The Judgment Day is a professional wrestling stable in WWE, consisting of Finn Bálor (real name Fergal Devitt˜), Damian Priest (real name Luis Martinez), Rhea Ripley (real name Demi Bennett), Dominik Mysterio (real name Dominik Óscar Gutiérrez), and JD McDonagh (real name Jordan Devlin). They primarily appear on the Raw brand, but have also made appearances on SmackDown and NXT.
Officially debuting on April 8, 2022 with former leader Edge and Priest, the group has become the top group on Monday Night Raw, with most of the members holding gold: Priest is the World Heavyweight Champion as well as a former Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions with Bálor, Ripley is a former Women's World Champion and Mysterio is a two-time NXT North American Champion.
The Judgment Day's Tropes:
- Abbey Road Crossing: Whilst in the UK for Money in the Bank 2023, the group recreated the iconic image.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Damian and Dominik are visibly holding back laughter at R-Truth's video package about his "great memories" with the Judgment Day. This later gets deconstructed. Sure Truth is funny, something Priest himself admits, but the group eventually gets sick and tired of how he's annoying them with his antics and that he doesn't get the hint that he's not part of the Judgment Day.
- Alternate Company Equivalent:
- Well, Alternate Brand Equivalent, but they have become RAW's answer to The Bloodline on SmackDown in regards to being a dominant faction on their respective brands, even forging an uneasy alliance with the group.
- JD's annoyance with R-Truth is akin to Jey Uso hating Sami Zayn when the latter wished to be part of the Bloodline. Meanwhile, Damian Priest essentially acts as the Roman Reigns equivalent since Truth interacts with him the most.
- For a more traditional example, they started out as WWE's answer to AEW's House of Black, a cult-like faction with supernatural elements. note
- Well, Alternate Brand Equivalent, but they have become RAW's answer to The Bloodline on SmackDown in regards to being a dominant faction on their respective brands, even forging an uneasy alliance with the group.
- The Artifact: The Judgment Day's name and logo, a hooded angel holding a scale, and Priest's ring gear are remnants of the group's early days of being a cult with cryptic supernatural undertones, which they had completely abandoned by the Fall of 2022.
- The Bad Guy Wins:
- At Payback (2023), following Ripley's title defense and Priest and Bálor's victory over Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, ending the night with every member of the group holding a championship.
- Subverted and Zig-Zagged. At Night 1 of WrestleMania XL, Rhea Ripley was the only member to end the night with a win. What’s more is Bálor and Priest lost both of their Tag Team Championships to Awesome Truth and A-Town Down Under. On Night 2, Priest cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and stole the World Heavyweight Championship from a weakened Drew McIntyre.
- Big Bad: Edge, originally, until being deposed immediately upon Finn Bálor's recruitment to the group. Ever since, Bálor and Priest have operated as a de facto Big Bad Duumvirate for the group. Rhea would eventually rise to prominence as the group's strategist, peacemaker, and most dominant champion. Priest turned it back into a duumvirate after becoming World Heavyweight Champion and receiving a solo remix of the group's theme, as he declared himself and Rhea the "Terror Twins".
- Color Motif: Black and purple to fit with their gothic vibe.
- The Corrupter: They often try to take Face wrestlers and convert them to their side. They were successful in swaying Dominik, while AJ Styles responded to their attempts by summoning a newly re-signed Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson to reform The OC. They tried again with a now solo Jey Uso a few months later, but Jey wasn't about to let another Heel stable wrap him around their finger...
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The original incarnation under Edge, as a Brood-like cult group with supernatural elements. After Edge's ejection and Dominik's inclusion, the group's style would pivot to a goth-styled gang of bullies that prefer to serve their interests with insults and violence over rhetoric.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: As long as you prove yourself worthy, anyone can join The Judgment Day...unless you're R-Truth, of course. They considered Andrade as a member but with him teaming with Rey Mysterio, that’s not happening.
- Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: Despite being bullies to everyone else on the roster, the group has a strangely healthy commitment to each other in opposition to how most heel stables in wrestling act towards each other. Mid 2023 saw teases of a split between Finn and Damian after the latter won Money in the Bank at the same time Finn was sliding into being the #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight title. However, this died on the vine after they patched things up and won the tag titles together. Later, after the group lost their Wargames match, Damian was fully expecting to get yelled at by the group for his gameplan failing before the group stopped him in mid-rant to say they’re a family and they share their wins and losses together as one.
- Goth: The general aesthetic of the group, but Rhea Ripley especially fits the bill.
- Guest-Star Party Member:
- JD McDonagh, Finn Balor's protege that desperately wants to join the group and prove himself to his mentor. While he's allowed to assist them whenever he can, the group flip-flops on whether or not he should officially join then. On the 11/13/23 episode of Raw, they finally caved and JD was officially inducted into the group.
- Drew McIntyre joined the Judgment Day's team for Survivor Series 2023, frustrated by his opportunities being taken from him by other people and accepting Ripley's offer to aid them for the WarGames match.
- Hated by All: Nobody in the RAW locker room (except R-Truth for a time...and then he was back to his antics a few months later) is under any illusion that they're anything more than a pack of bullies that feel entitled to anything and everything they want, and will do absolutely anything to get it.
- In the Hood: Their logo consists of a black hooded figure.
- Jerkass Has a Point: JD is annoyed with how R-Truth is constantly butting in as if he's part of the Judgment Day, but given how long it took for JD to become part of the group, and that involved taking a Spear for Priest, he's right to be angry that R-Truth is seemingly being accepted by the group without nearly as much pushback and seemingly not getting the memo that he's not part of the group no matter how many times you have to beat the truth into his head.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The Judgment Day loved picking on R-Truth even though Truth, despite his ditziness and insistence he was part of the group, was nothing but kind to them and even was willing to give them money for selling shirts. Truth gets the last laugh at WrestleMania XL when he throws Priest out of the ring with an Attitude Adjustment and gets the RAW Tag Team belts for him and Miz.
- Karmic Butt-Monkey: Dominik tends to take the most abuse of the group, but he's such a Hate Sink that it's easy to laugh at his repeated beatings. This role shifted towards JD McDonagh when he started associating himself more with the group.
- Kick the Dog: JD beating up R-Truth from behind — especially when Priest asked Dominik to do it — was bad enough. Spitefully ripping off Truth's Judgment Day shirt was one step too far. This happens again on the 2/12/24 RAW.
- Multinational Team: The group consists of Finn Bálor and JD McDonagh (Irish), Damian Priest (Puerto Rican-American), Rhea Ripley (Australian) and Dominik Mysterio (Mexican-American); its former founder was Edge (Canadian).
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
- Jey Uso rejected their attempts to recruit him into their ranks, which they were not happy with to say the least. However, their targeting of Jey not only resulted in him teaming up Cody Rhodes to take the tag belts from them, it also did a lot to repair Jey's reputation with the rest of the locker room.
- Their constant hounding on R-Truth would come back to bite them in the ass hard. The Miz would help his old friend and set up the Six-pack Tag Team Ladder Match at WrestleMania XL. Their constant antagonism of teams like The New Day and #DIY would ensure that they worked together to stop Priest and Balor from reclaiming the belts.
- Paying Evil Unto Evil: Damian Priest cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Drew McIntyre at Wrestlemania XL, right after he won the World Heavyweight Championship he coveted for so long. While an undeniably scummy move in most contexts, Drew's constant picking on CM Punk for his injuries that sidelined him from competing at the event, and smug attitude throughout it all hardly warrants him any sympathy when his moment is ripped away at the height of his triumph.
- Pet the Dog:
- After JD McDonagh lost his "Miracle on 34th Street" match against R-Truth — with the stipulation that JD was kicked out of "The Judgment Day" — Rhea states that he's still part of the team.
- For all their annoyance about R-Truth, they seem to like his antics. When they watch R-Truth's PSA, it's on the "almost flat" TV screen he got for them. Unfortunately, they eventually decide to tell him that he's no longer wanted since he wasn't getting the hint that he's not part of the group.
- Power Stable: After a series of title wins and key victories, The Judgment Day firmly established itself as the primary villainous force on Raw and, after the fragmentation of The Bloodline in 2023, a strong claim to the most powerful faction in WWE.
- The Centerpiece: Edge, until his ousting in June 2022. Finn Bálor more or less took up this role thereafter, with Rhea Ripley slowly working her up to this position in mid-to-late 2023.
- The Heir Apparent: Dominik Mysterio
- The Enforcer: Rhea Ripley. Finn Bálor after Ripley's rise to prominence.
- The Muscle: Damian Priest
- The Point Man: JD McDonagh
- Purple Is Powerful: Their ring gear and entrance graphics make heavy use of the color purple and are a very dominant faction, with each member becoming champion throughout 2023.
- Running Gag: Anytime Dominik tries to pitch in whenever the group are on the mics, expect the crowd to drown him out with boos.
- Scales of Justice: Their logo is of a hooded angel grasping on a pair of scales. Rhea has a small one painted on her left cheek.
- Sixth Ranger: After assembling their core team in the span of a few months, it took over a year after Dominik's introduction for them to induct their next member, JD McDonagh.
- Spell My Name with a "The": The group's official name is The Judgment Day.
- Team Mom: Rhea acts like a mother amongst the group and is the only one who supports JD McDonagh being part of The Judgment Day.
- The Team Wannabe:
- JD McDonagh, after joining the Raw roster. JD spent several months following the group around, trying to find any way he could to ingratiate himself with them. They eventually let him in, after suffering numerous beatings in the group's stead, JD pushing Priest out of the way of a Jey Uso spear ultimately being sealed the deal.
- Following his return from injury in November 2023, R-Truth convinced himself that The Judgment Day were his long time best friends and started following them around, even going so far as to produce a video package that poorly edited him into the group's history, selling bootleg merch which added him to the group, and trying to get JD to stop following The Judgment Day around because he's not part of the group. Alas, the 1/29/24 RAW has the Judgment Day finally tell him that he's not going to be joining them in the harshest way possible...only for Truth to still not get the hint and thought it was an initiation before Priest had to tell it straight and say he will be eliminated. It worked...for about a month and a half as Truth was at it once again on the Raw after WrestleMania XL.
- Took a Level in Badass / Jerkass:
- The whole group went from a mostly midcard act in their debut to being the top alpha dogs on Monday Night Raw.
- Within their first two years Ripley’s been a Women’s Champion for a year, Bálor and Priest held both the Raw and Smackdown Tag Team titles twice, Dominik was NXT North American Champion twice, and at WrestleManiaXL, Priest stole the World Heavyweight Championship. It's to the point where they're just about equal to Roman Reigns' Bloodline over on Friday Night Smackdown.
- The Jerkass part rings especially true in Dominik’s case as he went out of his way to ruin his father’s life.
- The whole group went from a mostly midcard act in their debut to being the top alpha dogs on Monday Night Raw.
- We Are Not Going Through That Again: When R-Truth appears during the Judgment Day's promo during the 4/8/24 RAW, carrying his Tag Team Championship belt he won from them two days prior, Damian immediately states this trope of having to deal with Truth thinking he's part of the Judgment Day any second longer.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Rhea exploits this. She interferes constantly in her stablemates' matches (especially Dom) knowing that she'll never be retaliated against. The OC figured this out, which is why they recruited Mia Yim as their answer to Rhea.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The 6/6/22 episode of Raw saw Edge celebrate Finn Bálor joining The Judgment Day's ranks...only for Damian Priest to reveal that they no longer need him, followed by the group expelling him in brutal fashion:Damian Priest: We realized that...in the short time with you, you've taught to "get rid of any limitation that was holding us back". We're ready. We are ready to shed the last bit of limitations holding us back...(turns to Edge) which is you.
