Bad Bunny headlined Coachella last weekend in front of hundreds of thousands of fans. Two days later, the red-hot recording artist was in Chicago, hitting WWE superstar Damien Priest over and over with a kendo stick.
When you're as big a star as Bad Bunny, a musical phenom in Latin America and beyond, you get to pick and choose from any number of cool things to do. In Bad Bunny's case, he'll get to perform in his first professional wrestling singles match next month.
After Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Martinez Ocasio, dished out the beating during "Monday Night Raw," he challenged Priest to a Street Fight match at WWE Backlash on May 6 in Bad Bunny's home of Puerto Rico. The match was made official shortly after.
BREAKING: @sanbenito has challenged @ArcherofInfamy to a STREET FIGHT at #WWEBacklash in Puerto Rico!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/xmO1mwXzqd
— WWE (@WWE) April 25, 2023
Bad Bunny, 29, was initially supposed to host Backlash. Now, he'll be a wrestler on the show. The reggaeton empresario has performed in the ring before. He had a tag match, teaming with Priest against The Miz and John Morrison at WrestleMania 37 in 2021. Last year, Bad Bunny performed in the 30-man Royal Rumble match.
The story for the match with Priest began at WrestleMania 39 earlier this month. Bad Bunny, who was on Spanish commentary, stopped Dominik Mysterio, Priest's stablemate, from hitting Rey Mysterio with a chain during the father vs. son match.
Bad Bunny was in the crowd on the April 3 episode of "Raw." Dominik confronted him, the two exchanged words and Dominik threw a punch. Bad Bunny blocked the punch and landed one of his own. Priest then came over, pulled Bad Bunny over the guardrail and chokeslammed him through the broadcast table.
On April 24, Bad Bunny came out with a kendo stick to save Rey Mysterio from a beatdown by Priest. Bad Bunny whacked Priest with the stick several times, sending him fleeing. Bad Bunny then cut a promo, in English and Spanish, challenging Priest to a match at Backlash.
Bad Bunny was a massive professional wrestling fan growing up in Puerto Rico. He has several song lyrics mentioning WWE stars and others named after pro wrestlers, like Booker T. Ric Flair has appeared in one of his videos. Bad Bunny said recently in an interview with late-night host James Corden that performing at WrestleMania made for the best day of his life.