Damian Priest Retains WWE World Title vs. Rollins, McIntyre After CM Punk Interferes

Damian Priest defeated Seth Rollins at Money in the Bank on Saturday to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

By virtue of Priest’s win, Rollins can not challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship again for as long as The Archer of Infamy holds it.

CM Punk made a surprise appearance at Saturday’s event, interfering in the match amid an ongoing feud with Drew McIntyre to help Priest come out on top.

The Scot had cashed in his newly-won MITB contract to make the match a Triple Threat, but Punk attacked McIntyre to allow the Judgment Day member to retain the title.

At WrestleMania 40 in April, Rollins entered the event as world heavyweight champion and Priest left with that distinction, but they didn’t do battle over the title until Money in the Bank.

McIntyre beat Rollins at WrestleMania, ending his 316-day reign, but his celebration only lasted for a few minutes, as Priest successfully cashed in his MITB contract to win the title after Punk attacked The Scottish Warrior.

Rollins went on to interfere in the main event of WrestleMania 40 Night 2, helping Cody Rhodes beat Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Championship, but The Visionary was forced to take some time off after The Showcase of the Immortals due to a knee injury.

Nobody seemed to have any informed idea of when Rollins would be back, but he made a surprise return on the June 17 edition of Raw.

Rollins made it clear that he wanted to win the World Heavyweight Championship back, and Priest agreed to give him that opportunity at Money in the Bank in Toronto.

Given how impressive The Visionary’s run as world champion was, Priest noted that he had immense respect for him and that his preference would have been to beat him for the title rather than McIntyre as a result.

Priest entered Money in the Bank coming off a huge win over McIntyre at Clash at the Castle in the challenger’s home country of Scotland, but there were questions regarding whether he could beat a talent the caliber of Rollins on his own.

After all, Priest had help from Punk at Clash at the Castle, as The Best in the World pretended to be a referee and hit McIntyre with a low blow, leading directly to the titleholder’s win.

A win over Rollins could go a long way toward solidifying Priest as a true champion, though. And after he managed to retain Saturday, it’s fair to say he is deserving of his El Campeón nickname.

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