Damian Priest successfully defended his NXT North American Title by defeating Johnny Gargano in the opener of Sunday’s NXT TakeOver 31 event.
Dave Meltzer noted during today’s Wrestling Observer Radio that the match was designed to get Priest over as he’s someone the WWE has big plans for.
WWE sees Priest as someone “with a lot of potential” and Gargano was the “setup guy to get him there.” It was stated that Priest has “certain qualities” like his look, voice and athleticism. Thus, WWE wants to make him into a “big time star.”
