Damian Priest
Luis Martínez is a Puerto Rican-American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Damian Priest. He is also known for his tenures in Ring of Honor, where he performed under the ring name Punishment Martinez, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling through a working relation between the two companies, performing as Punisher Martinez.
After performing in independent promotions throughout the East Coast, Martínez joined Ring of Honor in 2015, where he won the ROH World Television Championship. He joined WWE in 2018 and began on its developmental brand, NXT, under his ring name, winning the NXT North American Championship. In 2021, he moved to WWE's main roster and won the WWE United States Championship. He rose to popularity during his time as a co-founding member of The Judgment Day from 2022 to 2024, where he won the 2023 Men's Money in the Bank contract, became a four-time tag team champion, holding the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships twice each under the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship banner with former Judgment Day stablemate Finn Bálor, and won the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XL after becoming the second man in history to cash in successfully at the namesake event.
Early life
Luis Martínez was born in New York City to a Nuyorican family, but raised in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, where he first saw the World Wrestling Council on television and developed an interest in becoming a professional wrestler. He learned Gōjū-ryū karate from his martial artist father. After winning two national championships in full-contact martial arts, Martínez decided to embark on a career in professional wrestling. When he returned to New York, Spanish was still his first language and he underwent a period of cultural adaptation. He was ten years old when he returned and lived primarily in The Bronx. At one point, Martínez was homeless, and worked as a bouncer to make ends meet.Professional wrestling career
Early career (2005–2015)
Martinez made his wrestling debut in 2005 performing in independent promotions in the East Coast for the next decade, mainly in New Jersey and New York before making his debut for then-Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based promotion Ring of Honor.[Ring of Honor] (2015–2018)
Martinez's first appearance at an ROH show was in 2015, where he competed in two dark matches under his real name, losing the first to The Romantic Touch and winning the second alongside Shaheem Ali against Hellcat and Mattick.Martinez returned to Ring of Honor in early 2016 to compete in the ROH Top Prospect Tournament, under the new ring name Punishment Martinez, defeating Colby Corino in the first round. Martinez lost to Lio Rush in the semifinals; however, despite the loss, Martinez was signed to a contract by Ring of Honor. He became a villain when he aligned himself with B. J. Whitmer and Kevin Sullivan, entering a rivalry with their adversary Steve Corino. On September 16, Martinez took part in the Honor Rumble, but was eliminated. In early November, he participated in the Survival of the Fittest, where he was eliminated in the final Six Man Mayhem match. Martinez and Whitmer went on to briefly feud with the former ROH World Tag Team Champions War Machine, first wrestling them to a no contest and then defeating them in an anything-goes match.Through ROH's working relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Martinez appeared at the two-day event Honor Rising: Japan. On the first night on February 26, Martinez teamed up with Los Ingobernables de Japón members Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito, defeating Dalton Castle, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Ryusuke Taguchi. The next night, Martinez unsuccessfully challenged Hirooki Goto for the NEVER Openweight Championship. He returned to ROH on March 14 now under the ring name Damian Martinez, unsuccessfully competing in a Manhattan Mayhem Battle Royal for #1 contendership to the ROH World Championship.
At the promotion's State of the Art event on June 16, 2018, Martinez pinned Cheeseburger in a six-way Proving Ground match to earn a shot at the ROH World Television Championship immediately following the match, defeating Silas Young to win the title. On June 29 at Best in the World, he defeated "Hangman" Adam Page in a Baltimore Street Fight to retain the title. At Death Before Dishonor XVI on September 28, Martinez successfully defended the title against Chris Sabin. After the match, he attacked Sabin before Jeff Cobb made the save. In his final appearance for the promotion, he dropped the Television Championship to Cobb. On September 29, Martinez's contract with Ring of Honor expired and he opted out of a contract offer.
WWE
Beginnings in NXT (2018–2020)
Before signing with WWE, Martinez made an appearance at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on June 29, 2014, playing the role of a security guard standing behind Stephanie McMahon, who confronted The Bella Twins.On October 12, 2018, Martinez signed a contract with WWE; six days later, he was formally introduced among other new members to the NXT brand. At an NXT taping on December 5, he made his debut as a heel under the Punishment Martinez ring name, losing to Matt Riddle. On the June 5, 2019 episode of NXT, a vignette aired, reintroducing Martinez as Damian Priest. He made his debut under the character on the June 19 episode of NXT, defeating Raul Mendoza. On the July 24 episode of NXT, he defeated Keith Lee in his second appearance.
On the October 2 episode of NXT, Priest started a feud with Pete Dunne and Killian Dain, culminating in a triple threat match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames on November 23 for #1 contendership to the NXT Championship, which Dunne won. The next night, at Survivor Series, Priest was a part of the 5-on-5-on-5 Survivor Series match, representing Team NXT in a losing effort to Team SmackDown and Team Raw; he was eliminated by Randy Orton. In January 2020, Priest was involved in a storyline around the NXT North American Championship with Keith Lee and Dominik Dijakovic, fighting for the title against Lee and Dijakovic and in a singles match against Lee on the April 1 and 29 episodes of NXT, respectively, but lost both times.
NXT North American Champion (2020–2021)
On the April 22 episode of NXT, Finn Bálor was attacked backstage by an unknown attacker. It was revealed on the May 13 episode of NXT as being Priest, leading to a match between the two at TakeOver: In Your House on June 7, where Priest lost to Bálor. Despite losing the match, his performance was highly praised by Triple H, and on the June 10 episode of NXT, he praised Bálor during a backstage segment, turning face in the process.Priest defeated Oney Lorcan and Ridge Holland on the August 5 episode of NXT to qualify for the NXT North American Championship ladder match at NXT TakeOver: XXX. At the event on August 22, Priest won the NXT North American Championship, his first championship in WWE. He made his first title defense on the September 16 episode of NXT, defeating Timothy Thatcher. The following week, NXT General Manager William Regal announced that Priest would defend the title against Johnny Gargano at NXT TakeOver 31 on October 4, in which he successfully retained the title. Priest lost the championship to Gargano at Halloween Havoc on October 28 in a Devil's Playground match, ending his reign at 65 days.
On the November 11 episode of NXT, Priest distracted Gargano during his title defense against Leon Ruff, causing Gargano to lose the title to Ruff. The following week, Ruff retained the title against Gargano by disqualification after Priest punched Ruff during the match, disabling Gargano to win the title. At NXT TakeOver: WarGames on December 6, Priest failed to win the title from Ruff in a triple threat match involving Gargano after he was attacked by a masked character and its gang that had previously attacked him at Halloween Havoc, who was soon revealed to be Austin Theory. On the following episode of NXT, Priest looked forward to revenge against Theory, but was viciously attacked from behind by the returning Karrion Kross. At New Year's Evil on January 6, Priest lost to Kross, marking his final match in NXT.
United States Champion (2021–2022)
On January 31, 2021, at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Priest entered the Royal Rumble match at #14, eliminating John Morrison, The Miz, Elias and Kane before being eliminated by Bobby Lashley. The next night on Raw, Priest made his debut for the brand after being introduced by Bad Bunny during a Miz TV segment, defeating Miz later that night. On the April 5 episode of Raw, Priest and Bad Bunny challenged John Morrison and the Miz to a tag team match at WrestleMania 37, which they accepted. At Night 1 of WrestleMania on April 10, Priest and Bad Bunny defeated The Miz and Morrison. On the following episode of Raw, Priest lost to The Miz and Morrison in a 2-on-1 handicap match after outside interference by Maryse, marking his first loss on the main roster. At WrestleMania Backlash on May 16, Priest defeated Miz in a Zombie Lumberjack match, ending their feud. Following the event, he went on a brief hiatus due to a back injury.Priest returned on the July 12 episode of Raw, saving Humberto Carrillo from an attack by United States Champion Sheamus after their title match and starting a feud between the two. He challenged Sheamus to a title match at SummerSlam on the August 9 episode of Raw, which Sheamus accepted. At SummerSlam on August 21, Priest defeated Sheamus to win the United States Championship for the first time in his career. He made his first successful title defense against Sheamus and Drew McIntyre in a triple threat match on the August 30 episode of Raw. Priest retained the title against Jeff Hardy on the September 13 episode of Raw, and in a triple threat match also involving Sheamus at Extreme Rules on September 26. On the following episode of Raw, Priest defeated Sheamus in a no-disqualification, no count-out match to retain the title, ending their feud. He then successfully defended the title against Hardy in a rematch on the October 4 episode of Raw.
On the October 25 episode of Raw, with a new, revamped character, he defeated T-Bar; after the latter threw a chair at the former outside the ring, Priest viciously attacked T-Bar, turning himself into a tweener. At Survivor Series on November 21, Priest lost to Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura in a champion vs. champion match by disqualification after repeated distractions from Nakamura's ally Rick Boogs, causing Priest to attack both of them, marking his second loss on the main roster. Over the following months, Priest successfully defended the title on Raw against the likes of Sami Zayn, Apollo Crews, Robert Roode, Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens and AJ Styles. On the February 21, 2022 episode of Raw, Finn Bálor challenged Priest to a title match on the following episode of Raw, where Priest lost the United States Championship to Balor, ending his reign at 191 days. After the match, Priest attacked Bálor.