New WWE United States Champion Crowned at WWE SummerSlam

Damian Priest dethroned Sheamus at SummerSlam on Saturday night to become the new United States Champion. After ripping off Sheamus’ protective mask, Priest nailed the champ with a jumping spin kick, dropped him face-first on the ring post and hit the Reckoning for the pin. This marks Priest’s second championship in WWE (previously holding the NXT North American Championship) and first on the main roster

Sheamus won the title for the third time in his career back at WrestleMania 37. In the months that followed he repeatedly avoided actually defending the championship, often attacking potential opponents before matches began. He also managed to avoid competing in ay matches for over a month while citing a broken nose (hence the black mask he now wears in the ring).

Priest spoke with ComicBook on Friday during a WWE press junket and revealed the inspiration for his “Archer of Infamy” nickname.

“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.”

He also weighed in on the classic debate between Marvel’s Hawkeye and DC’s Green Arrow — “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.”

Check out the full results from SummerSlam below!

• (Kickoff) Big E def. Baron Corbin
• Raw Tag Team Championships: RKBro def. AJ Styles & Omos
• Alexa Bliss def. Eva Marie
• United States Championships: Damian Priest def. Sheamus
• Smackdown Tag Team Championships: The Usos vs. The Mysterios
• WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. John Cena
• WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley vs. Goldberg
• 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
• Drew McIntyre vs. Jinder Mahal