Update on reasons for Damian Priest's recent absence from WWE

Damian Priest made his return to WWE RAW last night as part of a battle royal to earn a spot in a qualifying match for the Money in the Bank ladder match. Prior to his appearance last night, Damian Priest had been off T.V. for over a month.

It was reported earlier by Dave Meltzer that the 'Archer of Infamy' had been sidelined with an injury. He was thus advised to take time off.

It was later reported by Fightful Select that Priest was cleared. WWE Creative did not have any plans for him which resulted in Priest not being on T.V..

However, PWInsider is now reporting that Priest had to take time off due to personal matters. WWE had originally planned for him to be back by the time the Money in the Bank qualifiers took place, but that didn't happen.

TOP MATCH ANNOUNCED FOR RAW, MUST SEE INTERVIEW, ORTON, PRIEST AND MORE Elite: https://t.co/xVu8U9h6lb, Free: https://t.co/4JOhhN6bdN

— PWInsider.com (@PWInsidercom) June 29, 2021

Priest was unable to win the Battle Royal last night. He won't be part of this year's Men's Money in the Bank ladder match since all four spots from RAW are filled. The superstars qualified for the match so far are Ricochet, John Morrison, Riddle, Big E and Drew McIntyre.

Damian Priest was feuding with The Miz before taking time off from WWE RAW

The Miz and Damian Priest

During this year's men's Royal Rumble match, Damian Priest eliminated both John Morrison and The Miz. He also helped Grammy-winning artist Bad Bunny execute a flawless cross-body on Miz and Morrison.

This sparked a feud between the people involved and thus, down the line, a match was set for WrestleMania: Bad Bunny and Damian Priest vs. The Miz and John Morrison. Priest and Bad Bunny ended up picking up the win.

Following WrestleMania, Priest continued his feud with The Miz. As the storyline progressed towards WrestleMania BackLash, the two locked horns once more, but this time in a lumberjack match.

Nowhere to run! Nowhere to hide!@ArcherofInfamy got to pick the stipulation and now he gets @mikethemiz in a LUMBERJACK MATCH this Sunday at #WMBacklash!Streaming exclusively on @peacockTV in U.S. & @WWENetwork elsewhere.https://t.co/FLE9UzhKOm pic.twitter.com/Xn2JFpex4Y

— WWE (@WWE) May 11, 2021

The match had an unexpected element to it as the lumberjacks were zombies. This addition was part of a deal made by WWE to promote Batista's latest film Army of the Dead.

Priest ended up picking up another win but The Miz suffered a knee injury during the match. The two-time WWE Champion has been on the shelf since. The following night, on an episode of RAW, Priest competed in another lumberjack match. This time, it was against John Morrison.

After defeating Morrison, Priest took over a month off from WWE due to private matters.

What do you think is next in Damian Priest's journey in WWE? Let us know in the comments section below.