Damian Priest Reveals the Moment He Quit a Strip Club Job and Turned His Life Around

Before he was holding WWE gold, Damian Priest was managing a strip club in Atlantic City—and what he gave up to chase wrestling full-time might shock you.

Speaking on Cody Rhodes’ What Do You Want to Talk About? podcast, Priest opened up about the turning point that forced him to walk away from comfort, money, and security in exchange for a second shot at his dream.

“So I was managing a strip club in Atlantic City. It was a solid situation for me. They gave me a penthouse apartment on the boardwalk — all in one building connected. So while I was working, I could live there. They owned that too. They gave me a free car. The deal was wrapped.”

“I was running one of the hottest clubs in Atlantic City. I felt like I was finally back. That was the job that got me out of being homeless. I was able to afford new gear again. Things were going decent.”

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But it all changed in one conversation with ownership. They liked him—enough to offer more money—but not enough to tolerate his dream.

“One day, one of the owners came up to me and said, ‘Hey, we want to give you more responsibility, give you a raise. We like you. But… you gotta stop doing that wrestling thing you do sometimes on the weekends.’”

Priest, weighing over 400 pounds at the time and feeling stuck in a comfort zone, didn’t hesitate.

“And I don’t know why, but that day — because by this point I was about 400 pounds, complacent, lazy, letting everyone around me say ‘You’re big, you’ll be fine, you’ve got potential.’ And I believed it, so I stopped trying. But that day… without hesitation, I said, ‘Yeah, you have my two weeks’ notice.“I walked out of the office and thought, ‘What did I just do?’ I had no apartment again, no income again.”

The same day, he made a promise to himself—and everything changed.

“That same day I stopped eating junk food, cut out everything. I joined the gym. I never looked back. And it was crazy — the moment I dropped all the people who were telling me what I wanted to hear, and just started dealing with real people — opportunities started happening. I lost the weight. I started getting calls to do extra work, tryouts. ROH called. Everything opened up. I wish I had done it sooner.”

Then Priest shared a gut-wrenching admission about where his head was right before his life turned around.

“About a week before that, I was in really bad shape. I called my mom. I don’t remember what I said, but she was worried. Like worried I was on the edge of a building. She told me to just come home. I said no. The next day, I apologized and told her I was fine. But I wasn’t. So when that owner gave me the ultimatum… that was it. That was the spark.”

From rock bottom to WWE champion—Priest didn’t just bet on himself, he walked away from the kind of stability most people cling to. The result? A career that changed his life and inspired countless others.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.