WWE is on the road to Clash At The Castle premium live event next month. The show is expected to be headlined by WWE World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest defending his title against Drew McIntyre. The crucial matchup will be the ‘The Scottish Warrior’ opportunity to win the title in his hometown. However, in Madison Square Garden, it seems Priest may have spoiled that Priest will remain champion.
On X, MSG advertised that Priest will defend his title against ‘Main Event’ Jey Uso at Friday Night Smackdown on June 28. It’s worth noting that it’s possible this could be a dark match instead of taking place on the show.
JUST ANNOUNCED! From Monday Night RAW see Damian Priest vs. Jey Uso live in a World Heavyweight Championship Match at Friday Night SmackDown on Fri, Jun 28 at The Garden!
While the match is also subject to change, it seems Priest could be holding the title after Clash At The Castle. It will be his second championship defense, so it’s possible WWE may not be ready to end his reign. Priest has also set up a potential matchup with 2024 King Of The Ring winner Gunther at WWE SummerSlam on August 3.
Gunther Earning Title Opportunity & More Talent Teasing Heavyweight Championship Match
Gunther earned a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match by defeating Randy Orton in the finals of the King Of The Ring tournament. On the May 27 episode of Monday Night Raw, ‘The Ring General’ celebrated his win and had an in-ring segment with Priest. However, the face-off didn’t last long as McIntyre came to the ring to interrupt them.
After a brief encounter on the microphone, Braun Strowman came to the ring to confront Priest. The ‘Monster Among Men’ would go on to defeat Judgement Day member JD McDonagh afterward. The champion would later tease that he would if Judgement Day can’t handle Strowman or anyone giving them issues.
Priest has his hands full with McIntyre at Clash At The Castle, but it seems there are a few challenges, including Uso, who is in line to face him for the title.
McIntyre still has a chance to reclaim the WWE World Heavyweight championship. However, MSG advertising a title match between Priest and Uso isn’t an encouraging sign.
Drew McIntyre will challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship at an event where the Scottish Warrior will certainly have the crowd on his side.
At WrestleMania 40, McIntyre’s brief World Heavyweight Championship reign was ended by Damian Priest who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. Priest’s successful cash-in came after CM Punk attacked McIntyre who had won the title from Seth Rollins moments earlier.
Since then, McIntyre has been focused on getting another shot at the title. Priest, in an effort to prove himself as a fighting champion, told McIntyre on a recent episode of Monday Night Raw that he would receive a title match in the future.
During the WWE King And Queen of the Ring Premium Live Event, WWE’s Chief Content Officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque shared that McIntyre has been cleared to wrestle after suffering an elbow injury at WrestleMania. The Game also shared that McIntyre will receive his promised title match at WWE Clash At The Castle: Scotland.
McIntyre will have the home-field advantage in Glasgow.
The Scottish Warrior will certainly have the home-field advantage when he faces Priest in Glasgow. McIntyre had previously said he hoped the title match would be at the OVO Hydro. This will be McIntyre’s second time competing for a WWE World Championship at a Clash At The Castle show. At the inaugural event in 2022, McIntyre unsuccessfully challenged then-WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
A CM Punk Problem
While McIntyre would love nothing more than to dethrone Priest in Glasgow’s OVO Hydro, the Judgment Day member isn’t the only star on Drew’s radar. Since CM Punk’s return to WWE, McIntyre has made clear his issues with the former AEW World Champion who essentially cost McIntyre the title at WrestleMania. Punk has teased showing up in Glasgow (perhaps disguised as a haggis) to confront McIntyre while the Scottish Warrior has made clear what awaits Punk if he tries to interfere at Clash At The Castle: Scotland.
Drew McIntyre is hoping that the World Heavyweight Championship shot promised to him will take place at a show where the crowd is extremely in his favor.
McIntyre, already a three-time WWE World Champion, lost the title to Damian Priest at WrestleMania after Priest cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. Amid his war of words with CM Punk, McIntyre has insisted on receiving a rematch. On the May 13, episode of Raw, Priest promised the Scottish Warrior a rematch.
McIntyre On WWE Clash At The Castle
Though McIntyre has been promised a title shot neither he nor Priest shared when the match will take place. Sitting down with PW Insider, McIntyre shared his hope that the match will be at WWE Clash At The Castle: Scotland.
“I would love to have that title match if he [Priest] is still the champion in Scotland and finally have that moment with the title and actually keep the title. I could never have imagined it could potentially be in Glasgow. That’s my dream scenario.”
The upcoming June 15, show will be WWE’s second Clash At The Castle show and the first-ever Premium Live Event to come to Scotland. Understandably, McIntyre is excited that his country will soon have the eyes of the WWE Universe upon it.
“This is something beyond a dream, you know, I talked about for years… I’ve been asking since the day I was in WWE and I always heard the logistics excuse, this and this, then suddenly we’re doing shows all across the world places like Australia, they’ve got the craziest time difference.”
McIntyre hopes to face World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest in Glasgow.
A CM Punk Problem
While McIntyre would love nothing more than to dethrone Priest in Glasgow’s OVO Hydro, the Judgment Day member isn’t the only star on Drew’s radar. Since CM Punk’s return to WWE, McIntyre has made clear his issues with the former AEW World Champion who essentially cost McIntyre the title at WrestleMania. Punk has teased showing up in Glasgow (perhaps disguised as a haggis) to confront McIntyre while the Scottish Warrior has made clear what awaits Punk if he tries to interfere at Clash At The Castle: Scotland.
Damian Priest recently shed light on the moment when he struggled to stay in character during last year’s WWE Backlash Premium Live Event.
Last year’s Backlash PLE took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The PLE featured a highly-aniticipated clash between Damian Priest and the multi-time Grammy Award-winning singer Bad Bunny. ‘The Archer of Infamy’ has told Squared Circle Pit that he was overwhelmed with the electric atmosphere at the venue when Bad Bunny came out.
He said that he had experience of floor shaking while being in the crowd but that night with Bunny’s entrance, he could “feel the tremble” while being inside the ring. The reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion admitted that was one of the wildest things he’s ever witnessed and had to remind himself to stay in character. He said:
“Yeah, that’s exactly what happened (almost slipped out of character during Bad Bunny’s WWE Backlash entrance). I had to be like, hey, cut it out. Stay in it, stay in it… I’ve been in the crowd where you could feel the floor shaking a little bit and whatnot but being in the ring, you don’t really feel the tremble. You don’t really feel that. But I felt it that night. That was wild, in his entrance and I got goosebumps while I was in the ring waiting for him and then but I had to keep a straight face, you know? Angry or whatever but, that was one of the wildest things I had ever seen.”
At Backlash 2023, Bad Bunny came out to his song “Chambea.” As soon as he showed up, the crowd went insane and created one of the greatest entrances in WWE history. ‘Benito’ even hyped up the fans more when he pulled a tarp off a shopping cart which had weapons hidden in it.
Bad Bunny and Damian Priest put on an epic match at the show. The match even featured the return of Carlito and Savio Vega. In the final moments of the match, Bad Bunny used a steel chair on Priest and went on to hit the Canadian Destroyer to secure the pinfall victory.
Bad Bunny had a great experience but felt he was going to die following show. Read more below:
World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest made a surprise appearance after this week’s episode of SmackDown from Vystar Veterans Memorial in Jacksonville, FL went off air.
The Judgement Day star was there to compete in a dark match. He successfully defended his title in the bout against fellow Raw star Kofi Kingston.
These two weren’t the only Raw stars stopping by as the rest of the Judgement Day were also in the building and ready to compete.
Though unlike Priest, the duo of Finn Balor and JD McDonagh found themselves on the losing side when they challenged Awesome Truth for the tag team titles.
What Happened On SmackDown
Elsewhere on the show, the Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and the United States Champion Logan Paul made their match official for the upcoming King and Queen of The Ring PPV in Saudi Arabia.
The YouTube star, however, backed out of the originally agreed terms and decided that he didn’t want to defend his title against the American Nightmare after all.
Paul tore down the old contract and introduced a new draft made by his lawyer which was for Cody’s title only. After some back and forth, the former AEW star signed the new contract making the match between them official.
We also saw the King and Queen of The Ring tournament continuing on SmackDown. You can check out the results of the tournament matches contested on the show here.
The upcoming WWE Clash At The Castle: Scotland event will see one of the nation’s top Superstars compete in a World Title match, it has been reported.
Clash At The Castle: Scotland will be the promotion’s first Premium Live Event in the country. The show will take place from the OVO Hydro arena on June 15, with a WWE SmackDown taping scheduled to take place at the same venue the previous evening.
Given his standing as a main event and with this event being in Scotland, many are anticipating a huge role for Drew McIntyre at the event. That will be the case as McIntyre will challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship in his home country, Dave Meltzer reports.
While not confirmed on WWE TV just yet, seeds are already being planted for a showdown between McIntyre and World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest. On the May 13, episode of Raw, Priest and McIntyre came face-to-face in the ring. The segment ended with Priest promising McIntyre a title match. The pair did not specify when the match would take place.
McIntyre vs. Priest
Of course, any plans for McIntyre to compete rely on him being cleared to wrestle. An elbow injury suffered during WrestleMania 40 has kept the three-time World Champion out of action and also resulted in McIntyre being pulled from the ongoing King of the Ring tournament.
McIntyre Vs. Priest may indeed be the plan for Clash At The Castle: Scotland, but the World Heavyweight Champion isn’t the only person on Drew’s mind. Despite his torn triceps injury, CM Punk has continued his feud with Drew McIntyre and recently teased showing up to Glasgow (perhaps inside of a haggis) to confront McIntyre. Drew has responded by saying if Punk does show up to Clash At The Castle: Scotland, he won’t be leaving in one piece.
Things do not seem to be going Judgement Day’s way and it appears that after Rhea Ripley, Dominik Mysterio has also suffered an injury.
The former NXT North American Champion was expected to work the European Tour last week. Ricochet replaced him on the shows. The unannounced change concerned people.
The latest episode of Monday Night Raw from Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio further confirmed that Dirty Dom is not 100%. The Judgement Day star was announced to team with JD McDonagh on tonight’s episode of the Red Branded Show.
He appeared on the screen, however, wearing a sling on his left hand. Santos Escobar then replaced Dominik in the match against Ricochet and Andrade. The faces won the match when Andrade delivered The Message to McDonagh for the pin.
The opening segment of this week’s Raw then saw Damian Priest confronting his Backlash opponent Jey Uso. After a heated exchange between the two, JD McDonagh emerged out of nowhere and tried to blindside the former Bloodline member.
Priest appeared to have no knowledge of the attack. He ended up on the business end of a superkick when he was trying to stop McDonagh from going after Uso.
I'm sore. I'm tired. I'm pissed off.
And I think I've helped Judgment Day more than Judgment Day has helped me. https://t.co/1iUzwmcQP7
The World Heavyweight Champion made another appearance on the show after McDonagh’s tag team match. He told both JD and Dominik that he didn’t need either of them.
Elsewhere in the show, a backstage segment also teased a potential collaboration between Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan in the absence of the Mami.
With all the teases of tensions within the Judgement and the new alliance between Morgan and Dom, it won’t be a surprise if we see the group imploding sooner rather than later.
It will also depend on the health of Mysterio. Though considering that the company is keeping him on screen and teasing plans for him it doesn’t seem likely that he will miss a lot of ring time.
WrestleMania 40 featured appearances from several musical artists and bands, such as Lil Wayne, Coco Jones, The War and Treaty as well as metalcore band Motionless In White as they performed Rhea Ripley’s entrance theme, ‘Demon in Your Dreams'” ahead of her WWE Women’s World Championship match against Becky Lynch.
After seeing his Judgment Day stablemate played out to a live music performance on WWE’s grandest stage, Damian Priest is now envisioning one of his own.
Priest’s Dream WrestleMania Entrance
In a new interview with Metal Hammer, Priest was asked to identify the band he’d like to see introduce him at a future WrestleMania event. In response, Priest pointed toward another band in the metal music genre.
“The mighty Metallica! You know what I mean? Can you imagine Metallica playing me to the ring?” Priest said. “It’d be wild! Hey, maybe I’ve gotta talk to the boss man and be like, ‘Hey? What’s up with Metallica?’ That’d be a whole different dream scenario. I don’t even know if I’m ready for that.”
Growing up, Priest developed a strong affinity for the metal music genre, often listening to the likes of Anthrax, Slayer, In Flames, Soilwork, and the aforementioned Metallica.
Nowadays, Priest has expanded his playlist to include some bands recommended to him by Rhea Ripley, including Motionless In White and Ice Nine Kills.
James Hetfield, lead vocalist of Metallica, and Lars Ulrich, kickoff Metallica’s headline performance at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ (Sept. 1, 2023)
Priest’s Eventful WrestleMania 40
While he may not have received a special musical entrance this year, Priest’s WrestleMania 40 weekend still turned out to be quite eventful.
24 hours after he and Finn Balor lost the Undisputed WWE Tag Team titles in a six-pack ladder match, Priest (with the help of CM Punk) successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to claim the World Heavyweight title. This marked Priest’s first world championship in WWE and solidifies him as one the faces of WWE’s new era.
Looking ahead, Priest will now be tasked with defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Jey Uso at WWE Backlash, which emanates from Lyons, France on May 4.
Tonight’s 4/12 WWE SmackDown takes place from Detroit, Michigan at the sold-out Little Caesars Arena. Over 13,000 wrestling fans will be on hand to witness the fallout from WrestleMania 40 and the start of a new era on Friday nights.
Here’s what WWE is advertising for the show:
Cody Rhodes will appear
Bayley will celebrate her championship win at WrestleMania
Plus, a mini-tournament will also kick off tonight to determine the #1 contender to Cody Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. We’ll see two triple-threat matches, with the winners squaring off next week to determine the next challenger:
Kevin Owens vs. Rey Mysterio vs. AJ Styles
Santos Escobar vs. LA Knight vs. Bobby Lashley
This is expected to be an eventful show. WWE always shakes things up after WrestleMania with new storylines and feuds. The Bloodline is in utter turmoil following WrestleMania 40. Roman Reigns has been conquered, The Rock is leaving again and Paul Heyman needs to figure out what to do with himself with the Tribal Chief cast into exiled. Could we see a New Bloodline emerge?
Looking Ahead
WWE DRAFT: During the RAW after WrestleMania, it was confirmed that the next WWE Draft is going down this month. The WWE Draft will be taking place on April 26th for SmackDown and April 29th for RAW. So, we only have a limited time left with these current rosters.
BACKLASH: WWE Backlash: France takes place Saturday, May 4 from Lyon, France. Jey Uso won a #1 contender’s match on Raw to become the next challenger to new World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest. While not confirmed, this clash is expected for Backlash.
Damian Priest’s stunning victory at WrestleMania 40 solidifies The Judgment Day as one of the all-time great factions according to the World Heavyweight Champion.
“Winning the World Title means a lot of us. I mean, it solidifies our group. We have Rhea, the Women’s World Champion [and] me, the Men’s World Champion. I think if you look at the history of factions, where does that put the Judgment Day now?
“We’ve had Undisputed [Tag Team] Titles. We’ve had North American Titles. Now we have World Titles. I don’t see how we’re not in the conversation for one of the best factions of all time.”
WrestleMania 40 was also a big night for Rhea Ripley who retained her Women’s World Championship. The ‘Mami’ of the faction successfully defended the gold against Becky Lynch in the opening match of the two-night event.
The Judgment Day
Priest’s comments ring true given how many championships The Judgment Day has accumulated in its two-year run. The faction had a shaky start when launched by Edge in 2022 as fans struggled to boo the Rated-R Superstar following years of his forced retirement.
The group began to hit its stride when it ejected the WWE Hall of Famer in a segment that saw Finn Balor added to its ranks. The faction reached new heights at Clash at the Castle 2022 when Dominik Mysterio betrayed his father and joined. In addition to championships, The Judgment Day has been represented in the main event of shows such as WWE Survivor Series 2023 and WWE Elimination Chamber 2024.
For the use of quotes, please give an H/T to SE Scoops.
New WWE World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest is looking to expand his brand outside of professional wrestling by signing with the Paradigm talent agency.
Paradigm will work to build Priest’s business across books, acting, marketing, unscripted appearances, and more, Variety reports. Paradigm will look to find Priest work outside of the squared circle in what is expected to be a huge shift for him and a sign that big things are coming in the future of the Puerto Rican Superstar. Perhaps a future in music is in the cards for Priest, who provides the vocals for his new theme song that debuted on the post-WrestleMania 40 edition of Raw.
Priest is hardly the first Superstar to sign with a talent agency. In August 2022, Bianca Belair signed with William Morris Endeavor to build her brand outside of wrestling. WME also represents Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and John Cena.
This signing comes at a pivotal time for Priest, who captured the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 40. The Judgment Day member cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Drew McIntyre mere minutes after the Scottish Warrior dethroned Seth Rollins. Priest had held the Money in the Bank contract since capturing the briefcase in July 2023 and had failed to cash in multiple times.
What is the Paradigm Talent Agency?
Founded in Beverly Hills, CA, in 1992, Paradigm has more than 200 agents representing clients in various aspects of the media. The future looks bright for Priest as Paradigm is a four-time winner of Pollstar’s ‘Booking Agency of the Year’ award. Notable names represented by Pollstar include author Stephen King, actor Sydney Sweeney, director James Wan, and musician Billie Eilish.
On Monday’s post-WrestleMania WWE Raw, Jey Uso won a #1 contender’s match to become Priest’d first challenger. Priest and Uso both cut promos about each other backstage after the show. While hyping up their upcoming match (date and location TBA), Priest revealed he’s signed a new contract with WWE.
“This has already been a great year for me,” he said. “New contract, new title, new theme song voiced by yours truly. Judgment Day is on fire.”
Priest spent several years wrestling for Ring of Honor (as Punishment Martinez) before signing with WWE in 2018. He was a dominant force in NXT and held the North American Championship before making a surprise appearance in the 2021 WWE Royal Rumble. He joined the Raw brand the following night.
The Judgment Day leader has had great success on the main roster, including runs with the United States Championship, the SmackDown tag titles (2x) and of course, Money in the Bank 2023. The MITB cash-in was planned out months in advance.
I can confirm that Priest’s cash-in was not a last minute booking. WWE planned Damian Priest’s MITB cash-in at Mania for six months.
Jey Uso will be the first man to challenge Damian Priest for his new World Heavyweight championship, but the Judgment Day big man isn’t sweating it.
‘Main Event’ Jey won a four-way match on Monday’s WWE Raw to become #1 contender. He survived Bronson Reed, Ricochet, and Drew McIntyre to win the match. Uso scored the win with a little help from CM Punk. McIntyre was on the verge of victory, but Punk was a thorn in his side once again, ramping up the tension between these two yet another notch.
WWE has released backstage promos from both men after Raw went off the air. Each of them shows respect for the other, but are confident in their own chances. Uso says he’s been studying Priest for a long time. He respects his game and isn’t taking him lightly.
Priest says he’s impressed by what he’s seen from the former Bloodline member. He congratulated him on earning the title shot, but also dropped an ominous threat. Priest vows to to “beat the YEET” out of Uso when they share a ring.
“Jey Uso. Let me be the first to congratulate you on earning the first shot at my World Heavyweight Championship. But don’t get carried away with the celebration. Because when the match happens, I’m going to beat the YEET out of you.”
WWE has yet to announce when the match will take place. The next premium live event headed our way is WWE Backlash: France on Saturday, May 4.
Coming out of a very eventful WrestleMania 40, wrestling fans have two exciting rivalries to look forward to in Jey Uso vs. Damian Priest and Drew McIntyre vs. CM Punk.
WrestleMania is in the rearview mirror at this point, and we have a new World Heavyweight Champion in Damian Priest. This week’s RAW after WrestleMania 40 sorted out his next challenger.
Damian Priest needs a challenger, and Jey Uso won a match on the RAW after WrestleMania 40 to clinch that #1 contender spot.
WWE RAW After WrestleMania 40 Main Event
The main event of the RAW after WrestleMania 40 was a fatal four-way match to determine the #1 contender for Damian Priest World Heavyweight Championship. Drew McIntyre, Bronson Reed, Ricochet, and Jey Uso battled in this match.
This match ended in controversy, because just as Drew McIntyre was about to nail Jey Uso with a Claymore Kick, CM Punk appeared from under the ring to hold Drew’s foot to screw him up.
Jey Uso responded by getting the best of McIntyre, which included a top rope splash for the win. Now, Uso will get a shot at Damian Priest for the World Heavyweight Championship. The date of their upcoming match was not confirmed.
CM Punk was very happy about Jey Uso’s win, as he did the YEET hand movements after the match. Then again, Punk was also elated to get one over on Drew McIntyre by costing him the big win.
Uso had a big WrestleMania, where he defeated his twin brother, Jimmy Uso at WrestleMania Saturday. He was also a part of the main event on WrestleMania Sunday, where Cody Rhodes got to finish his story against Roman Reigns.
Drew McIntyre made it very clear that he wants the World Heavyweight Championship back. He had the title for just over five minutes at WrestleMania Sunday, but then CM Punk’s attack on him opened the door for Damian Priest’s successful Money in the Bank cash-in.
McIntyre was not happy about how things went down at Mania. He is also not a fan of the Money in the Bank concept, because it’s cost him two championships at this point. After all, The Miz cashed in his MITB contract on McIntyre in 2021 to win the title from him.
Damian Priest may be the new World Heavyweight Champion but the Archer of Infamy did not reach the pinnacle of WWE on his own.
Priest cashed in his Money in the Bank contract during WrestleMania 40: Sunday on Drew McIntyre, who had dethroned Rollins as World Heavyweight Champion moments earlier. Speaking on the post-WrestleMania 40: Sunday press conference, Priest spoke about being a representative of Puerto Rico and shared his first thoughts as the new champion.
“I think everybody by now knows how proud I am and how adamant I am about cultural representation. I didn’t do this alone. I think I had, not just an entire island behind me, I had a whole culture. And it’s one of the most proud things that I’ve accomplished is being able to represent and getting people to represent their cultures no matter where they’re from. So being now a representative of WWE with this championship, I couldn’t be prouder for my people. Gracias.”
What’s to Come?
During the press conference, Priest was asked about his place in WWE coming out of WrestleMania 40, which also saw Cody Rhodes crowned the new Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.
“Where we’re going, where we’re headed, I have no idea. This new era of the company, I mean everybody can feel it. Everybody can sense it. We’re on a rollercoaster.”
Cody Rhodes ended the 1,316-day reign of Roman Reigns as WWE Universal Champion in the main event of WrestleMania 40: Sunday. The match was contested under Bloodline Rules and saw plenty of interference on behalf of both the champion and the challenger.
For the use of quotes, please give an H/T to SE Scoops.
Damian Priest won the WWE Money in the Bank ladder match in 2023, and he held the briefcase proudly as Señor Money in the Bank. Now, Damian Priest is WWE World Heavyweight Champion after cashing in his MITB contract.
McIntyre got in CM Punk’s face, who was sitting at ringside on commentary. Then, Punk tripped McIntyre and assaulted him with his arm brace. Suddenly, Damian Priest’s music hit, and the leader of the Judgment Day stable came out to cash in.
The match got started in a hurry, and Damian Priest nailed his South of Heaven finisher for a quick win. It didn’t last very long, but the match was shorter than Drew McIntyre’s title reign.
Damian Priest and the rest of the Judgment Day stable celebrated on the entrance ramp to conclude the opening segment of WrestleMania Sunday. It was certainly an unexpected way to kick off the showcase of the immortals’ second night.
Judgment Day just lost the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Titles during WrestleMania Saturday. The company split the titles up in the process, as Awesome Truth won the RAW Tag Team Titles and A-Town Down Under picked up the blue brand belts.
Drew McIntyre said he would quit WWE if he couldn’t beat Rollins at WrestleMania. Since he defeated the Visionary on the grandest stage of them all, he doesn’t have to quit, but he might not be around WWE much longer if he doesn’t ink a new deal.
It was reported at the end of March that McIntyre has given the impression to those close to him that he still has no new deal arranged with WWE. This fact comes in light of the fact that WWE has booked him in an incredibly strong role on the road to WrestleMania 40.
McIntyre keeps throwing shade at CM Punk, whose injury time is not expected to be up before Drew’s contract ends. WWE has also advertised McIntyre for some dates past his expiration date.
The Rock’s assault on Cody Rhodes did not go unnoticed by the American Nightmare’s family, who are looking for revenge on the ‘Final Boss’ of WWE.
The March 25, episode of WWE Monday Night Raw saw a surprise appearance by the Brahma Bull in Chicago, Illinois. In the closing moments of the show, The Rock delivered a vicious beatdown on Cody that left the popular Superstar a bloody mess.
The Rhodes Family Responds
Immediately after WWE Raw went off the air, the Rhodes family had some choice words for The Rock. In a tweet, Dustin Rhodes didn’t mention the Great One by name but made his views abundantly clear.
Brandi Rhode suggested that The Rock could be the victim of an assault himself after this week’s Raw and said he should keep security tight at WrestleMania 40.
He better keep his security detail tight at Mania. That's all.
Teil Rhodes, the sister of Cody, made clear that The Rock had made a grave error with his bloody beatdown on the 2023 & 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble winner.
the Rhodes are the blood and bones of American pro wrestling. Rock just made his worst mistake
The assault was also noticed by those within wrestling outside of the Rhodes family. On Twitter, Alexa Bliss shared her reaction to the attack via an emoji.
The Rock will be on next week’s episode of Monday Night Raw from Brooklyn, in what’ll be the go-home show before WrestleMania 40.
At WrestleMania 40: Saturday, Rhodes and Rock will be opposing teams, as they’ll team with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns respectively. The match will determine the stipulation for the following night’s Undisputed WWE Universal Title match between Rhodes and Reigns.
No matter if it’s ‘Bloodline Rules’ or if the Bloodline is banned, this will be Cody’s final shot at the Tribal Chief, an edict made by The Rock as a TKO board member.
Dominik Mysterio is known for getting a negative reaction from the WWE fan base whenever he has the microphone. He recently celebrated his wedding day, and he received a similar reaction during his own reception.
Video surfaced of Dominik Mysterio getting booed at his wedding. Little did anyone realize, but it was Damian Priest who had a big hand in getting that reaction from the crowd.
Damian Priest Tells All
While speaking to Steve Fall, Damian Priest opened up a bit about Dominik Mysterio’s wedding. He was there, along with other people from the pro wrestling world, to help Dirty Dom celebrate his big day.
Priest also knew that Dominik Mysterio felt more at home in a sea of boos, which he graciously facilitated for Mysterio’s wedding reception.
“It was beautiful, man. I was honored to be a part of the wedding, to just attend the wedding and we had such a good time. Then obviously, you know, busting his chops and there was a moment when they did say he’s gonna say a few words. I remember I just turned to my table and I was like, ‘We got to do it. We’re doing it. right’, and I just turned back around and I did it. Then my table followed in and I was like, Okay, that was nice. Then he went to speak again and the entire wedding party, like, everybody did it, and then I really laughed and he just gave me a look. That was a good one. But man, the whole thing was, what a good day for him and his wife. So that was a special night. Like I said, I was just honored to be there.”
What’s Next For Judgment Day
The Judgment Day are still Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions, and they are looking strong on the road to WrestleMania. Only time will tell if they will carry those titles out of the show of shows, but they are certainly making the most of things at this point.
Dominik Mysterio hasn’t brought his recent wedding up in the storyline, because it wouldn’t fit his heel persona. After all, he got booed at his wedding already.
SEScoops will have more on this story if there are any updates. Keep checking back for more of the headlines you need.
Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley may have an on-air partnership for WWE television, but their actual friendship holds no boundaries as “Mami” made certain Dirty Dom’s wedding was complete.
Mysterio happened to marry his high school sweetheart Marie Juliette this week in a private ceremony, but some familiar faces were certainly on hand including Damian Priest who was a groomsman and the WWE Women’s World Champion, Rhea Ripley. Mysterio even got a heel’s welcome at his own wedding as he was showered with boos from his loved ones.
Following the wedding, Ripley took to X to share some special photos of herself with Damian and the happy groom Dominik, congratulating him and his new wife.
“What an amazing love-filled day! Congratulations Dom Mysterio & Marie!”
Mysterio’s week sure finished in a great way, but didn’t start off swell in the ring as he went up against Gunther on WWE Raw and was left defeated by the WWE Intercontinental Champion.
Now six competitors will battle in a gauntlet match next week on Raw to face Gunther at WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia. The six stars are Sami Zayn, Bronson Reed, Chad Gable, Shinsuke Nakamura, Ricochet and Dirty Dom’s Judgment Day ally, JD McDonagh.
From a storyline standpoint, Zayn and Gable have made the most compelling cases to compete against Gunther. Zayn has promised himself future championship gold while Gable seeks retribution for Gunther making his daughter cry.
Rhea Ripley already has her opponent lined up for WrestleMania as she’ll be battling Becky Lynch, but it still remains to be seen what Philadelphia holds for the newly-wedded Mysterio.
The clock is ticking for Damian Priest to use his Money In The Bank opportunity. He won the briefcase last year and has teased cashing in on WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins several times but has been unsuccessful. However, with ‘The Visionary’ dealing with a torn MCL and meniscus, fans question why ‘Señor Money In The Bank’ hasn’t tried to take the title from him again.
In an interview with The West Australian’s Craig O’Donoghue, Priest finally gave fans a reason for why he hasn’t cashed in on the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. When asked why he hasn’t challenged Rollins since the injury, he explained that it’s because ‘The Visionary’ isn’t medically cleared.
“…I’m based on Raw, and being that Seth Rollins is the champion, unfortunately, he’s not medically cleared, so I can’t cash in right now because, officially, he can’t be in a match,” said Priest.
Priest’s explanation is interesting, as past champions have been cashed in on when they weren’t in storyline ready to compete. However, Rollins’s injury could add an unprecedented rule for future Money In The Bank winners to not challenge champions who aren’t medically cleared to compete.
When Will Damian Priest Cash In His Money In The Bank Opportunity?
Priest seems convinced he will cash in on Rollins when the opportunity presents itself. In the interview, ‘Señor Money In The Bank’ shared that he could go after WWE Champion Roman Reigns if Priest was on the Friday Night Smackdown roster. However, he is running out of time to challenge for a title.
At WWE Money In The Bank on July 6, Priest would lose his rights to use his contract. The opportunity would go to the 2024 Money In the Bank winner, which would be determined at the event. If Rollins can’t compete until WWE WrestleMania 40, it would mean that Priest would have to wait potentially another two months.
A potential cash-in against Rollins at WWE WrestleMania 40, in storyline, could also be interesting as the champion has famously done it himself. Regardless, Priest is confident he’ll become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion in 2024.
WWE has many traditions, and their Money in the Bank gimmick is one long-standing idea that hasn’t gone away. If anything, when someone like Damien Priest holds the guaranteed contract for a title match, you never know what can happen.
Damian Priest Talks Cashing In Money in the Bank Contract
During last year’s Money In The Bank event, Damian Priest emerged victorious, claiming the Señor Money In The Bank title. Despite holding the contract, he has refrained from cashing it in.
Priest has recently hinted at the prospect of cashing in at WrestleMania 40. Since winning the briefcase, speculation has been rife regarding the timing of Priest’s cash-in. With more than seven months elapsed since his victory, significant developments have unfolded on WWE RAW, but he is still carrying his briefcase alongside Judgment Day.
While speaking on Sony Liv’s WWE Super Dhamaal, Damian Priest opened up about the possibilities ahead of him right now. He could cash in his Money in the Bank contract at any time, and there are some interesting options.
At this point, Priest seems very excited about the possibility of ruining someone’s night with that cash-in.
“Umm, yeah, like I said, there’s no rush, but knowing what’s coming up, WrestleMania, you got Cody, who knows what champion he’s going to face. You have [The] Rock getting involved. Obviously, Roman’s gonna be there, [and] Seth coming in as World [Heavyweight] Champion. He should be cleared by then. I could ruin a lot of people’s days. So it’s an exciting time. I don’t know exactly when or exactly who, but the options are very good.”
What’s Next
WWE has not let a Money in the Bank holder carry their briefcase until the next year’s event yet. They are certainly getting closer to that happening this time around, but Priest seems excited to cash in.
Cody and The Rock shared an embrace during SmackDown, in what many have seen as confirmation that Rock will face Reigns at WrestleMania instead of Rhodes. Many online have disagreed with the idea, given Rhodes’ heartbreaking loss to Reigns last year and how his story has always been about winning the WWE Championship (now part of the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship) that his father never captured.
On Twitter, Brandi Rhodes referred to her husband as a quarterback, indicating that he is a reliable hand that WWE can count on.
Danielle Moinet, better known to WWE fans as Summer Rae, was far from pleased, stating that after two years of build, this twist doesn’t make sense.
Imagine handing over your Wrestlemania match that you beat 29 other ppl for…AFTER a two year build
I’m all for twists & turns but make it make sense! Gosh I hope we are ALL wrong. I hope it all makes sense next Fri in a Rock Roman promo, that is if either of them show up to tv
Echoing Cody’s comment about taking everything from Reigns, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful said that this storyline is doing much more harm to the American Nightmare.
Wrestling factions can go through a lot of changes in their lifetimes. Groups and and remove members, often violently.
WWE Hall of Famer Edge (Adam Copeland) and Damian Priest launched The Judgment Day as a duo, but it did not stay like that for long. Today’s incarnation is one of the most dominant forces in WWE, but the group looks quite different from what Copeland originally had in mind.
Judgment Day grew to be one of the biggest draws in WWE. With Finn Balor, Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley, JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio, the group is featured heavily on WWE television. Although they never took a turn into the supernatural realm as was originally rumored for the stable, they certainly took on a new life of their own.
While speaking to Sam Roberts on the Not Sam Wrestling podcast, Copeland spoke about the original concept for the Judgment Day.
Original Plan For WWE’s Judgment Day Stable
The Rated R Superstar says the Judgment Day came about when he was approached about starting up a ‘New Brood,’ the Attitude Era’s gothic trio of Edge, Christian and Gangrel. The Brood helped put Edge and Christian on the map when they first arrived on the scene in WWE, so maybe Copeland could do something similar for one of WWE’s rising stars.
“Well, you know, with the initial inception of the Judgement Day, I really I wanted it to be these underutilized talents that I thought could be far more than what they were being utilized 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]”
Edge was kicked out of Judgment Day when Finn Balor made his way to the stable. After that, the Rated R Superstar and his former stable went their separate ways.
As Judgment Day remains a stable on WWE programming, they still have Edge to thank. They might not publicly thank the man who helped start the faction, because he is with AEW now, but they know where the genesis of that sable came from.
The Judgment Day stands as one of WWE’s best factions, as they took over in 2023. Judgment Day also added JD McDonagh to their ranks in recent memory. However, a recent glitch occurred when a member of the faction faced a big logistical problem while trying to attend the December 29th WWE house show.
Judgment Day Member’s Issue in Canada
During the December 29th WWE house show at the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Judgment Day’s dynamic was on display. Rhea Ripley, Finn Balor, and Damian Priest actively participated in the event, while Dominik Mysterio provided corner support for Ripley.
However, JD McDonagh was notably absent from the scene. Finn Balor took to Twitter, sharing an image of The Judgment Day backstage in Canada. In the accompanying caption, he revealed McDonagh’s absence, attributing it to paperwork troubles that prevented him from joining the Canadian event.
”The only reason JD ain’t here is cos he didn’t have paperwork to travel to Canada.. the lucky SOB! @ArcherOfInfamy @RheaRipley_WWE @DomMysterio35 @jd_mcdonagh #wwetoronto”
The incident shed light on the logistical challenges faced by WWE Superstars, showcasing the intricate details behind their appearances. We can only hope that they straighten this out, so JD McDonagh doesn’t have to miss any more events outside the United States.
Judgment Day is known for their family vibe, and this new video drop from WWE shows that in full HD. The WWE stable recently had a Secret Santa gift exchange between each other, and it created a great Christmastime video.
During the festive season of gift-giving, the Judgment Day crew decided to participate in a Secret Santa gift exchange, and WWE’s cameras captured the heartwarming moments. Each of them actually put thought into their gifts, so this wasn’t a kayfabe segment meant for an angle.
Judgment Day’s Secret Santa Gifts Revealed
Finn Balor drew Rhea Ripley’s name, and he got her a Stranger Things bag, a book about women with tattoos and a beanie with “Mami” on it. Rhea Ripley got Damian Priest as her Secret Santa and gave him some Australian candy and a boomerang that she must have brought back from her recent trip Down Under.
Dominik Mysterio shared the holiday spirit by giving Finn Balor a Louis Vuitton hat. The moment that Louis Vuitton logo was seen, it captured attention, making all of us think about Dirty Dominik’s new WWE contract.
JD McDonagh drew Dominik Mysterio’s name, and he gave him some custom gold pens, with his name inscribed on them. He received some heckling over the gift, after trying to blame Finn Balor for the gift idea. Balor then revealed that he told JD to get Dominik a Rolex watch, but he’s too cheap.
To complete the gift exchange, Damian Priest gave JD McDonagh a very thoughtful present. He explained that every member of the Judgment Day was given a steel bracelet, a symbolic gesture meaning that they are officially in the stable. Now, JD has one, too.
Some fans may forget that Judgment Day was originally just Edge and Damian Priest, meaning Priest is the only OG member of the stable. That gift of a steel bracelet obviously meant a lot to JD McDonagh.
What’s Next For Judgment Day In WWE
Judgment Day is getting a little break from the road, along with the rest of the WWE roster. There is little rest for them, though, because Dominik Mysterio is booked to wrestle CM Punk in Madison Square Garden on December 26th. Odds are, he will have his Judgment Day family with him at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
