It took the Judgment Day faction some time to get going in WWE, but when they finally found their feet as characters and procured some momentum, they have risen to being one of the top acts in the entire company, and certainly the top heel stable on Monday Night Raw right now.
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With the faction rising in prominence in recent times, it will lead to an increased number of fans wanting to know about the group. There are certainly some things fans should know about the Judgment Day, from how the group was formed to rumored members to original plans.
10 Created By Edge
Newer fans of WWE may not even know that the group was founded by Hall of Famer Edge. His heel turn back in 2022 was followed up with him recruiting Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley, forming “The Judgment Day”.
The group was initially doused in purple and spooky lighting, cutting incoherent promos full of garbled creepy nonsense. The original iteration of the group is a far way from what it is today, but it is important to still know who the founder of the faction actually was.
9 Tommaso Ciampa Was Pitched To Be A Member
Back when Judgment Day first started, there was a lot of talk over who exactly would be in the group. One of the rumored names early on was Tommaso Ciampa, who at the time wasn’t doing a whole lot in WWE. Edge would even tease Ciampa being a potential member, though keeping up with his character, Ciampa downplayed this on WWE El Brunch;
“ If the opportunity comes, it comes. If it doesn't, that's okay too, I'm pretty good as a solo act. I don't partake in that social media game and am not trying to put stuff out there just to get people talking. It's not really my thing. If it comes and it happens, it'll be a great moment. If it doesn't happen, I'll be okay either way." (H/T Fightful)
8 Rumored To Be A Magical Group
As noted, the themes surrounding the group were initially more brooding and methodical, with Edge’s promos being very slow and full of pointlessly extended vocabulary to make them seem more scary.
A report emerged that the group was to take a more supernatural role, but due to this, Edge was taken out of the faction due to him not wanting to be involved with something too magical or spooky, which explains why he was so quickly kicked out and replaced by Finn Balor.
7 Real Life Friendships Behind The Scenes
WWE brought together the members of The Judgment Day, and they have developed a whole load of on-screen chemistry. Some of this stems from behind the scenes friendships.
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For instance, Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley have a close friendship outside the ring, and at one point Ripley would even borrow Priest’s gear for a match after she lost hers! Ripley spoke on their friendship in an interview with WKDQ-FM. “"Yeah, Damian and I, we've been mates for a long time, we've talked about doing intergender tag matches. For the longest time, we're pretty much the same human.” (H/T Sportskeeda)
6 Referenced On AEW Programming
The Judgment Day is now a huge part of WWE programming, and their impact has even made it to AEW TV, getting referenced more than once, notably by The Acclaimed.
Max Caster has been known to cut deep with some of his raps, and when targeting the House of Black, he made reference to the onscreen relationship between Judgment Day members Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio to Ripley’s real-life partner Buddy Matthews, who is a member of the House of Black.
5 Real-Life Heat
Not everything has always been rosy between the Judgment Day members, and that isn’t just when it comes to their onscreen tension. A report from PWInsider back in July revealed that some members of the faction had gotten into a spat backstage.
This stemmed from some miscommunication and a clunky finish to a Raw main event, though the report did note that things did calm down, and it was simply just “one of those days”.
4 Championships & Accomplishments Of The Group
The Judgment Day may have only been in existence for just over a year, but they already have a cabinet filled with prizes and accomplishments. Since the group formed, Rhea Ripley has won the Royal Rumble and Women’s World Championship, Dominik Mysterio has won the North American Championship, Damian Priest became Mr. Money in the Bank and also won the Undisputed Tag Team Titles with Finn Balor.
Even with all these prizes, it feels like they still haven’t scraped the surface of what they can accomplish.
3 Pitched Names For The Group
The Judgment Day name has fit the group well, but this wasn’t always the planned name for the faction. In an interview with TV Insider, Damian Priest revealed some of the scrapped ideas for the stable;
“The Judgment seemed like what we are doing, which is judging. Grand Jury was one of them. The Saints of Fate; but ultimately, The Judgment Day felt right.” (H/T POST Wrestling)
2 Damian Priest Set To Leave Eventually
Whilst the Judgment Day is going strong, fans of the group should know that they aren’t going to last forever, and there have even reportedly been plans for Damian Priest to be the next person to leave the group.
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Seeds have already been sewn in terms of dissension, as Priest and Finn Balor haven’t been on the best of terms. Additionally, it looks as though Balor has been trying to draft in JD McDonagh into the group too, so he could be a replacement.
1 Yet To Main Event A PPV
The Judgment Day have emerged as the top heel act on Monday Night Raw, but despite their growth over the last year, no member of the faction has main evented a WWE PPV since the group formed.
Ripley was in the running at WrestleMania 39, but WWE opted with the WWE Tag Team Title match instead. With the dominance of The Bloodline storyline, very few others have gotten a lick of a PPV main event.
