Luis Martínez is an American professional wrestler signed with WWE. He is best known for his work as Damien Priest in WWE and Punishment Martinez in ROH. He is a former WWE North American and United States Champion.
Damian Priest was born on the 26th of September in 1982 in New York City, United States. However, he was raised up in Puerto Rico in the municipilaty of Dorado. Priest has had huge interest in combat sports since his childhood. He wanted to become a pro-wrestler ever since he watched World Wrestling Council while leaving in Dorado. Furthermore, his father is also a martial artist and he taught Priest Japanese Gōjū-ryū karate.
In 2003, Martinez began his wrestling career. He worked for several independent promotions and won several championships. In 2014, he attained the ROH Dojo.
In 2015, he began working for ROH. During his time with ROH, he worked for NJPW and rose to prominence. After feuding with Rowan, Martinez moved towards the ROH Television Championship. In 2018, he defeated Silas Young to win the ROH Television Championship. In September, he lost the title to Jeff Cobb and left the company.
In October, Martinez signed with WWE and began working with NXT. In 2019, Martinez was repackaged as Damien Priest. After the repackage, they heavily featured him on NXT television. At WarGames, he lost to Pete Dunne. In 2020, he feuded with Keith Lee and Dominick Dijakovic for the North American Championship.
At TakeOver XXX, he won the NXT North American Championship in a ladder match. At Halloween Havoc, he lost the title to Johnny Gargano. At NXT New Year's Evil, Karrion Kross defeated him, which was his last appearance for NXT. At Royal Rumble, he made his main roster debut and lost.
After Rumble, he and Bad Bunny began feuding with The Miz and John Morrison. At WrestleMania 37, Bad Bunny and Damien Priest defeated The Miz and John Morrison. Over the few months, Priest feuded with The Miz and Morrison and won. At SummerSlam, Priest defeated Sheamus and won the United States Championship. In 2022, he lost the United States Championship to Finn Balor.
At WrestleMania 38 Night Two, Priest made an appearance during the match between Edge and AJ Styles where he stared down the latter from the ringside. This distraction allowed Edge to spear Styles and get the win. Edge and Priest embraced following the match announcing their union, which would later be revealed to be known as - The Judgment Day. Rhea Ripley also joined the faction a month later at WrestleMania Backlash.
The trio would then go on to target AJ Styles, Finn Balor, and Liv Morgan leading to a Six Person Tag Team Match at Hell in a Cell, which The Judgment Day won. On the next night, the group introduced its latest member Finn Balor. In a sudden turn of events, Balor, Ripley, and Priest turned on Edge and kicked him out of the group that he made.
The following months saw Priest become the powerhouse of The Judgment Day and feud against the likes of AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Edge, Rey Mysterio, and Dominik Mysterio. At Clash at the Castle, Priest and Balor lost to Rey Mysterio and Edge followed by Dominik betraying his own father to join the villainous faction.
In the following months, Priest along with Balor and Dominik fought with The O.C. in a winning effort and lost a chance to capture the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship. At Royal Rumble, Priest entered the eponymous match at #22 but was eliminated by the returning Edge. He would then go on to challenge for the United States Championship at Elimination Chamber inside the hellish structure in a losing effort.
At the RAW after WrestleMania, Dominik had a confrontation with Bad Bunny. Despite the latter being Priest's partner at WrestleMania 37, The Archer of Infamy gave a chokeslam to the rapper through the announce table. On the April 24 episode of SmackDown, Bad Bunny returned and challenged Priest to a San Juan Street Fight at WWE Backlash.
As per Firstsportz.com, WWE Superstar Damian Priest is worth around USD 2 Million as of 2023. It is also reported that he draws an annual salary of around USD 300,000 with the pro-wrestling promotion.
WWE Superstar Damian Priest is a very private person and not much is known about his personal life. It is known that The Archer of Infamy is not married as of 2023. His father was a martial artist who also taught him Japanese Gōjū-ryū karate.
Damian Priest is billed at 6 ft and 5 inches.
WWE Superstar Damian Priest lost around 100 lbs.
Damian Priest was born on 26th September, 1982 and is currently 40 years old.
Damian Priest has not had a public relationship and is supposedly single in 2023.
