as I made the decision to quit my job, I was like, oh, no, I got to I got to really do something here. And I immediately just for whatever reason that day, I changed my whole life around just who I surrounded myself with all of it. So you've got the WrestleMania is a huge date on the calendar of the WWE. Is are there nerves involved? I mean, leading up to it. I mean, do you get nervous? Yeah, yeah, I think for most of us that's a real thing. I mean, especially we're performing live in front of I don't know how many people are going to be there to be on 70,000 a day. Maybe yeah, I would say around that range. I mean, if you don't get nervous, you're not human, you know, you're performing live and obviously the risks and mistakes can happen. And, you know, we're just my being thin as like to make it to the ring. I don't want to slip and fall on the rampway. I know. And by the way, and you guys have to deal with a ladder, too. Yeah, how do you feel about that? Like, do you get when they tell you it's going to be a multi multi team ladder match, do you get excited or are you like, oh, couldn't we have just had a regular tag match, title defense, something like that. So we're going to wrestle 12 of us with ladders and for us 70,000 people. Yeah, it sounds like a great idea. Right. Outside, by the way. Yeah, no, there's definitely even extra nerves because of that, you know, because now there's there's just a lot happening, you know, and it's a high profile match. But yeah, ultimately, I'm excited. I mean, it's WrestleMania. This is our game seven. This is our Super Bowl. So for us, we waited all year for this. We worked to get here. So just to get on the show was a big deal to have an actual like good spot and a good moment is it means the world to me. And this was the dream. All right, so you're a big Yankee fan. So I'm going to ask you this question. Who would be a better WWE Superstar judge or Stanton? I knew you were going to ask that like with those two guys. I feel like now judge five years ago, Stan. Why so I'm still in great shape. Oh, no, yeah, but he leaned out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Prime of Stan, I think would have did some damage in the WWE. I think he still can. Don't get me wrong. I don't want to get him hot, but but judge and his height alone, I think would would help him a lot. I just I mean, you look at him, you know, that guy's something. You know what I mean? So now now you had an interesting thing. You told me at the bar last night, we were having a chat and you said while you were really happy to see Virdugo have his first big hit as a Yankee, there was something you were slightly not happy with. Look, I'm all for having your big moments. I'm all for a good strut or something. Well, he did was a bit much for my liking. And I feel like I sound old to old school for that. But I'm like, we don't do that here. Not like that. That was a bit much. Did you know, Michael, do you notice anything after Virdugo's? Well, he took 33 seconds to go around the basis, which is the longest home run trot so far this season. That's just who he is. So, I mean, although you're saying that's not what we do here. That's what he does. And they want him to continue to be him. And they want Marcus Strowman to continue to be him. They want that sort of personality on the team. So I think you'd have to get used to that if they're going to be successful on this team. They just they've told these guys, don't change. Do what you do. Do what you want to feel comfortable doing. So he did it yesterday with the bat flip at 33 seconds. I mean, Peter, you can get around 33 seconds. You can get around 20. I'd make, yeah, exactly. That was a bit much, you know, as long as it took. But look, I mean, if he's going to produce, then, of course, no, you can't change nothing, absolutely. But we said it jokingly. I was like, ooh, that was a long one for your first. I get it. It was exciting. But, you know, not for me, maybe I'm a little too old school. Who was your favorite Yankee? All-time Jeter. I mean, that's the easy answer, right? But my very first baseball game was kind of cool that my father took me to. Yankees 1-1-0 and Don Manley hit a home run. There you go. There you go. So Don, Donnie Baseball was my first. And then it became Jeter. Now, what board did you work in in New York? Did you work in a lot of boards in New York? Yeah, well, mainly in Manhattan. So I worked in for Heartland Brewery. I used to work at the Hammerstein Ballroom. And then a few dive bars here and there. Nice. I got to tell you, you had the garden show a few months ago. It was a really big, you know, every Christmas there's a big garden show. And it's a big deal for people, for everybody, but especially superstars who have a history from New York. And we went out afterwards. You brought your family and friends with you. Like, can you really put it towards how cool it is when you're at MSG performing in a big match and all your friends and family are sitting there watching you? Like, it has to be a surreal thing. It's wild. So in the mid-90s, my dad used to take me to the garden to go watch wrestling all the time. I was there for a lot of cool moments. And then now to have the honor to be on the other side. You know, every time, as soon as I got to the green, the first thing I like to do is go to the bowl and just look around. And, you know, it's just, there's like an aura in that place, man. And having my family there, and I could see them in the audience. And that one, every single time it gets me. And I get emotional about it. Like, that's, that one means a lot. Are you a Nick's guy, too? Yes. See, I'm assuming you heard the news today. It's official. Randall is out for the, for the year. They're going to go with surgery. Do you, do you still think this team could do anything in the playoffs without Randall? Obviously it's going to be a challenge. But yeah, I think it's not an individual sport. You know, I'm like, you need a team. And obviously Randall adds a lot. But I still think they could, they can do some damage. I think if, you know, good, it's all about coaching and how they manage the team and how they manage how to play together. I think they have a shot. Yeah, you mentioned team and you think wrestling, you think individual. But when you're in a tag team, how is that dynamic like working with somebody? It's, it's definitely different. Cause this is the first time in my career that I've done tag team wrestling. So it took me, it was like a learning curve for me after all these years. And it's, first of all, it's nice because you kind of like supplement the load of how many times you get hit. So that makes it a little easier. But there is something special to it because it is an art just to have different bodies in there flying all over the place. But while trying to tell a story and keep people's attention engaged and just put on a good show of entertainment. So for me, it's neat because we get to like talk and we build a bond. And I feel like my partner, Finn Balor, we were friends. We knew, first we knew each other, we respected each other. Then we became cool, but now as a team we've become like brothers. We traveled together. We were on the road together all the time. We got to eat. I mean, we're always around each other. I mean, we're partly of our home anyway. So this is like, people always say that wrestling is like your second family who did the locker room. But with him is even more because we travel together because we become like that. We have that dynamic and I think it translates. And you guys are, Damien's also part of a faction called the Judgment Day, which are incredibly popular. Also includes Rhea Ripley, Dominic Mysterio and sort of JD McDonough. And what I found fascinating, and I think fans would find really interesting is like in observing you guys, you guys really do act like your own little family in real life too. Like it's like multi-sibling relationships. Like that's one of the things that, when people always ask, why do I love wrestling so much? One of the things is the fact that it's all a story and it's all entertainment, but there are these pieces that really mirror what you see on television. Whether that's watching how Paul Heyman really does sort of act like the manager for Roman Reigns or whether that's the fact that the Judgment Day really does act like a family. Yeah, that's like I said, it's one of those things that translates over. You can't fake real emotions, right? So obviously it's not like an actor in a movie where they just portray one thing and it's fine. What we do, it's live performance, right? So we feed off the crowd, that's real. So we show off real emotion because people can identify with real emotion. And then when you feel a form of bond like we have with the Judgment Day, people can tell that it's real, that we actually are friends, that we actually care about each other, that we look out for each other and push each other to do better. And I think that's why the Judgment Day has taken off and people really enjoy watching us. Whether it's to boo us or to cheer us, I think people enjoy it because it's authentic. And Michael, one of the things that makes wrestling so interesting too is that actors act, they play a character, they move on to the next one, but when you see them, it's, oh, hey, that's Tom Cruise. You are always Damian Priest. I'll be truth be told, I don't even remember what the hell your real name is and I consider you a friend and you're Damian Priest. It's, you never leave that, it's every day all the time. It's the weirdest thing when I started in the WWE and it was like, we're trying to come up with a name for me and as soon as I became Damian Priest, my boss immediately like just talking to me, hey Damian, hey Damian, hey Damian. And oh, that's me. And now I don't know, people call me by my real name and I don't look. What is your real name? Luis. And you really, do you feel like Damian is more of your name at this point than Luis? Yeah. I have family sometimes, like brothers, when they're speaking to friends, they don't call me by my name. They'll refer to me as Priest or Damian. It's hilarious. It's so crazy. That's wild, man. Well, thank you for dropping by, man. It's so nice and it's nice to finally meet you at least over the airwaves. No, I told you one of these days, we're gonna go to a game, you gotta go say hi and meet Michael in person, I know. Damian is a true Yankee boy. I wanna, Michael, if you'll do it, I think we should let this man live out his Yankee boy dreams. Let's get him tickets and come up to the booth and say hi, man. I would love that, I appreciate it. And just for another thing, part of the judgment day, one of our lines that we say, one of our tag lines is All Rise, which I started saying obviously because of Judge. Of course. So just throwing that one in there too. Good luck this weekend, bro. No, I appreciate it, thanks for having me seriously. Damian Priest, everyone. Beautiful.