WWE's Original Judgment Day Plans Were For A 'New Brood', Faction Almost Had A Cauldron & Floating Entrance
Judgment Day were meant to be a new ‘Brood’ in WWE, complete with spooky nonsense
The Judgment Day have become one of the most dominant forces in WWE, with the group currently in possession of the Women’s World Championship, the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships, and the men’s Money in the Bank briefcase.
Originally formed by WWE Hall of Famer Edge, the group was originally meant to be a little different from how it ended up, with Edge (AEW’s Adam Copeland) saying the following to Sam Roberts:
"Well, you know, with the initial inception of the Judgement Day, I really I wanted it to be these underutilised talents that I thought could be far more than what they were being utilised 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],” said Copeland.
The original Brood consisted of Gangrel, Edge, and Christian, with the three emerging from a fiery pit and dousing their opponents with bloodbaths. A later ‘new Brood’ saw Edge and Christian replaced by The Hardy Boys. Inspired by the earliest incarnation, Copeland revealed that WWE wanted to go full on spooky with Judgment Day:
"At one point it was talked about a cauldron with bubbling black fluid and I'm holding a pitchfork. I was like, 'Woahh..I don't want to do that because that's not going to work.' There was one week, they wanted us to float to the ring. 'What?' 'No, we'll put it on a dolly.' Then, I'm sitting on a throne and Priest is full core engaged because he's basically surfing holding onto this thing, and all I felt going as we're going down was 'This is Spinal Tap. This is Spinal Tap.' We got to the back and I was like, 'I don't think that entrance works, guys.' But, it was, 'I'll give it a shot.' It ain't my sandbox. I don't cut the checks. This is what you want, I'll try and make it work, but I'll also be the first one to tell you, 'That didn't work. We probably shouldn't do that anymore, right?'" Copeland recalled.