The Judgment Day Storyline Is WWE’s Top Focus For The RAW Brand

The Judgment Day faction has been incredibly successful for WWE since it started. While we’re very far removed from its origin, people forget it was an idea that former WWE Superstar Edge (Adam Copeland) came up with. He wanted to use the faction to help himself out, as he was an older wrestler, and it would make sense realistically for him not to be as good as the younger stars. At the same time, the group would get over several young stars in the faction itself. He specifically chose Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley to be part of the group, as he loved their potential.

Meanwhile, Edge wanted to add Finn Balor to the group to boost his stock. While not young, Balor hadn’t been part of the WWE for a decade. He was not some grizzled veteran and likely has another decade left in him. Of course, plans went in a different direction. Injuries to top names led WWE to shift course, forcing Edge to become a babyface while the Judgment Day remained heels. Edge was the group’s leader, but the faction now had no leaders without him. All were equal. This became a mantra of the group going forward, too.

Eventually, the group added Dominik Mysterio, who became the most hated heel in the entire company. The man cannot speak on a microphone to this day without the crowd booing him mercilessly. Having him appear on screen in any form can draw boos from the crowd, even if it is a backstage segment. Originally, Ripley persuaded him to be part of Judgment Day by drawing him in romantically. He’d betray his father, Rey Mysterio, and even kick Edge in his “brood,” if you know what we mean.

THRIVING OVER EVERYONE

Soon into the start of the group, Rhea Ripley went on to win the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble match. That secured a match for what was then the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 39. Ripley faced Charlotte Flair for the title and beat her in one of WrestleMania’s greatest women’s matches. The title would be changed to the WWE Women’s World Championship, and Ripley held the title for over a year. In fact, she did not even lose the title at all.

An injury kept her out of action for several months, leading to the need to vacate the title. Eventually, Liv Morgan captured it, but more on that in a bit. Dominik Mysterio even had a few runs with the NXT North American Championship.

Damian Priest won Money in the Bank in 2023 and finally cashed it in to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 40. He also ran with the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Titles alongside Finn Balor. Essentially, at one point, Judgment Day had both major World Championships on the RAW Brand.

The interesting part was that both Ripley and Priest could be accused of trying to be leaders of Judgment Day. This interfered with the group’s previous premise of no leaders and full equality.

Ripley and Priest were now cheered by fans, as opposed to the rest of the group, who were still getting booed. Ripley alone became one of the biggest stars in the entire company while holding the Women’s World Championship. The reactions might have rubbed the group wrong, but the feeling of how both Ripley and Priest treated them led to that, too.

JUDGMENT TIME

Finn Balor, who once led what became the top faction on the planet in the Bullet Club, was not a fan of how he was being treated. He was reduced to a lackey for Priest or someone just along for the ride. This man was the first WWE Universal Champion, a two-time NXT Champion, and a former Intercontinental Champion. To be reduced like that, made to feel small, was not cool for him. He was also questioned for wanting his friend, JD, to be part of the group. This treatment did not just happen once but several times, especially after Priest won the World Title.

Meanwhile, Ripley acted as the group’s boss for most of its existence. Judgment Day did not have leaders, but Ripley was probably their closest thing to one. However, she injured Liv Morgan and put her on the shelf for over 6 months with a shoulder injury. Ironically, Morgan eventually injured Rhea’s shoulder, which caused her to miss most of the summer period in WWE. However, Liv wanted to take everything from Ripley and went on a “Revenge Tour” to do so.

She took Rhea out of action and then won the Women’s World Championship. Morgan then set her sights on taking “Dirty” Dom from her. She spent several weeks trying to “woo” Mysterio and not getting very far. However, she kissed him, bought him gifts, and ended up in some compromising positions with her. Ripley was out, so Liv knew she had the chance to get Dom on her side.

It seemed to work as Mysterio started to fall for her, just in time for Rhea to return.

THE COUP ATTEMPT:

Dom would then say he did not love Liv on television, attempting to stop her advances right before Ripley faced her for the title at the SummerSlam PLE. Mysterio fooled us all, though, and sided with Morgan. He even kissed her right in front of Ripley after he screwed her out of the title. Later that night, Balor screwed Priest, causing him to lose the World Heavyweight Championship to Gunther.

In just one night, Balor led a coup to force Priest and Ripley out of Judgment Day. The group’s two original members left in WWE are now out, leading it to disband. Currently, it is not certain what the WWE plans to call the new group Finn is essentially leading. Some reports have claimed that WWE might call it “Street Trash.” However, that would be one odd and idiotic name for a faction.

Priest and Ripley are still “sort of” a unit and have since called themselves the “Terror Twins” on social media. If we think about it, everything that happened has logic behind it. Finn was rightfully upset with Priest, and Dominik has clearly been treated less like a boyfriend and more like an object to take bullets for Ripley. We wrote an article about why Liv was the better pick that explains all of this further.

That said, the rest of the members were likely all for this coup attempt. Morgan joined the new group alongside Mysterio, JD, & Carlito.

BACKSTAGE REACTION

While some of this would obviously happen, many backstage were surprised by the Judgment Day shakeup. According to reports, WWE has been very happy with Liv Morgan’s work, as she has been improving for years. Yet this is considered “star-making” work. WWE is happy with the chemistry Liv has been having with Dominik since their storyline together started. According to PWInsider, both have been getting high marks from everyone.

While Gunther’s World Heavyweight Title run will be a big part of RAW storylines going forward, it might not be the “main focus.” According to several outlets, WWE has seen the massive success of their Judgment Day content and feels it should be the top storyline on the brand. This makes sense since this has been the “story of the summer” so far.

Triple H reportedly has many plans for the Judgment Day storyline. Since the story involves two women at the top of WWE, a few men who have been high-up, and other young stars, it makes sense that WWE would want to focus on this story. In fact, entire RAW episodes could be dedicated to them from start to finish, and we would likely not see anyone too overexposed. That is the beauty of factions like this and when they dissolve. There are several people to utilize and fresh matches to be had.