| Article Name: | The Judgment Day |
| Type: | S |
| Names: | The Judgment Day |
| Members: | Finn Bálor "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio JD McDonagh Carlito Liv Morgan |
| Former Members: | Edge (leader) Damian Priest Rhea Ripley |
| Heights: | Bálor: Mysterio: McDonagh: Carlito: Morgan: |
| Debut: | April 3, 2022 |
| Years Active: | 2022–present |
The Judgment Day is a villainous professional wrestling stable performing in WWE on the Raw brand. The group is currently composed of Finn Bálor, "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, JD McDonagh, Carlito, and Liv Morgan. Morgan is the current Women's World Champion in her first reign as a member of the group and second reign overall, while Bálor and McDonagh are the current World Tag Team Champions in their first reign as a team.
The stable was founded in 2022 by its original leader Edge at WrestleMania 38 with a supernatural/dark gothic theme; Damian Priest was the first to join with Edge, followed by Rhea Ripley. Edge was then expelled from the group following Finn Bálor's addition. Following Edge’s removal, the supernatural elements aspect faded to more of a street thug/goth bully group, and a no leadership ideology was implemented. Later that year, Dominik Mysterio betrayed his father to join the group after initially feuding against them. In 2023, Bálor worked to recruit his real-life student JD McDonagh, who officially joined the group in November. The following year at SummerSlam, Priest and Ripley lost championship matches following interferences from Bálor and Mysterio respectively. The former two were kicked from the group, and after unofficially associating themselves with The Judgment Day beforehand, Carlito and Liv Morgan joined the group as replacements.
The Judgment Day have achieved several championship milestones in WWE. They are the second stable (after The Bloodline) to have simultaneously held titles across all three brands (Raw's Women's World Championship, the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships, and NXT's North American Championship); Bálor and Priest being the only tag team to win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship twice; and the first stable to simultaneously hold Raw's men's and women's world championships. Also as part of the stable, Ripley won the 2023 women's Royal Rumble, ultimately winning the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 39, which was renamed to the Women's World Championship during her reign, whereas Priest won the 2023 men's Money in the Bank contract, ultimately winning the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XL.
On the February 21, 2022, episode of Raw, Edge reflected on all the WrestleMania moments in his career and then he issued an open challenge for WrestleMania 38.[1] The following week, his challenge was accepted by AJ Styles, to which Edge responded by performing a low blow on Styles before hitting him with a one-man con-chair-to, turning heel for the first time since 2010.[2] At the event on April 3, Edge defeated Styles following a distraction by Damian Priest.[3] [4] Following WrestleMania, Edge and Priest revealed The Judgment Day as the name of the team.[5] At WrestleMania Backlash, despite Priest being barred from ringside, Edge defeated Styles again after interference from a masked individual, later revealed to be Rhea Ripley, who became the stable's newest member.[6]
At Hell in a Cell on June 5, The Judgment Day defeated Styles, Finn Bálor, and Liv Morgan in a six-person mixed tag team match.[7] The next night on Raw, Edge introduced Bálor as the newest member of The Judgment Day, however, Bálor, Priest, and Ripley suddenly attacked Edge with his own signature con-chair-to move, kicking him out of the group.[8] [9] The following week on the June 13 episode of Raw, Ripley, Priest and Balor appeared on the titantron interrupting Bianca Belair's interview in the ring where they explained their actions and declared that the group was going to consist of equality with no leaders.[10]
The Judgment Day then began a feud with The Mysterios (Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio) in an attempt to recruit Dominik into their ranks. Bálor and Priest were defeated by the Mysterios at SummerSlam after interference from the returning Edge. At Clash at the Castle, Bálor and Priest were defeated by Edge and Rey. After the match, Dominik attacked Edge with a low blow, followed by a clothesline to Rey, turning heel for the first time in his career.[11] Dominik officially joined The Judgment Day on the following episode of Raw, helping the group attack Edge and Rey.[12] The following week, Edge defeated Dominik by disqualification after interference from The Judgment Day. After the match, they attacked Edge with a steel chair, ending the attack by placing the chair on Edge's leg and Bálor performing a Coup de Grâce on the chair.[13] Two weeks later, Edge returned and challenged Bálor to an "I Quit" match at Extreme Rules, and Bálor accepted.[14] At the event on October 8, Bálor defeated Edge. In the closing moments, Ripley positioned Edge's wife, Beth Phoenix, for a con-chair-to and Edge reluctantly submitted. After the match, Ripley still performed the con-chair-to on Phoenix.[15]
Around this time, The Judgment Day continued recruiting Styles, who turned down several offers to join the group. On the October 10 episode of Raw, Styles came out to seemingly accept the offer, but rejected it and introduced the returning Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. A brawl then ensued between the two teams.[16] At Crown Jewel, Bálor, Priest, and Dominik defeated The O.C. (Styles, Anderson and Gallows) after interference from Ripley. On the following episode of Raw, The O.C. introduced the returning Mia Yim as their solution to counter Ripley. At Survivor Series WarGames on November 26, Bálor was defeated by Styles while Ripley's team was defeated by Team Belair in a WarGames match.[17] On the following episode of Raw, The Judgment Day defeated The O.C. in an eight-person mixed tag team match to end their feud.
On the January 9, 2023 episode of Raw, Bálor, Priest and Dominik won a tag team turmoil match to win a Raw Tag Team Championship match against The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso).[18] At Raw is XXX on January 23, Priest and Dominik failed to win the titles after Sami Zayn replaced an injured Jimmy Uso.[19] At Royal Rumble on January 28, Dominik, Bálor, and Priest participated the men's Royal Rumble match. Bálor and Priest were eliminated by Edge, while Dominik was eliminated by the eventual winner, Cody Rhodes. Ripley also appeared at ringside to assist Bálor, Priest, and Dominik in their attack on Edge, only to be attacked by Beth Phoenix. Later that night, Ripley won the women's Royal Rumble match by last eliminating Liv Morgan. With this victory, Ripley became the fourth wrestler (after Shawn Michaels in 1995, Chris Benoit in 2004, and Edge in 2021) and the first female to win the Royal Rumble as the first entrant.[20] On the following episode of Raw, Ripley declared that she would be challenging Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 39. Flair previously won the 2020 Women's Royal Rumble and defeated Ripley for the NXT Women's Championship at WrestleMania 36.[21] [22]
At Elimination Chamber on February 18, Bálor and Ripley were defeated by Edge and Phoenix in a mixed tag team match despite interference from Dominik, while Priest failed to win the United States Championship inside the namesake structure after he was eliminated by Montez Ford.[23] At Night 1 of WrestleMania 39, Dominik was defeated by Rey after interference from the newly-reformed Latino World Order (LWO) and Bad Bunny. Later that night, Ripley defeated Flair to win the SmackDown Women's Championship in a critically acclaimed match, becoming the seventh Women's Triple Crown champion, the fifth Women's Grand Slam champion, and giving the group their first championship.[24] On Night 2, Bàlor, under his Demon persona, was defeated by Edge in a Hell in a Cell match.[25] During the match, Bálor suffered an injury after getting hit by a ladder thrown by Edge and had to be medically treated in the ring. The injury would lead to Bálor getting 14 staples in his head, which lead to the infamous "Finn: 14 Staples" catchphrase that he would introduce in the following weeks.[26]
On the Raw after WrestleMania, Priest confronted Bad Bunny for his involvement in Dominik's match against Rey which led to Priest chokeslamming Bunny through the announce table. At Backlash, Ripley successfully defended her title against Zelina Vega while Priest was defeated by Bad Bunny in a San Juan street fight after interference from Savio Vega and Carlito.[27] Around this time, Ripley and Priest began to refer to themselves as the Terror Twins.[28] Balor and Priest participated in the tournament for the new World Heavyweight Championship, but they were both eliminated by the eventual champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins.[29] At Night of Champions, Ripley defeated Natalya in 70 seconds to retain her title. On the June 12 episode of Raw, the SmackDown Women's Championship was renamed to the Women's World Championship and Ripley was presented a brand-new championship belt. Later that night, Cody Rhodes challenged Dominik to a match at Money in the Bank, which Ripley accepted on his behalf. Priest also defeated Matt Riddle to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match. At the event on July 1, Priest won the Money in the Bank Ladder match. Later that night, Dominik was defeated by Rhodes despite interference from Ripley while Bálor failed to win the World Heavyweight Championship from Rollins after Priest appeared halfway through the match. Priest's presence distracted Bálor long enough for Rollins to capitalize and retain the title.[30] On the following episode of Raw, Ripley defeated Natalya again to retain the Women's World Championship while Dominik lost to Rollins by disqualification. Priest attempted to cash in on Rollins only for Bálor to attack the latter.[31]
Tensions within The Judgment Day soon ended after Bálor, Priest, and Dominik defeated Rollins and Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a six-man tag team match after interference from Ripley. The following week, Dominik and Priest failed to win the tag team titles from Owens and Zayn after Rollins and Liv Morgan took out Bálor and Ripley.[32] The next night on NXT, Dominik defeated Wes Lee for the NXT North American Championship after interference from Bálor, Priest, and Ripley to win his first singles championship in WWE and giving the group their second championship.[33] Dominik retained his title against Butch of The Brawling Brutes on the following episode of SmackDown.[34] In the process, Dominik became the first WWE Superstar to wrestle in the main events of Raw, NXT and SmackDown in the same week.[35] Dominik went on to successfully defend his title against Zayn on the July 24 episode of Raw and against Lee and Mustafa Ali on July 30 in a triple threat match at NXT The Great American Bash. At SummerSlam on August 5, Bálor failed to win the World Heavyweight Championship from Rollins despite interference from Priest, which Bálor and Priest argued about on the following episode of Raw. In an backstage segment including Ripley, Dominik, and Bálor's longtime friend JD McDonagh, who advised Priest cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase soon so that he and Bálor get back on the same page. Later that night, McDonagh attacked Sami Zayn, who was scheduled to compete alongside Rhodes and Rollins in a six-man tag team match against Bálor, Priest and Dominik.
At Payback on September 2, Bálor and Priest defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn to win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship in a Pittsburgh Steel City Street Fight after interference from Dominik, Ripley and McDonagh. With this victory, Bálor became the 24th Grand Slam Champion and The Judgment Day also became the second faction after The Bloodline to hold titles across all three brands. Ripley went on to retain the Women's World Championship against Raquel Rodriguez later that night.[36] On the September 11 episode of Raw, Ripley successfully defended the Women's World Championship against Rodriguez in a rematch under the stipulation that Dominik was barred from ringside. Following the match, Ripley was attacked by the returning Nia Jax, sidelining her for two weeks. At NXT No Mercy on September 30, Dominik lost the NXT North American Championship to Trick Williams, ending his first reign at 74 days. However, Dominik regained the title in a rematch on the October 3 episode of NXT.[37] [38] At Fastlane on October 7, Bálor and Priest lost the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship to Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso after McDonagh accidentally hit Priest's knee with the briefcase, ending their first reign at 35 days, but regained the titles in a rematch 9 days later.[39] [40] At Crown Jewel on November 4, Priest attempted to cash in on Rollins after his successful title defense against Drew McIntyre, but Zayn, who defeated McDonagh on the kickoff show, stopped him and ran off with the briefcase before he could officially do so. Later that night, Ripley successfully defended the Women's World Championship against Nia Jax, Raquel Rodriguez, Shayna Baszler, and Zoey Stark in a fatal five-way match while Priest lost to Rhodes despite interference from Bálor, Dominik, and McDonagh.[41] On the November 13 episode of "RAW", Priest accompanied by his stablemates called himself the leader infront of their WarGames opponents on the opening in-ring segment of the show. Later that night, during a backstage segment at their "clubhouse", the group were on a brief disagreement with Priest about what he said earlier, until Ripley thought that it could be a good idea for their upcoming WarGames match, with rest of Judgment Day (Bálor and Mysterio) agreeing with Ripley's idea that he should be appointed as the group's leader (team captain) for that night only. [42] After finishing their conversation, the group agreed that McDonagh should finally be added to their ranks after proving his loyalty and sacrifice for them. Priest officially added McDonagh to their ranks as a full fledge member on behalf of the group. Later that night, Priest and Bálor defeated Rhodes and Uso in a rematch to retain their titles after interference from McIntyre. [43] [44] At, Ripley defeated Stark to retain the Women's World Championship while The Judgment Day and McIntyre were defeated by Rhodes, Rollins, Uso, Zayn and the returning Randy Orton in a WarGames match after Rhodes pinned Priest.[45] On December 9 at NXT Deadline, Dominik lost the NXT North American Championship to Dragon Lee, ending his second reign at 67 days.[46]
Over the next few weeks, the group began feuding with R-Truth over his efforts to join them.[47] According to Bálor, he felt the stable was "losing steam, but the storyline around R-Truth gave the act a new life.[48] On the December 18 episode of Raw, McDonagh lost to R-Truth in a Loser Leaves Judgment Day Miracle on 34th Street Fight match.[49] However, the stipulation was not official, and McDonagh remained part of the group. Later that night, Bálor and Priest successfully defended the tag team titles against the Creed Brothers while Ripley successfully defended her title against their Diamond Mine stablemate Ivy Nile at Raw: Day 1. At Royal Rumble on January 27, Bálor, Priest, Dominik and McDonagh participated in the men's Royal Rumble match. They were eliminated by Bron Breakker, Sami Zayn, CM Punk and Jey Uso respectively.[50] At on February 24, Bálor and Priest defeated New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate) to retain their titles while Ripley, in her home country of Australia, defeated Nia Jax in the main event to retain her title.[51] At Night 1 of WrestleMania XL, Ripley successfully defended her title against Becky Lynch while Bálor and Priest lost the SmackDown Tag Team Championship to A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory and Grayson Waller) and the Raw Tag Team Championship to The Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) respectively in a six-pack tag team ladder match, ending their second reign with the undisputed titles at 173 days. Dominik teamed up with Legado Del Fantasma's Santos Escobar against his father, Rey, and Andrade in a losing effort after interference from Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce.[52] On Night 2 of WrestleMania XL, Priest successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Drew McIntyre to win the World Heavyweight Championship immediately after McIntyre won the title from Rollins.[53] Eight days later, Ripley was forced to vacate the Women's World Championship due to a legitimate arm injury, ending her reign at 380 days, tying Bayley's record for the longest reign in the title's history.[54] At Backlash France on May 4, Priest successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship in his first title defense against Jey Uso after interference from Bálor and McDonagh despite Priest asking them not to interfere.[55]
Around this time, Carlito, after defecting from the LWO in April, began to insert himself into the group, but was kept at arm's length by Priest, citing their past conflict. On the May 13 episode of Raw, Carlito helped Bálor and McDonagh win a fatal four-way match to become the #1 contenders for the World Tag Team Championship. One week later, Bálor and McDonagh failed to win the titles from Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) after Braun Strowman prevented Carlito from interfering.[56] In the main event of on June 15, despite The Judgment Day being barred from ringside, Priest defeated McIntyre to retain his title after interference from CM Punk.
During Ripley's absence, Liv Morgan, (who Ripley turned on to join the group), began seducing Dominik, who resisted Morgan's attempts. Dominik accidentally helped Morgan win the Women's World Championship from Becky Lynch, at King and Queen of the Ring, and accidentally helped her retain in a steel cage match two nights later.[57] Morgan would also begin aiding the group in their matches. On the June 24 episode of Raw, Morgan helped Bálor and McDonagh defeat The Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth), to win the World Tag Team Championship.[58]
At Money in the Bank on July 6, Priest successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Seth "Freakin" Rollins and Drew McIntyre, (who cashed in his newly won Money in the Bank briefcase during the match), making it a triple threat match. Priest pinned McIntyre to retain after interference from CM Punk. Per the stipulation, because Priest won, Rollins can never challenge for the title again for as long as Priest held it. Had Priest lost, he would have been forced to leave The Judgment Day.[59] On the following episode of Raw, Bálor, McDonagh and Carlito, defeated Braun Strowman and The Awesome Truth in a six-man tag team match, while Priest and Rollins, mutually agreed to lift the stipulation they agreed to for their match at Money in the Bank. Later that night, Dominik and Morgan defeated Rey Mysterio and Zelina Vega in a mixed tag team match. After the match, Dom and Morgan celebrated his first victory over his father, before they were confronted by the returning Ripley.[60]
At SummerSlam on August 3, Ripley was unsuccessful in regaining the Women's World Championship from Morgan, after interference from Dominik, giving Ripley her first pinfall loss since May 2022. After the match, Dominik kissed Morgan, turning on Ripley. Later that night, Priest lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Gunther via technical submission, ending his reign at 118 days. In the closing moments, Priest hit Gunther with the South of Heaven chokeslam, only for Bálor to put Gunther's foot on the bottom rope, turning on Priest by breaking the pin count.[61] [62] On the following episode of Raw, Bálor addressed the events that transpired at the event before by accusing Priest of betraying Judgement Day, for calling himself a leader after becoming the World Champion and for costing him the opportunity of the same achievement at SummerSlam 2023. Priest was ejected from the group, and Carlito and Morgan were introduced as the stable's latest members. Later that night, during a match between him and McDonagh, Priest was attacked by the group -- with the exception of Ripley. Ripley instead, resigned from the stable by attacking Morgan and assisting Priest.[63] [64]
| Members | Joined | |
|---|---|---|
| Finn Bálor | ||
| "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio | ||
| JD McDonagh | ||
| Carlito | ||
| Liv Morgan |
| Member | Joined | Left | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edge (L) | * | ||
| Damian Priest (L/One Night Only) | * | ||
| Rhea Ripley | May 8, 2022 | August 5, 2024 |