WWE star Damian Priest has achieved a lot in his pro wrestling career and personal life, but he wants to keep improving and takes inspiration from some of his peers, including Rhea Ripley.
Ripley and Priest,former Judgment Day partners, are close friends in real life, and the latter has learnt a lot from the Australian, particularly her journey from another part of the world to make it in WWE. Priest, on his recent appearance on CodyRhodes' "What Do You Wanna Talk About" podcast, stated that his path to WWE is insignificant compared to Ripley's.
"So that idea, her moving across the world and dealing with that internal, like, missing her family. Nobody can identify with it. I can't even compare to that. No matter how hard I work and how much I push my family aside, they're still here. So, to me, what she did to achieve her dream, that's why she's in the position she's in, 'cause who's willing to do so? I don't know if I would have, but now she inspired me to, like, 'You know what, no matter what I think I can or cannot do, I'm gonna try to do it anyway because if she did all that, everything else seems so minuscule.'"
Priest asserted that Ripley's desire to better herself despite all the success she has had makes him want to work even harder.
"So with all that and all that success and watching her, makes you wanna work harder," he said. "But on top of that, she also has never changed. She's still the same girl that I met in NXT. The kind, just compassionate to everyone, willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her own dream without stepping on others. I will forever admire that. And she's forever one of my favorite people because of that."
Ripley, who left Australia in her early 20s for the States, has achieved just about everything in WWE, with numerous titles under her belt.
