Wrestling factions can go through a lot of changes in their lifetimes. Groups and and remove members, often violently.
WWE Hall of Famer Edge (Adam Copeland) and Damian Priest launched The Judgment Day as a duo, but it did not stay like that for long. Today’s incarnation is one of the most dominant forces in WWE, but the group looks quite different from what Copeland originally had in mind.
Judgment Day grew to be one of the biggest draws in WWE. With Finn Balor, Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley, JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio, the group is featured heavily on WWE television. Although they never took a turn into the supernatural realm as was originally rumored for the stable, they certainly took on a new life of their own.
While speaking to Sam Roberts on the Not Sam Wrestling podcast, Copeland spoke about the original concept for the Judgment Day.
Original Plan For WWE’s Judgment Day Stable
The Rated R Superstar says the Judgment Day came about when he was approached about starting up a ‘New Brood,’ the Attitude Era’s gothic trio of Edge, Christian and Gangrel. The Brood helped put Edge and Christian on the map when they first arrived on the scene in WWE, so maybe Copeland could do something similar for one of WWE’s rising stars.
“Well, you know, with the initial inception of the Judgement Day, I really I wanted it to be these underutilized talents that I thought could be far more than what they were being utilized for. Rhea Ripley is a star and Damian Priest is a star and Finn Balor’s a star.
So initially, it was brought to me like, ‘Hey, we want to kind of start a New Brood,’ or something that feels somewhat like that. I’m like, ‘Who would it be?’ I was like, ‘Ripley and Priest.’ ‘Well, we want it go be four.’ So, it’s like.. Balor! Okay, well, then it was like, ‘We want somebody really huge.’ I was like, okay.. all right.. and then I got a text two weeks later. ‘How about Balor?’ I’m like, ‘Yep! amazing idea.’ [Laughing]”
Edge was kicked out of Judgment Day when Finn Balor made his way to the stable. After that, the Rated R Superstar and his former stable went their separate ways.
As Judgment Day remains a stable on WWE programming, they still have Edge to thank. They might not publicly thank the man who helped start the faction, because he is with AEW now, but they know where the genesis of that sable came from.