WWE Judgment Day

History

Judgment Day was a pay-per-view (PPV) event consisting of a main event and undercard that featured championship matches and other various matches. The first Judgment Day was originally produced as an In Your House event for World Wrestling Federation (WWF), the former name of WWE. The In Your House event was titled Judgment Day: In Your House. It took place on October 18, 1998 and aired live on PPV. In 1999 Judgment Day was replaced by Over the Edge, which saw the death of Owen Hart. In 2000 Judgment Day was brought back and rebranded as an annual PPV event – production of In Your House events ceased.

In 2002 a court order led to WWF changing its name to WWE. Later that year, WWE held a draft that split its roster into two distinctive brands of wrestling, Raw and SmackDown., and ECW in 2006. Before the draft, matches featured wrestlers from the roster without any limitations; after the draft, matches only consisted of wrestlers from their distinctive brands. The first Judgment Day event to be produced under the WWE banner and with roster limitations was Judgment Day (2003), which took place on May 18, 2003. The following year, WWE announced that PPV events, excluding WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble, would be made exclusive to each brand; Judgment Day was made exclusive to the Smackdown! brand. After three years of being produced as a brand exclusive event, Judgment Day (2006) was the final Judgment Day event that was brand exclusive, as WWE announced that PPV events from then on would feature all three brands of WWE.

Each Judgment Day event has been held in an indoor arena, with all eleven events taking place in the United States.

1998

The inaugural event was held on October 18, 1998 at the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois. Nine professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the card as well as four matches on Sunday Night Heat before the show aired live, also known as dark matches. The event had an attendance of 18,153. The main event scheduled on the card was a Singles match for the vacant WWF Championship with a special guest referee featuring The Undertaker and Kane with the guest referee, Steve Austin. The match ended in a no contest after Austin pinned both wrestlers and ignored his orders to "raise either the Undertaker or Kane's hand." Austin was fired for the violation, but was quickly reinstated the following day on Monday Night Raw.

In addition to the main event, the undercard featured a singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship between reigning champion Ken Shamrock and Mankind. Shamrock defeated Mankind and retained the championship. The other primary match on the undercard was a Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship. The match featured The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) defeating The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) by disqualification.

2000

The second Judgment Day event was held on May 21, 2000 at the Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. Six professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the card. The event had an attendance of 16,827 and grossed US$596,050 through ticket sales and pay-per-view buys. The main event scheduled on the card was an Iron Man match featuring Triple H defeating The Rock, with Shawn Michaels as special guest referee, for the WWF Championship. Triple H won the match and the championship.

Other matches on the event card included a Double Tables match featuring D-Generation X (Road Dogg and X-Pac) defeating The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von). The other featured match on the card was a Submission match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship between reigning champion Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. Benoit won the match and retained the championship.

2001

2001's Judgment Day was the third event under the Judgment Day chronology and was held on May 20, 2001 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California. Seven professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the card with two dark matches taking place before the event began airing live. The event had an attendance of 13,623 and grossed $674,855 through ticket sales and pay-per-views, topping the previous years grossing. The main event scheduled on the card was a No Hold Barred match for the WWF Championship and featured Steve Austin defeating The Undertaker to retain the championship.

Featured matches on the undercard included a Tag Team Turmoil match featuring Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho defeating The APA (Bradshaw and Faarooq), Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn (with Terri), The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) (with Spike Dudley), Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff) and X-Factor (X-Pac and Justin Credible) (with Albert). The other primary match on the undercard was a Chain match between Kane and Triple H for the WWF Intercontinental Championship, which Kane won to win the championship.

2002

The fourth Judgment Day event was held on May 19, 2002 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee and was the first Judgment Day event produced under the WWE name. The theme song was Broken by 12 stones. Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event card with one dark match between William Regal and D'Lo Brown for the WWE European Championship taking place before the event went live. The event had an attendance of 14,521. The main event on the card was a Singles match for the WWE Undisputed Championship featuring The Undertaker defeating Hollywood Hulk Hogan to win the championship.

Other matches that were scheduled on the card included a Hell in a Cell match between Triple H and Chris Jericho which Triple H won by pinfall following a Pedigree on the top of the cell. Plus, Edge defeated Kurt Angle in a Hair vs. Hair match and Steve Austin defeated The Big Show and Ric Flair in a Handicap match.

2003

The 2003 event was held on May 18, 2003 at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina and had an attendance of 13,000. The event grossed $650,000 through ticket sales and pay-per-views despite receiving mixed-negative reviews. Nine professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event card with one dark match taking place on Sunday Night Heat before the event went live. The main event on the card was a Stretcher match between The Big Show and Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship. The match was won by Lesnar to retain the championship.

Other matches that were scheduled on the card included a Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship featuring Kevin Nash defeating Triple H by disqualification, although Triple H retained the Championship. Other primary matches on the card were a Battle royal for the vacant Intercontinental Championship and a Tag team ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championship between Eddie Guerrero and Tajiri facing Team Angle (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas). Guerrero and Tajiri won the match to win the championship.

2004

The 2004 event was held on May 16, 2004 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and was a SmackDown! brand-exclusive event. Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event card with one dark match taking place before the event went live. The event had an attendance of 18,722 and grossed $813,000 through ticket sales and received 235,000 pay-per-view buys. The main event was a Singles match between John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Championship, which Layfield won via disqualification when Guerrero was caught hitting Bradshaw with the WWE Championship belt. However, since the title could not switch hands due to a disqualification, Eddie Guerrero retained the title.

Featured matches on the undercard included a Singles match between The Undertaker and Booker T, which Taker won. Also on the undercard was a Singles match for the WWE United States Championship featuring John Cena defeating René Duprée, to retain the championship.

2005

The seventh event under the Judgment Day chronology was held on May 22, 2005 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Seven professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event card with one dark match between Nunzio and Akio taking place before the event went live. The event had an attendance of 9,500 and grossed $500,000 through ticket sales and pay-per-view buys which was much lower than Judgment Day (2004) (the previous year's event).The main event on the card was an "I Quit" match for the WWE Championship between John Cena and John "Bradshaw" Layfield. The match was won by Cena after Layfield spoke the words "I Quit", to retain the championship.

Other matches that were scheduled on the event card included the encounter between Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero, which Mysterio won. The other primary match on the undercard included a Singles match for the WWE United States Championship, in which Orlando Jordan defeated Heidenreich.

2006

The eighth Judgment Day event was held on May 21, 2006 at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. This was the last Judgment Day that featured talent from only the SmackDown! brand. Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the card and one dark match took place before the event began airing live. The event had an attendance of 14,000 and grossed $560,000 through ticket sales and pay-per-view buys. The theme song for the event was "This Fire Burns" (performed by Killswitch Engage). The main event on the card was a Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship and featured Rey Mysterio defeating John "Bradshaw" Layfield, to retain the championship.

In addition to the main event the 2006 King of the Ring Final was scheduled on the card between Booker T and Bobby Lashley, which Booker T won to then become known as King Booker as well as a Singles match between The Great Khali (with Daivari) and The Undertaker, which Khali won.

2007

The 2007 event was held on May 20, 2007 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. This was the first ever Judgment Day event that became tri-branded with talent from Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW. Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event card with one dark match taking place before the event went live. The event had an attendance of 10,500 and grossed $575,000 through ticket sales and pay-per-view buys. The theme song for the event was "I Don't Wanna Stop" (performed by Ozzy Osbourne). The main event and featured match on the Raw brand was the encounter between John Cena and The Great Khali for the WWE Championship. Cena won the match and retained the championship after making Khali submit to the STF. The featured match on the SmackDown! brand was a Singles match between Edge and Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Edge won to retain the championship.

Other matches that were scheduled on the card included the primary match on the ECW brand; a Handicap match for the ECW World Championship and featured Bobby Lashley defeating Team McMahon (champion Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon and Umaga). Lashley, however did not win the championship due to pinning Shane and not the champion, Vince. The other featured match on the card was a two out of three falls match for the WWE United States Championship, featuring Montel Vontavious Porter defeating Chris Benoit to win the championship.

2008

The tenth event produced under the Judgment Day chronology was held on May 18, 2008 at the Qwest Center Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska. Seven professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event card with one dark match between the teams of Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes facing Santino Marella and Carlito for the World Tag Team Championship taking place before the event went live. The event had an attendance of 10,663 and grossed $653,740 through ticket sales and pay-per-view buys. The theme song for the event was "Take It All" (performed by Zididada). The main event on the card was a Steel Cage match featuring Triple H defeating Randy Orton for the WWE Championship.

Other matches that were scheduled on the card included a Singles match for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship featuring The Undertaker defeating Edge via countout, which meant that neither wrestler won the championship. Plus, Jeff Hardy faced Montel Vontavious Porter in a Singles match, which Hardy won.

2009

The eleventh and final Judgment Day event took place on May 17, 2009 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Seven professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event card with one dark match taking place before the event went live. The event had an attendance of 14,822. The theme song for the event was "Rescue Me" (performed by Buckcherry). The main event for the show was for the World Heavyweight Championship and featured Edge successfully retaining his championship to Jeff Hardy. The featured match from the Raw brand was Randy Orton facing Batista for the WWE Championship, which Orton got disqualified in, however he retained the championship.

In addition to the main event several Singles matches were scheduled on the event card which included CM Punk facing Umaga, ECW Champion Christian defending his championship against Jack Swagger, John Morrison versus Shelton Benjamin, Rey Mysterio defended his Intercontinental Championship against Chris Jericho and The Big Show facing John Cena.