Judgment Day was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the WWE. It was created in October 1998 as an In Your House event in October. It was replaced in 1999 by Over the Edge, but was brought back in 2000, rebranded as an annual PPV event. During the brand extension, Judgment Day was exclusive for SmackDown. Following WrestleMania 23, brand-exclusive events were discontinued, and Judgment Day remained in 2007 through 2009. It was replaced by Over the Limit in 2010.
Not to be confused with The Judgment Day, a WWE Power Stable formed in 2022.
This event contains examples of:
- Blood Is the New Black: Eddie Guerrero at '04 after he'd been cut open; Eddie's literal crimson mask redefined the Muta Scale. His opponent John "Bradshaw" Layfield said, "I've been in car wrecks that were less painful than that match!"
- Broken Win/Loss Streak: Eddie Guerrero was undefeated in this event until 2004.
- Call-Back: In '05, there is one moment where JBL takes out a chair from the announce table and bashed Cena's face with it, busting him wide open. This was something similar to what happened at last year's event with Eddie Guererro.
- Chekhov's Gun: In the "I Quit" match in 2005, Cena made his entrance in a semi truck. He later attempted to hit JBL with an exhaust pipe, which came from the semi truck. This made JBL utter "I quit".
- Covers Always Lie: Sting's crow is featured in the poster for the 2006 event. Suffice to say, he was not on the card (and didn't debut in WWE until eight and a half years later).
- Crossover: The 2006 event also held the King of the Ring finals, featuring Booker T and Bobby Lashley. The former won.
- Dawn of an Era: The 2002 event is the very first PPV by the company under the WWE name note .
- Disqualification-Induced Victory:
- 2000: This is how Triple H got the last fall from The Rock in the 60-minute Iron Man match due to a returning Undertaker attacking him.
- 2003: During his World Heavyweight Championship defense against Kevin Nash, Triple H got himself disqualified by attacking the referee with his sledgehammer.
- 2004: Then-WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero got himself disqualified by hitting John "Bradshaw" Layfield with the title belt, and then proceeded to give him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- 2005: Eddie Guererro pulled this off again, this time in a match against Rey Mysterio by brutally attacking him with a steel chair.
- Double Knockout: In '98, this happened in the main event between The Undertaker and Kane with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as the guest referee. After Taker knocked out Kane with a chair, Austin stuns him and knocks him out with it, and counts a double pinfall three count, declaring himself as the winner.
- Handicapped Badass: In 2006, despite having injured ribs in a match against Mark Henry, Kurt Angle was the only one who was ultimately able to walk out of the place under his own power.
- History Repeats:
- John Cena and JBL have fought in this event twice, the first in 2005 and then in 2008.
- JBL has entered the event as the No. 1 contender for the World Title from 2004-2006. He failed to win it in all attempts.
- For the second time in his career, The Undertaker defeated Hulk Hogan for the WWE World Title in the 2002 main event. Taker won his very first title by defeating Hogan during the 1991 Survivor Series.
- Invincible Hero: John Cena, Rey Mysterio, Mickie James, and Brock Lesnar are the only superstars to be undefeated at this event in its entire run.
- Irony: As mentioned above, Cena and JBL fought in the main event in 2005 for the WWE Championship. Fast forward to 2008, they faced each other in the first match of the card.
- Loophole Abuse: In the stretcher match in 2003, Brock Lesnar used a forklift to lift up The Big Show, who was lying on a stretcher board, and crossed the line to win the match.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Undertaker attempted a Big Damn Heroes moment in the 2000 event to save The Rock from being screwed by the McMahon-Helmsley faction. His efforts cost The Rock the match and the WWF Title.
- Series Mascot: The Undertaker is the face of this event, appearing in most of its posters with three (1999, 2002, and 2004), followed by both Kane and Triple H with two (2000 and 2007 for the former, 2001 and 2008 for the latter).
- Three Round Deathmatch:
- In the 2001 event, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit battled in a Three Stages of Hell match for Angle's Olympic gold medal - the first is a "pinfalls only match", the second is a "submissions only match", and the third a ladder match.
- In the 2007 event, MVP defended the U.S. Title against Chris Benoit in a two out of three falls match, beating him in two consecutive falls.
- Traumatic Haircut: Averted. It almost happened at Judgment Day 2002. Edge was in a Hair vs Hair match against Kurt Angle and won - but Kurt attacked him from behind and tried to cut his hair. Edge got the upper hand and shaved Kurt's head bald. In the weeks leading up to the match, this did happen to him though Kurt only cut a couple of small chunks.
