Slayer legend Kerry King made an in-person appearance to help guide Damian Priest to the ring with some fiery guitarwork during WrestleMania 41 on Sunday (April 20th) at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
King performed guitar on the latest version of Priest’s entrance song “Rise for the Night,” released last November, and the thrash metal axeman consummated the collab at Wrestlemania, appearing alongside Priest for his walk to the ring before a match against rival Drew McIntyre.
The walkout actually looked a lot like something from a Slayer concert, with massive pyrotechnics and Priest’s heavy metal-style logo appearing on a massive screen as he makes his way down the ramp.
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While having the Slayer shredder in tow was certainly a flex, Priest’s performance in the ring was anticlimactic, as the Scottish vet McIntyre — who had a very metal entrance of his own that was themed on upcoming FPS game DOOM: The Dark Ages — won the fight convincingly.
As for King, “Rise for the Night” marked his first-ever work on a WWE entrance theme, although Slayer’s “Here Comes the Pain” was featured on a compilation for the now-defunct WCW league and “South of Heaven” was licensed for one-off use by Edge at WrestleMania 39 in 2023. Meanwhile, Kerry is a known sports fan in general — check out our conversation with him about his Raiders fandom.
It promises to be a major year for King and Slayer, as the thrash legends have a number of concerts lined up throughout 2025, most notably a headlining slot at the Louder Than Life fest in September and a massive gig in Pennsylvania a couple days later with Knocked Loose, Suicidal Tendencies, Power Trip, Cavalera, and Exodus. Get tickets here.
Below you can see Damian Priest’s WrestleMania into with Kerry King.
Slayer’s KERRY KING is here at #WrestleMania! pic.twitter.com/wbjlUdRDt1
— WWE (@WWE) April 20, 2025
Content shared from consequence.net.