Punishment Martinez (Damian Priest) on Losing 100 Pounds and His Road to ROH

Fred: We have a very special guest on the line. He’s a product of the Monster Factory and a product of the New York area, and he’s making major waves with ROH, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and all around North America: Punishment Martinez. How’s it going?

Punishment Martinez: Going good. Thanks for having me.

Fred: You’ve been around since the early 2000s, kind of under the radar, which is funny to say about a guy who’s 6-foot-7 and 250 pounds. You cut your teeth on the independent scene, and this year you’ve burst onto the national and worldwide scene with ROH and New Japan. Your look stands out, and your in-ring work is very good. What took you so long to make that big splash?

Punishment Martinez: It’s something I tell younger guys all the time, so they don’t waste their time. I’ve always loved professional wrestling, but I never really gave it my all. I was that weekend warrior guy. I coasted by on my size and took advice from the wrong people. When I should have been working harder than the guy next to me, I was doing just enough to get by, and of course that shows on a national level. With a TV product, they see through you, and that’s why I didn’t get the opportunities I thought I should have at the time. Once I decided to change my whole life around and dedicate myself to professional wrestling, the opportunities started coming.

Fred: I talked to a few people who know you, and one word resonated throughout those conversations: persistence. They said you’re the very definition of persistence, in terms of the shape you got yourself into and how much you’ve improved in the ring over the last few years. Can you talk about that?

Punishment Martinez: I was working in Atlantic City, and I was told I had to dedicate myself to that job or do the wrestling thing. If I wanted to keep working there, I had to quit wrestling. Without hesitation, I said, “You have my two weeks’ notice.” That’s when I realized that if I was going to give up a good, high-paying job for this wrestling dream, I really had to give it my all. From that day forward, every day I do something to better myself in professional wrestling, whether it’s tape study, promos in the mirror, the gym, in-ring training or cardio. That included losing over 100 pounds. I was huge, but I’d never worked out in a gym. I was always just naturally big. One day it hit me. It was one of those “What am I doing with my life?” moments. I also changed the people around me, and my mindset changed to where everything was positive. I try to drop all the negative things in my life, and every day I try to work harder than the person next to me. That’s how I know I’ll stay ahead of the curve.

Fred: That’s an amazing story. You’re a product of the Monster Factory, and I believe you’re now one of the trainers at the Monster Factory in Paulsboro, New Jersey.

Punishment Martinez: It’s weird being a coach or trainer while I’m still in the business, so I always say I assist with training, but yeah, I’ve been training guys in the ring for a few years now.

Fred: You work with Danny Cage, who’s become pretty famous in the last couple of years. He’s no-nonsense and all about wrestling, 24/7, and he has such a positive mindset about the business. The Monster Factory has been around a long time. It was founded by Larry Sharpe and trained wrestlers like the Big Show and Bam Bam Bigelow, but for a while you didn’t really hear about it in the New York and New Jersey area. Over the last few years, it’s become, no pun intended, a monster factory for really talented pro wrestlers. Why have you, Danny and the rest of the crew been so successful?

Punishment Martinez: It comes down to passion and love for the business. Danny came to the same conclusion I did: If we want this to be part of our lives, we have to do everything possible to make it successful. When he trained, he always wished the school was a certain way, so he made it his goal to make the school the way he wished he could have trained. He motivates you, and he pushes you to your limit, but he does it because he wants you to succeed. That’s why the school has been so successful and why we’re so close, along with QT Marshall and the Blue Meanie, who also coach at the Monster Factory. Danny just draws you in because of his love and passion for the sport. All those motivational videos he puts out and the motivational words he says come from that passion, and when you feel it, it’s easy to be drawn to that person.

Fred: So the guy we see on YouTube is the guy you see every day?

Punishment Martinez: All day, every day.

Fred: You mentioned you never lifted weights for a while, but I found out your dad was actually a martial artist. How did that work out?

Punishment Martinez: I didn’t lift weights, but I was a martial artist first, before I was into pro wrestling. I won two national championships in full-contact fighting in New York under his tutelage. He trained in traditional Japanese martial arts since he was a kid and passed it on to me. We had multiple martial arts schools in New York, where we trained and traveled to tournaments with our students for many years. In high school, I did football, basketball and baseball along with martial arts. Then I took a few years off and wasn’t doing anything, and when I finally decided to be a pro wrestler, the training was just in-ring training.

Fred: Was martial arts ever a career path for you, like your dad?

Punishment Martinez: Pro wrestling was always a dream. I used to joke with my friends that one day we should be a tag team. But realistically, I thought martial arts was going to be my future. I figured I’d have my own schools and keep competing. Right before we closed our schools to move to Florida for about a year, UFC 1 and 2 came out, and we were actually thinking about it. My father started training, hoping to compete in the UFC, but once we closed the schools, the training slowed and stopped, and that dream faded. Then I moved back up north, and that’s when I decided I wanted to be a pro wrestler.

Fred: You grew up in the New York area and still live here. You’re right by the mecca, Madison Square Garden, and this has been a hub for some legendary pro wrestling moments. Does any memory stand out?

Punishment Martinez: I’ve got a ton. My dad took me to every WWF event at Madison Square Garden in the ’90s, every single one. My favorite was Survivor Series ’96, when the Undertaker came down from the rafters like a bat, and when Shawn lost the belt. I was there for that. I was also there for the Curtain Call. At the time, it was just cool. Nobody knew what it meant. It was like, “The good guys and bad guys are hanging out together.” Everybody loved Razor, Shawn and Diesel, and they all knew those guys had been friends at one point, so the hugging was cool. The odd one was Hunter Hearst Helmsley, where people wondered why he was in the ring, because nobody knew they were all real friends. The internet wasn’t anything back then. Looking back now, knowing what it meant, those two stick out big time.

Fred: Who was the wrestler who drew you in?

Punishment Martinez: The Undertaker. I was born in New York City, but as a baby I went to live with my mom in Puerto Rico until I was about 10, so Spanish was my first language. I didn’t know how to read, speak or write in English until I was about 11, when I moved back to New York with my dad. In Puerto Rico, wrestling came on at random days and times, so you never really knew when to follow it. I liked it more because my friends liked it, until the day the Undertaker stuffed the Ultimate Warrior in a casket. That stayed with me. I was in awe, because I wanted to see if the Warrior was going to live, and everybody knew who the Warrior was, so I thought, “Who’s this guy who could do that to him?” From that day forward, I was drawn to the Undertaker and fell in love with professional wrestling. I had to watch it every week.

Fred: Were you always a big kid, or did you hit a growth spurt?

Punishment Martinez: That’s exactly what happened. I wasn’t always a big kid. My mom says I used to ask her when I was ever going to grow, because everybody was bigger than me. Then I moved in with my dad, started playing sports, and in one summer I grew a ridiculous amount. When people who hadn’t seen me saw me, I was towering over everybody. I had a lot of growing pains in my knees, because I grew so fast my joints couldn’t keep up. I couldn’t sleep at night, and my dad would have to give me ice in the middle of the night because I was crying. That was when I was about 13 or 14.

Fred: You became a pro wrestler in 2004 and worked on the indies for a while. Was there ever a point where you thought, “I haven’t been on TV or signed by a major organization yet. Maybe I should look into an alternative”?

Punishment Martinez: I hit that point, and I stepped away from wrestling for a good seven or eight months, because I felt like there was nothing for me. At the time, the Monster Factory was run differently, and I didn’t know a whole lot about anything outside of WWE and the main companies. Independent wrestling wasn’t really preached to us, and I never thought to look outside the companies I watched on TV. If I’d known then what I know now, I probably would have had a better shot at getting noticed a lot earlier. I was stuck in a rut. I took a break and cut my hair, and then eight months later came the Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels, their first match at WrestleMania 25. That match drew me right back into wanting to be a pro wrestler again. I went to a Monster Factory show, stood in the audience and thought, “I have to get back in that ring. I miss this. I love this.” Then, toward the end of 2012 and into 2013, I had that moment where I said, “I’m not going to stop, so if I fail, I can say I tried my best and my hardest.”

Fred: It seems like the Undertaker means a lot to you. I hope you get to meet him one day.

Punishment Martinez: I got to meet him in ’99, which was really cool, and he was really cool to me. It was one of those paid meet-and-greets, and it was so worth it. I have a picture with him. I froze. I was legit starstruck, which is probably the only time that’s ever happened to me. He’s the reason I got into pro wrestling.

Fred: That whole Undertaker and Shawn Michaels feud might be one of the greatest builds in pro wrestling. The first match was two legends who hadn’t crossed paths in over a decade having a great match, and the year after, Shawn was so obsessed with beating him that he put his career on the line. That’s such great storytelling, and we frankly don’t see enough of it these days.

Punishment Martinez: Times have changed, and the world has changed. It’s not to say it can’t be done, because it absolutely can, and once in a while we get a good build and a good story in every company, but not as much, because of attention spans and the need for nonstop, fast-paced action. You see it in movies, too. To make a lot of money now, an action movie has to be epic, nonstop action, like the superhero movies, while in yesteryear, movies had a lot more story and were a little slower-paced. A lot of us obviously still miss that aspect of storytelling, so we get it from time to time, but not as much as we’d probably like.

Fred: A company that does storytelling pretty damn well is Ring of Honor, which just celebrated its 15th anniversary. How did you link up with ROH?

Punishment Martinez: In 2013, I believe, I met Kevin Kelly when he came to the Monster Factory for a seminar. He pulled me to the side and told me he wanted me to start showing up at shows I could get to, meet everybody and do the ROH tryout camp. I did the tryout camp, started going to the shows, and asked the booker, who’s also the trainer at the ROH Dojo, if I could come by and train with them. He said absolutely. I trained there not only to get known, but because I was in that positive mindset of seeing what I could learn, and I learned a lot from him. We built a relationship of respect, and he saw my relentlessness and determination. That led to a dark match, then to being a Top Prospect corner man, and eventually to a contract with ROH.

Fred: Then came the relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and earlier this year you got to challenge Hirooki Goto for the NEVER Openweight Championship in Tokyo. Given where you came from and all that persistence, can you describe that feeling?

Punishment Martinez: Just hearing you say it gives me goosebumps all over again. It’s so surreal that I almost forget it really happened. It’s like a dream. With my background in traditional Japanese martial arts, I always wanted to go to Japan, originally to train in martial arts, and that evolved into pro wrestling. Japan has always been a culture I was attracted to, so just going there was a big deal, and going there to work because they wanted me was mind-blowing. Over those two days, I think only three or four guys got singles matches. Everybody else was in tag matches, and I was one of the few, and the one who got a title shot, which is pretty incredible. The experience was second to none. I can’t compare it to anything else that has ever happened in my life. I was received so well, and the fans, the office and the New Japan personnel were all so good to me. I don’t have one bad thing to say.

Fred: New Japan is killing it right now in terms of match quality, with its streaming service, its weekly show on AXS TV and a live special in Long Beach. In my humble opinion, that main event roster might be the deepest we’ve seen in a company in God knows how long, maybe since WCW at its peak. What was it like to be among those greats and learn from them?

Punishment Martinez: I started in 2004, but I felt like it was my first day, just looking around. Everybody was so humble and nice, which kind of throws you off, because you don’t expect that from guys who are seemingly on another level. Even for me, being in the business, I was so impressed by the caliber and quality of their performances and their demeanor. There’s a reason those guys are stars in Japan, and the entire roster, from top to bottom, has class and professionalism. They know their audience. That strong style everybody talks about is what their audience wants to see. Of course I had ideas of what I wanted to do, but watching how they put things together, I had to take a step back and say, “This is the way they have to do things here.” I picked up on little nuances of what to do and not to do in front of a different audience. Wrestling is a universal language. I don’t speak Japanese, and Goto doesn’t speak much English, so we couldn’t have a conversation, but we had a conversation through wrestling. We understood that language. You really have to watch, observe and adapt, and luckily I was able to do that in the ring by following his lead. My first time there, I was in a six-man tag, and it was the same thing: Watch, follow the lead and try not to screw up.

Fred: With Ian Riccaboni on commentary and my friend Leon St. Giovanni and Shaheem Ali in ROH, is it safe to say the Monster Factory has taken over?

Punishment Martinez: I wouldn’t say taken over, but we’re definitely leaving our footprint in Ring of Honor. Ring of Honor doesn’t show favoritism, but they know that if you’ve made it through the Monster Factory system, you’re probably going to be more dedicated and more willing to sacrifice for this business than others. That’s not to say others aren’t, because obviously a lot of professional wrestlers don’t come from the Monster Factory. But if a guy can perform and bring something different or unique to the table, and he’s from the Monster Factory, he’ll probably get a second look because of that pedigree.

Fred: Do you have any goals you can reveal for the next year?

Punishment Martinez: I’d like to be in a main event role on a regular basis, which would probably mean being a champion, so I’d like to hold some gold in Ring of Honor. As far as New Japan, the Tokyo Dome and the G1 are definite goals of mine.

Fred: We definitely wish you the very best. Where can fans find you online, and where can they find you in the ring next?

Punishment Martinez: On Twitter and Instagram, my handle is @ROHPunishment on both. Next, you’ll see me in Atlanta at Center Stage for Ring of Honor on Aug. 26, and I’ll also be at the Monster Factory’s MFPW show on Aug. 19.