When WWE Hall of Famer Edge was unceremoniously booted out of The Judgment Day due to a real-life injury in June of 2022, it felt like the rest of the group was suddenly rudderless in the treacherous sea known as WWE creative.
After all, Edge founded the group and was by far its most notable member, as the others — Finn Balor, Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest — had yet to reach the heights of stardom as their former leader.
What a difference a (little more than) a year can make.
Today, Balor, Ripley, Priest and now “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio are arguably the most valuable players in all of WWE.
They have been routinely showcased on all three of WWE’s television programs — Raw, Smackdown and NXT — as essentially the high school bullies who incessantly pick on the other kids, which makes them great opponents for WWE’s good guys to go up against on a weekly basis.
The have had feuds with seemingly everyone on the roster from stars of yesteryear like Edge and Rey Mysterio to current stars such as Cody Rhodes and now Jey Uso.
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The potential addition of JD McDonagh will only add another dimension to a group that has proven to be a vital and versatile piece of WWE’s weekly storytelling.
McDonagh’s addition would also get The Judgment Day one step closer to assembling a team for … (in my William Regal voice) … WarGames!
In case you forgot, WWE brought WarGames, which began back in the 1980s in Jim Crockett Promotions, from NXT to the main roster in 2022 at Survivor Series. Survivor Series is WWE’s second-oldest premium live event, but the overall concept of the show, the multi-person Survivor Series elimination match, had grown quite stale over the years.
WarGames, along with the enthralling Bloodline story, helped give the event a much-needed boost last year and reportedly made it the most watched Survivor Series of all time, along with setting new live gate records for the city of Boston. It would make sense for WWE to run it back with another WarGames in 2023.
But as of this writing, WWE has yet to confirm whether it is bringing the two-ring spectacle back for this year. Maybe that has been by design, as WWE didn’t want to promise the match before it even had a proper angle to utilize it with. When watching Raw lately, however, it looks like WWE has the pieces in place to produce another edition.
One major piece would be a heel faction for a group of good guys to go up against. WWE does not have to look any further than the Judgment Day to fill that role. WWE also has a great group of heroes for the villainous collective to go up against in Drew McIntyre, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes.
The last name in that group is the most notable because the WarGames match was created by his father, Dusty Rhodes. Despite his father creating the match, Rhodes has never taken part in a proper WarGames match. During his first stint in WWE, WarGames was nothing more than a collection of matches for the promotion to package together for a home video release.
Even when Rhodes helped start up All Elite Wrestling, he never took part in the promotion’s version of the match. With Cody Rhodes being heavily involved in a story involving the Judgment Day, it would make sense to include him as a homage to the American Dream.
If a WarGames match were to come to fruition, there would be the issue of the group needing to add a fifth member. That is, unless WWE goes to a four-on-four or even a three-on-three format, the latter of which it has used before in NXT.
If the group were to add a fifth (assuming that McDonagh would be the fourth), who would that person be? Bronson Reed? What about a heel McIntyre to even the odds?
Speculation aside, The Judgment Day doesn’t even have to win the WarGames match. Outside of Ripley, the group has taken its fair share of losses over the last year and change and has managed to rebound from all of them.
I personally thought the group was finished when Balor lost to Edge at Extreme Rules in October of 2022. Let’s not forget Priest losing to non-wrestler Bad Bunny at Backlash, albeit after a great match.
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Yet, here they are stronger than ever with championship titles around the waist of every member. Not to mention, Priest is still the holder of the coveted Money in the Bank briefcase, which grants him a world title opportunity whenever he chooses. Whether Priest actually wins the title or not is a different story.
Suffering a loss at WarGames, which if it does come to fruition I would fully expect, won’t hurt The Judgment Day one bit. The group didn’t fall apart after Edge was sidelined due to injury, nor did it dissolve after a slew of losses in big matches. If the group could survive that (no pun intended), it could get through taking a loss inside of WarGames.
Now, all WWE has to do is book it.