After securing a major mixed-gender tag team victory over Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley at the 2023 WWE Elimination Chamber, Edge was riding high. Sure, he then competed in an unsuccessful challenge for the United States Championship against Austin Theory in Ottawa a few days later, but even after that, Edge's burning desire to kill his Judgement Day creation Dr. Frankenstein-style remains, to the point where he challenged Balor, his Extreme Rules opponent, to a singles match at WrestleMania 39.
Sitting down for an interview with Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick on After The Bell, Edge was asked about The Judgement Day and let it be known that he's actually proud of everything the faction has accomplished over the past year.
“It’s been a year now since we first conceptualized the idea of The Judgement Day,” Edge said via TJR Wrestling. “It was over a year ago now. It really started at WrestleMania the night that Priest and I first joined together and that became the initial nucleus of what this thing was, but then it turned into something entirely different and better, honestly.
“Where it’s at now was the goal that I had in mind. I really thought the concept of Judgment Day, the idea behind it was, here’s these really talented individuals who I truly felt weren’t getting the opportunity that they deserved, and if they got that opportunity, that they could fly with it, they could run with it, whatever analogy you want to use.
“I had been watching them all since NXT and kind of kept tabs on them and kept my eye on them all these years. So when I was asked about starting a group and was asked who would be in it, the first names I said were Priest, Ripley, Balor. It changed and morphed and went through a lot of different permutations.”
In Kayfabe, Edge should want nothing more than for The Judgement Day to fail, as they've been his biggest foils over the past year, but it's nice to know that when the curtain gets peeled back, he's happy for all of the accomplishments that faction has earned largely without his hand on the wheel, as it effectively accomplished the faction's original goal.
Edge is all about helping the next generation of WWE Superstars.
Elsewhere in his interview with Graves and Patrick, Edge discussed his newfound love for helping young performers within the WWE Universe get where they need to be while serving as a bit of a locker room sounding board.
“This is my first love, always has been, always will be. I love acting, not as much as I love being a wrestler and performing for WWE,” Edge said. “For whatever reason, you can't really explain it. It's just there and you're hooked. After nine years, to get it back. I had a list of guys that I was like, ‘I would love to work with some of these people, and if I can help some people along the way,' to push the future forward. I've been able to check off a lot of those names on the list, and a lot of those names don't need my help, but if they can pick up something, great.
“More than anything, I feel the mentorship in the locker room. The locker room knows that I am a safe guy to go to, to pick my brain. I'm not sequestered to my own locker room. I change with everybody else. I put myself out there to say, ‘if you're thinking of something, just come ask me.' Whether you want to try it after you ask, that's up to you. Sitting there the other day with Carmelo (Hayes) and (Mustafa) Ali, we sat and talked for an hour and they just picked my brain. I loved it. It was so much fun and so nice, to see these guys at that stage of their careers. I remember being at that stage and being oblivious as to what to do. How do I make this work here? I could wrestle and do moves, but that's not going to cut it. What is it that I need to do? The environment was a little different then. The locker room was a bunch of great whites. It forced you to figure it out, but I feel like, why not try to give some helping hands?”
For young stars like Hayes and Ali, who have yet to become stalwarts on the main roster, getting a chance to pick Edge's brain has to be one of the cooler opportunities in professional wrestling. Much like with his run in The Judgement Day and even after his eventual exit from the group, it's clear bringing up the next generation is priority number one for the “Rated-R Superstar.”
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