Edge's mic work in WWE since starting Judgement Day has not positioned the stable to succeed. The Rated R Superstar turned heel on AJ Styles ahead of their match at WrestleMania 38, showing a dastardly side of himself that audiences hadn't seen since he returned during the Royal Rumble in 2020. In fact, it's been more than 10 years since fans heard Edge cut a heel promo.
Judgement Day has roots in The Brood, the faction Edge performed with in 1998. They are mostly remembered for their entrance, which saw the trio—which also featured Christian and Gangrel—elevatored up through a ring of fire on the stage. Their entrance theme is well remembered too. Darkness tied them together, though, and the same can be said for Judgement Day. Or at least that's what Edge seems to be trying to convey whenever he is given the opportunity to speak on Monday Night Raw.
His promos have been woefully delivered to this point, however. When he was by himself and confronting Styles, all the talk of judgment day (before that was the name of his stable), was eye-roll inducing, sure. Edge has taken things to a different, lower level in recent weeks, however. Instead of leaning into the dark nature of what the group is supposed to be all about, the veteran has taken to snatching at all the low-hanging cheap heat fruit he can find. Imagine the Undertaker standing in the middle of the ring during the height of the Ministry of Darkness and telling fans that he was committing evil deeds because of comments left on social media and then calling them ugly and stupid. New wrestlers down at the performance center in NXT are cutting stronger promos during their educational classes than this.
Yet that is how Edge is trying to make Judgement Day work—by acting as a diet version of MJF who isn't allowed to truly go off because of the fact that he's in WWE. The crowd at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut could be heard laughing on the most recent Raw broadcast when Edge referred to Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley as his "Saints of Fate." What makes it worse is that audiences know Edge is capable of doing so much more with the stick in his hand. He's revered as one of Monday Night Raw's all-time great villains and has taken turns on television because of his strong acting chops.
No matter how it's sliced, Edge delivering the motivations for Judgement Day fell largely flat, digging the trio into a creative hole before they even had a chance to get going. They could turn it around as Hell In a Cell approaches, but the tone of Edge's promos has been consistent on Raw for several weeks now. It appears that he'll continue to be a poorly written condescending heel while trying to get lesser established talents in Priest and Ripley over. WWE fans have to be hoping that Judgement Day will improve over time because the mic work can't get much worse than it has been.
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