When I wrote my grades for Elimination Chamber, I examined the question of what WWE is doing with the tag titles, currently held by Finn Balor and Damian Priest of The Judgment Day. Now, it’s time to ask: What the hell is WWE doing with The Judgment Day?

GUNTHER, who is a heel, got cheered Monday night for beating up fellow heel Dominik Mysterio, and not just by the crowd — even Michael Cole and Pat McAfee were pulling for him. Later in the show, Balor and Priest got massive babyface pops in their match with Imperium, another supposed heel vs. heel contest. In that one, commentary was supportive of The Judgment Day, particularly Priest, who Cole said was hearing all the fan comments about his less than stellar run with the MITB briefcase and using them as fuel, or something. And as for Rhea Ripley, does it even matter? She barely even hangs out with them anymore.

This dissonance in how WWE is acting toward various members of the same stable highlights the fact that, aside from Ripley, they have nothing going on for WrestleMania. This is a group that ran roughshod over “Raw” for basically the entirety of 2023; now they’re directionless and fragmented. R-Truth, Miz, and DIY made a little noise about taking the titles off them in a backstage comedy segment, but the R-Truth/Judgment Day story seems like it already ended to me, and at this point, can that really be the plan for Mania? A tag title defense, probably involving multiple teams, that has almost zero real build behind it?

It’s becoming increasingly clear that the time to break up Judgment Day was months ago. Priest doesn’t seem to care about the briefcase anymore, Rhea and Dominik aren’t even accompanying each other to the ring anymore, and JD McDonagh has added less than nothing to the group. What’s the point of building up a dominant stable if they’re just going to fizzle out come Mania season? Something has to change, and quickly, or The Judgment Day are going to be remembered for the R-Truth segments and nothing else.

Written by Miles Schneiderman