Damian Priest

Luis Martínez (born September 26, 1982) is a Puerto Rican-American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Damian Priest. He is also known for his tenures in Ring of Honor (ROH), where he performed under the ring name Punishment Martinez (later Damian Martinez), and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) through a working relation between the two companies, performing as Punisher Martinez.

After performing in independent promotions throughout the East Coast, Martínez joined Ring of Honor in 2015, where he won the ROH World Television Championship. He joined WWE in 2018 and began on its developmental brand, NXT, under his ring name, winning the NXT North American Championship. In 2021, he moved to WWE's main roster and won the WWE United States Championship. He rose to popularity during his time as a co-founding member of The Judgment Day from 2022 to 2024, where he won the 2023 Men's Money in the Bank contract, became a four-time tag team champion, holding the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships twice each under the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship banner with former Judgment Day stablemate Finn Bálor (being the only tag team to achieve such an accolade), and won the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XL after becoming the second man in history to cash in successfully at the namesake event.

Luis Martínez was born in New York City to a Nuyorican family, but raised in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, where he first saw the World Wrestling Council (WWC) on television and developed an interest in becoming a professional wrestler. He learned Gōjū-ryū karate from his martial artist father. After winning two national championships in full-contact martial arts, Martínez decided to embark on a career in professional wrestling. When he returned to New York, Spanish was still his first language and he underwent a period of cultural adaptation. He was ten years old when he returned and lived primarily in The Bronx. At one point, Martínez was homeless, and worked as a bouncer to make ends meet.

Martinez made his wrestling debut in 2005 performing in independent promotions in the East Coast for the next decade, mainly in New Jersey and New York before making his debut for then-Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based promotion Ring of Honor (ROH).

Martinez's first appearance at an ROH show was in 2015, where he competed in two dark matches under his real name, losing the first to The Romantic Touch and winning the second alongside Shaheem Ali against Hellcat and Mattick.

Martinez returned to Ring of Honor in early 2016 to compete in the ROH Top Prospect Tournament, under the new ring name Punishment Martinez, defeating Colby Corino in the first round. Martinez lost to Lio Rush in the semifinals; however, despite the loss, Martinez was signed to a contract by Ring of Honor. He became a villain when he aligned himself with B. J. Whitmer and Kevin Sullivan, entering a rivalry with their adversary Steve Corino. On September 16, Martinez took part in the Honor Rumble, but was eliminated. In early November, he participated in the Survival of the Fittest, where he was eliminated in the final Six Man Mayhem match. Martinez and Whitmer went on to briefly feud with the former ROH World Tag Team Champions War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe), first wrestling them to a no contest and then defeating them in an anything-goes match.

Through ROH's working relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Martinez appeared at the two-day event Honor Rising: Japan. On the first night on February 26, Martinez teamed up with Los Ingobernables de Japón members Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito, defeating Dalton Castle, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Ryusuke Taguchi. The next night, Martinez unsuccessfully challenged Hirooki Goto for the NEVER Openweight Championship. He returned to ROH on March 14 now under the ring name Damian Martinez, unsuccessfully competing in a Manhattan Mayhem Battle Royal for #1 contendership to the ROH World Championship.

At the promotion's State of the Art event on June 16, 2018, Martinez pinned Cheeseburger in a six-way Proving Ground match to earn a shot at the ROH World Television Championship immediately following the match, defeating Silas Young to win the title. On June 29 at Best in the World, he defeated "Hangman" Adam Page in a Baltimore Street Fight to retain the title. At Death Before Dishonor XVI on September 28, Martinez successfully defended the title against Chris Sabin. After the match, he attacked Sabin before Jeff Cobb made the save. In his final appearance for the promotion, he dropped the Television Championship to Cobb. On September 29, Martinez's contract with Ring of Honor expired and he opted out of a contract offer.