After spending the better part of a week hyping up The Judgment Day‘s journey down to NXT to settle their business with Trick Williams and the NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes, the dynamic quartet of Finn Balor, Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley, and “Dirty” Dominik emerged from the tunnel in the opening segment of NXT and explained to the WWE Universe why they opted to take their talents back to developmental in the first place.

“NXT, Daddy's home,” Finn Balor declared as the fans in Orlando cheered on. “Because this is the house that I built, and I'm back to lay down some house rules with The Judgment Day, Senor Money in the Bank, Damian Priest, the Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley, and everyone's favorite ‘Dirty' Dominik Mysterio.”

“With that being said, NXT Universe, all rise for The Judgment Day!” Damian Priest demanded. “Now let's get down to business, Melo and Trick, you guys called us out here because you thought you were getting a divided Judgment Day. No, you're getting The Judgment Day that runs the WWE; you're getting The Judgment Day that runs NXT! This, right here, is the murder's row of WWE.”

Before “Dirty” Dom could cut in, the fans in Orlando were blessed with a reprieve from their NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes and his partner in crime, Trick Williams, who marched out to the ring to save the broadcast from being drowned out by boos. But what would they have to say? Fortunately, fans didn't have to wait long to find out, as Melo and Trick didn't simply come out to witness what The Judgment Day had to say but instead opted to get in the ring to exchange some fighting words.

Carmelo Hayes vowed to protect his home from The Judgment Day.

Walking to the ring to the cheers of the WWE Universe, Rheap Ripley took issue with the duo seemingly taking attention away from her Dom Dom and demanded them to stop.

“Oh h*ll no, no, no, no, no, no, you guys did not just interrupt “Dirty” Dom. Absolutely not!” Ripley said.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, ‘Dirty' Dom? I wonder why it is they call him ‘Dirty' Dom? Maybe it's because of all the time he dropped the so-” Carmelo Hayes almost said before stopping himself. “But for real now, I appreciate you all coming, but Finn, this is about you, man. I must say, when they mention NXT Mount Rushmore, you're at the top of everybodys and rightfully so, but if you look around at NXT now, it's got Trick Melo influence all over it, baby. But listen, everybody wants to have an opinion about you getting the better of me on Monday Night RAW, and that's cool, that's cool, but you've got to understand something now, B; you're in my arena. You're trying to ball on my court.”

“Nah man, this is pure arrogance,” Ripley declared. “This was never about the two of you.”

“Oh, it's not? Well, how about y'all check the stats because in this building, Trick Melo Gang runs things!” Hayes noted.

After watching Priest and Trick go back and forth, measuring each other's hearts, among other things, in a certified you-know-what contest, Hayes attempted to lay out a challenge to his opponents, but Balor stopped him, making sure he knew exactly what he was getting into.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Melo, if you come at the ‘Prince' you'd best not miss,” Balor reminded his younger foil.

“Well, let's do this then,” Hayes said, making the main event of the match official.

Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams came up short on their home turf.

After biding their time over the next hour and a half of the show, give or take, with Mysterio getting into just a little bit of extra trouble by challenging Wes Lee to a match for the North American Championship on NXT next week – keeping the clear push for better NXT ratings going heading into week four now – The Judgment Day got into the ring with Trick Melo Gang in the main event of the NXT show, and the results were, honestly, pretty much what fans would have expected.

Working at an experience disadvantage that the match was clearly planned around, Hayes and Williams found ways to get themselves over with the WWE Universe at every turn, showing new fans why they are future main roster players in the making and keeping the NXT audience firmly on their side despite the rare treat of main event stars making their way down to Orlando for a match.

Working two-on-one after Williams was effectively iced out of the contest after taking a Razor's Edge through the announce table, The Judgment Day pulled off their typical heel maneuvers, with Mysterio attempting to interfere with the match with a steel chair as Ripley gave Priest his Money in the Bank briefcase to ice “Him” out. Fortunately, Hayes found an unlikely ally in Ilja Dragunov, who took the case but was ultimately laid out via an accidental takedown by Hayes, leading to a South of Heaven from Priest and the Coup de Grace from Balor for the 1-2-3.

Was it the right call to have Hayes lose a second match to The Judgment Day, with Balor now having pinned the “A-Champ” twice in the span of about a month? That depends on what WWE has planned for his character moving forward – Trick could have probably eaten the pin this time around without issue – but if the goal was to set up a match with Dragunov at The Great American Bash, then mission accomplished.