WWE Monday Night Raw saw a surprise title change, with Finn Balor and Damian Priest capturing WWE’s Unified Tag Team Titles. The moment fits into a larger pattern and has left many on social media wondering, what is WWE doing with Judgment Day?
The title change occurred just over a week after Judgment Day lost the belts initially. It is also not the first time they had the hero overcome the heel faction, only for the faction to immediately get their win back. Likewise, the faction has been in limbo to serve all of these other stories across Raw, SmackDown, and NXT.
Some point to a broader narrative or longer view, but most stories don’t require an immediate step forward and back. Likewise, the booking makes it hard to follow precisely what is happening with the group.
When an act is on television as much as Judgment Day, it can add pressure to use it everywhere. That could mean booking these back-and-forth wins and losses and dropping stories for just one show a week. It can also mean stunting the momentum of guys like Carmelo Hayes, Trick Williams, and Jey Uso.
When looked at together, those moves usually annoy the most dedicated fans. Although the faction is still white hot, featuring on all three shows, the strange booking might eventually take a toll on them.
Long Narrative or Not, This is Still Hot Shot Booking
There are very few reasons to hotshot the title in wrestling. Typically, whenever a promotion does that, it is seen as just trying to gin up artificial excitement. WWE has been doing some fantastic work recently. They have been telling lots of long and more complex stories.
The Bloodline, Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes, Gunther’s reign, and Judgment Day have been booked into these longer narrative stories with multiple characters and miniature arcs. Many fans have desperately waited for WWE to start this more long-form narrative storytelling.
It was the reason the rumors of Triple H’s ascendency caused excitement. Those new and improved stories don’t change long-held truths, though. Multiple rapid title changes are always playing hot potato with titles. That it keeps happening within the same group is even worse.
A short reign is a short reign. Trick Williams, Cody Rhodes, and Jey Uso all had a short reign after beating a member of Judgment Day for a title and losing it right after. Trick’s win and immediate loss added nothing to his character that a win over somebody like Dijak or even Finn Balor himself couldn’t have done.
Cody and Jey Uso probably did need to win the titles, but the loss coming in just nine days after fans invested heavily in the fun duo was bizarre. With a PLE coming up soon, that would have made more sense as the venue for Jimmy Uso to strike.
Trying to piece these losses into a larger story doesn’t change the fact that nobody cares about a short reign. It doesn’t help the winners or the losers look good. It is a waste of time. What also doesn’t help is that the quick title grabs and the group’s overall losses tell competing stories.
What is WWE Doing With Judgment Day Splitting Up
Clearly, WWE is doing a break up the Judgment Day at some point. The writing has been on the wall since the Money in the Bank Premium Live Event (PLE). With each loss, the group gets closer to the edge. Then, when it seems like Rhea is ready to leave her deadbeat men behind and finally get an actual run, they come together again.
The team fights constantly, loses the big matches for the moment of maximum tension, and then nothing. Not even days later, the group gets another shot and resets the board. The status remains, and we all got some admittedly good wrestling matches along the way. Just as the short reigns don’t add anything to their opponents, they don’t add anything to Judgment Day either.
There must be a rationale for what WWE is doing with Judgment Day. They are trying to display the team as fracturing but also as strong. Those can’t happen at the same time. Either the group is crumbling, or they stand on top of WWE and hold all the gold. Some of this might be the fault of the Bloodline.
When that story paused, they needed another supervillainous group to run the shows, and they found it with Judgment Day. Perhaps the dysfunction is the point, and the strength is a byproduct of vacation time. However, it is hard to tell because the company jumps back and forth.
Sure, fans can safely boo the faction. That means fans won’t be prepared when the day comes for their story to unfold. That lack of preparation could hurt the response, which would be a shame given how popular the group is now.
Does it Impact The WWE Product at All?
To answer what WWE is doing with Judgment Day is impossible. Maybe they are killing time or genuinely think this is what fans want to see. The more important question for fans and the promotion should be, does it matter? The answer to that is no. The booking curiosities go beyond these two title changes.
Rhea Ripley has been underutilized at best. Likewise, JD McDonagh is either in the group or not, depending on which brand the faction appears on. Dominik Mysterio is a main event-level heel, except when he is the fall guy. The booking of the group is full of contradictions.
DOUBLE DOUBLE pic.twitter.com/jK6XcZevLP
— Finn Bálor (@FinnBalor) October 17, 2023
Despite all of this, they are super over. The faction is on par with the Bloodline in kayfabe and is teaming up with Roman and Heyman, too. The inconsistency has yet to matter because everyone involved is good at what they do. Sure, the booking may help their opponents less than WWE thinks it will.
Strange booking decisions aren’t a huge issue as long as Judgment Day stays a draw, and their opponents do, too. The risks are certainly greater that, with confusing booking, crowds will turn. However, no specific booking is necessary as long as WWE can use them to get the crowd excited, and right now, they absolutely can. How long that remains the case, though, is anyone’s guess.
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