WWE MONEY IN THE BANK BOTCH: BACKSTAGE REPORT REVEALS WHY DAMIAN PRIEST DID NOT KICK OUT OF SETH ROLLINS PIN ATTEMPT - AND WHY THE REFEREE STOPPED THE COUNT

• Damian Priest beat Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre to retain Heavyweight title
• Rollins pinned Priest after hitting him with a Falcon Arrow earlier in the fight
• However, referee stopped counting after two despite Priest not making a move 

Controversy struck in WWE after Damian Priest's fight against Seth Rollins at Money In The Bank raised eyebrows. 

Priest defeated Rollins and Drew McIntyre to retain the World Heavyweight Championship after interference from CM Punk.

However, Priest - real name Luis Martinez- made a huge mistake during his clash with Rollins and fans spotted it.

Before McIntyre cashed in his Money In The Bank contract, Rollins pinned  priest after hitting him with a Falcon Arrow to which the latter was supposed to kick out. 

However, referee Rod Zapata stopped counting at two despite Priest not making any sort of movement and ruled the latter had kicked out of the pinfall attempt. 

WWE Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H', real name Paul Levesque, addressed the confusing incident in a press conference after Money In The Bank. 

'Human beings in a ring, mistakes happen, things happen. It is what it is,' Levesque said. '

It's funny, for me, now looking at that, if that was something I was involved in as a talent, I don't care how good the rest of it was, that would be all I would think about. 

'To me, it's a shame that that's all people will talk about, and that's all people will hit Damian Priest with, while he had a phenomenal performance tonight. But a bunch of people will attack that, criticize that, comment on that.'

Several suggestions have been floated as to why the incident occured, with some suggesting McIntyre's entry music was supposed to interrupt the count but a production error stopped that from happening. 

Meanwhile, others claims Priest was too disoriented and therefore missed the kick out.  

If the referee counted to three it was would have resulted in Rollins becoming the new heavyweight champion. 

McIntyre's cash-in would have also been a one-on-one match, rendering the no-DQ rules void as well and making Punk's interference illegal.

Finally, Priest would have had to leave Judgment Day as per the stipulations of the match. 

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2024-07-08T20:45:30Z