Damian Priest on Hawkeye vs. Green Arrow, How He Nearly Debuted in NXT With the Batman Symbol

08/20/2021 06:22 pm EDT

Damian Priest has firmly established himself as the "Archer of Infamy" on WWE television. So while speaking with ComicBook on Friday ahead of his United States Championship match with Sheamus at SummerSlam, we asked him which iconic comics character is better — DC's Green Arrow or Marvel's Hawkeye?

"Man, that's rough. The Marvel (Cinematic) Universe's Hawkeye, I enjoy his character, how (Jeremy Renner) portrays that character. But comic-wise, I've got to go with Green Arrow," Priest said.

Priest also discussed how he came up with the archery-based nickname, and even confirmed that he owns a few bows — "First it was the idea, that it's been around for so long. You can talk about different weapons, but archery, the bow and arrow, it's just something that has been used to live whether its to hunt or defend yourself. And then anything post-apocalyptic, it's always the same thing, there's always that. That's also why I use it, because to me it represents what I want for my name, for it to live forever. That's where the 'Archer of Infamy' came from. It's not that I am an archer, although I do enjoy it, I have a couple of bows. It's the idea of what it represents."

While on the subject of comic book characters, Priest also revealed that he nearly wound up arriving in NXT while wearing the iconic Batman logo.

"If you don't like Batman there's something wrong with you," Priest began. "Funny story, my first match in NXT was as Punishment (Martinez, Priest's old gimmick). During rehearsals, I had a Batman hoodie on and was asked 'Are you wearing that out there?' I was like, 'No, I'm not Batman. Can I be Batman? Is that an option? Because I'll totally be Batman!' It was really funny.

Check out the full card for the 2021 SummerSlam event below! The show takes place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

• WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. John Cena
• WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley vs. Goldberg
• Raw Tag Team Championships: AJ Styles & Omos vs. RKBro
• Raw Women's Championship: Nikki A.S.H. vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley
• SmackDown Women's Championship: Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks
• Edge vs. Seth Rollins
• Smackdown Tag Team Championships: The Usos vs. The Mysterios
• United States Championships: Sheamus vs. Damian Priest
• Drew McIntyre vs. Jinder Mahal
• Alexa Bliss vs. Eva Marie

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