Adam Copeland says it was a ‘shame’ Vince McMahon didn’t understand what Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest had
AEW’s Adam Copeland, aka Edge, has opened up about the formation of The Judgment Day with Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest.
Long before The Judgment Day were the arrogant and loudmouth villains of the WWE roster, they were a dark, Brood-esque faction led by Edge (Adam Copeland) with Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest under him. However, Cody Rhodes’ injury in 2022 possibly led to creative shifts, which saw Finn Balor join the faction and turn on Edge, with Ripley and Priest also joining in.
That soon led to a year-long feud between Edge and a few others against the other faction members, and later also the introduction of Dominik Mysterio as a heel. However, while the faction started with Ripley and Priest, Edge recently revealed to SHAK Wrestling that Vince McMahon was not sure about that.
“Vince [McMahon] said, ‘I want you to start a group, and I want it to be like the brood.’ And I went, ‘Okay, okay.’ 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,” Copelan said.
“I think he was kind of surprised by that. And that made me realize he didn’t understand 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 them for a year.
“So I got to be their baby face along with Rey [Mysterio], and when you got two baby faces like us, chances are your heel group is going to do okay. And still going, I think. So you know, it worked. But I’m proud of them. I’m super proud of them. I’m proud of Rhea [Ripley]. I’m proud of like, where she’s taken it and gone with it, and it’s exactly where I thought it could go,” Copeland finished.
Their long feud finished with Copeland defeating the Demon Finn Balor in a Hell in a Cell match at WWE WrestleMania 39.
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
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