Kevin Owens & Roman Reigns blocked Damian Priest SmackDown move

Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns blocked plans for NXT star to feature in rivalry

January 8, 2021

Damian Priest seemed set to debut on SmackDown but the NXT star was stopped by Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns

There was one NXT star set to feature on SmackDown in the rivalry between Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns.

Wrestling Observer Radio claimed that Damian Priest, who is a former NXT North American Champion, was primed to make his debut on the Blue Brand.

Damian Priest in action against Karrion Kross on NXT (WWE)

Dave Meltzer claimed that the storyline would see Priest being introduced as KO’s best friend. The pair would then feature as a tag team and continue the rivalry with Reigns and Jey Uso.

However, KO and Reigns stepped in to nix the plans and their reasoning for the same makes actually sense.

No real story in all this

Priest has been exceptional on NXT and featured on this week’s show. However, the reason given why he couldn’t feature on SmackDown, and this specific storyline is KO’s hesitancy to add him.

Kevin Owens sent a violent message to Roman Reigns — Kevin Owens wants a piece of Roman Reigns (WWE)

WOR claims that KO wasn’t sure of this introduction as there was no reason why he should be best friends with Priest.

KO then asked Reigns about this and The Tribal Chief spoke with WWE Creative and the plan was cut off at the last hour.

KO battled hard against Reigns and Uso in the previous SmackDown but this move made a lot of sense from all parties.

Priest can still be a babyface and introduced into SmackDown. However, forcing him into this storyline isn’t the right move for the Archer of Infamy.

Johnny Gargano in action against Damian Priest (WWE)

Further, KO has one best friend in WWE, and that is Sami Zayn. WWE doesn’t need another best friend of KO coming in from nowhere.

Also, Reigns, KO and Uso have been incredible in the storyline and the addition of Priest could have diluted the entire story created.

It will be interesting to see what is next for the trio. However, Priest is primed for a main roster call-up and that could happen sooner rather than later, it seems.