The so-called Women’s Revolution and rise of the Four Horsewomen shifted the perception of women in WWE. In the years to follow, Judgment Day has emerged as a power in cultivating new top-level stars for the division. While stars like Bianca Belair and Tiffany Stratton have risen to prominence without links to the faction, the group has nonetheless done a service to core female members and their archrivals alike over the last four years.
In particular, Judgment Day has pushed Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan to new heights. Looking ahead, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez look primed to be major beneficiaries as well.
Rhea Ripley Blazed The Trail
Rhea Ripley has been earmarked for stardom since her run with NXT UK, where she was the brand’s inaugural women’s champion, before continuing her success in the US-based NXT. On the main roster, however, Ripley suffered a similar fate to many callups of struggling find a sense of direction or maintain momentum.
Judgment Day changed that narrative. First, she got some extra buzz by holding her own against male talents when she interfered in matches. Then she was a key figure in Dominik Mysterio’s heel turn. From there, she was arguably already the top female star in the company by the time she won the Royal Rumble and went on to take the title off Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania.
For everything Judgment Day did for Rhea Ripley in her time with the group, it was also important to the aftermath as Ripley feuded with Liv Morgan and the larger faction.
Even in the modern era, when women’s wrestling has been better featured in WWE, the division has mostly revolved around titles with few angles for anyone to sink their teeth into otherwise. Being betrayed by her running buddies gave The Eradicator a meaningful storyline in its own right. While the feud arguably ran too long, it was still a vital piece of WWE storytelling that kept Ripley in the spotlight for months to follow.
Dominik Mysterio’s Unlikely Role In Elevating Female Talent
Dominik Mysterio is a singular talent on the modern WWE landscape. Ever since turning heel, he’s been that rare heat magnet for whom staying over has nothing to do with wins or losses. Despite improving a great deal in the ring, fans, indeed, expect him to lose whenever he gets battles formidable competition, or else to cheat with gusto to steal a win.
This set of factors has made him uniquely suited to boost the women’s division. His dynamic with Rhea Ripley positioned her as Chyna-like heater who was physically credible against anyone. That included Ripley ultimately beating him up after their split.
From there, Mysterio’s pairing with Liv Morgan offered a new dimension as they were dastardly heels who screwed The Eradicator. The new dynamic positioned Dirty Dom less like early-DX Triple H, and more like Rated R Superstar Edge alongside femme fatale Lita, only with the female talent getting pushed just as harder—arguably harder—in the ring at the same time.
Closing in on two years since joining Judgment Day, Morgan is still thriving and has arguably graduated to the role of faction leader as a reigning world champion and with Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez largely cast as her sidekicks.
Roxanne Perez And Raquel Rodriguez Have Bright Futures
Pairing Raquel Rodriguez with Liv Morgan in Judgment Day made perfect sense. The two had a history of teaming up on screen already. Moreover, their partnership within the faction gave Morgan a big heater to help her heel act while offering Rodriguez a well-defined role and a natural spot to be mentored by more experienced members of the stable behind the scenes.
Roxanne Perez joining the team was a bigger surprise, but after a decorated run in NXT, becoming Judgment Day’s newest member gave her an immediate purpose on the main roster.
There was immediate intrigue between her and Liv Morgan, who was injured when Perez arrived and seemed like a Finn Balor ally against her. Since then, Perez has mostly fallen in line with Morgan. That’s for the best in not rushing a feud, but rather letting Perez sit under the faction’s learning tree and grow more familiar to fans before an eventual split.
The best news for Rodriguez and Perez may be the variety of permutations for how their future might play out. Either one could work a babyface turn angle, feuding against Morgan and whoever stays by her side. Then the other might follow.
On the flip side, Morgan might be the next in a long line of Judgment Day members to find herself ousted. A babyface turn could freshen up her act (not necessary yet, but it certainly could be in the future), while Perez or Rodriguez could graduate to the top women’s spot in the stable.
In yet another possibility, a Judgment Day civil war could break out, say with Perez and JD McDonough facing off against Morgan and Dominik Mysterio and the intrigue of Rodriguez having to pick a side.
Judgment Day has already long outlasted most WWE factions and, indeed, far exceeded the middling expectations most fans had for them early on, and especially after they betrayed Edge. There’s no telling where things will go from here. The group is quite arguably the best male-and-female integrated stable in wrestling history, though, and their story isn’t over yet.