AEW star Adam Copeland has revealed Vince McMahon’s reaction to choosing Damian Priest & Rhea Ripley for WWE’s original iteration of The Judgment Day.
Formed in April 2022, Edge would lead the faction that intially just featured Damian Priest, before adding Rhea Ripley the following month.
During a recent appearance on SHAK Wrestling, the star now known by his real name Adam Copeland in AEW would reveal that Vince McMahon didn’t hold Priest and Ripley in the same regard as he did, saying:
“Vince said ‘I want you to start a group, and I want it to be like The Brood.’ And I went ‘Ok, ok.’ So I’m thinking three people, and he said ‘Who would that be?’ I was like ‘Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley.’ No hesitation. Those are the two people that could make this a pretty cool group I think.
“He was kind of surprised by that, which made me realize that he didn’t realize what he had in those two, and I thought that was a shame. So, I truly thought, hey, this can be a vehicle, so hopefully they just start getting more reps and some more experience, and I think that’s essentially what it did.
“And then I got to feud with them for a year, so I got to be their babyface along with Rey (Mysterio). And when you’ve got two babyfaces like us, chances are your heel group is going to do ok, and it’s still going, I think, so it worked. But I’m proud of them, I’m proud of Rhea and where she’s taken it and gone with it, and it’s exactly where I thought it could go.”
If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.
Finn Balor would be added to Judgment Day in June 2022, seeing Edge removed from the faction ahead of his WWE departure, going on to see both Ripley and Priest kicked out at SummerSlam in August 2024. He would eventually be ejected in March of this year.
The Rise And Rise Of Judgment Day
There is an argument to be made that Judgment Day’s rise started with Finn Balor kicking Edge out of the faction, kicking starting the feud that Copeland describes that saw him ally with Rey Mysterio.
With Dominik Mysterio lured into the faction by Rhea Ripley, he turned his back on his father and was reborn as a star in his own right, which isn’t bad considering he held the SmackDown Tag Team Champion early in his in-ring career with his Hall of Famer parent.
The faction would be equally as comfortable with its intensity as it was in its humor, enhancing the character work of Dominik Mysterio in particular. Adding JD McDonagh to the collective also made for entertaining moments, with Carlito doing the same when he joined in August 2024.
There have been masterstrokes throughtout Judgment Day’s history, but the relationship between Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley, the insidious way that Liv Morgan integrated herself into the group and stole The Eradicator’s man and the sheer drama of that moment at SummerSlam in 2024 will long be remembered as a long point.
Priest and Ripley have gone from strength to strength after Judgment Day, with the former being one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions, with R-Truth, allowing the star to continue to showcase his lighter side, while the latter holds the Women’s Championship.
Now with Morgan, Mysterio, McDonagh, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez as Judgment Day, it has been a consistent high point of WWE television, thanks to the mix of personalities, very much continuing a legacy that was started back in 2022.
If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.
To make sure you stay up to date with all the biggest wrestling and WrestleTalk news, follow us on Threads by clicking this link!
Comments.
Loading comments…