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Finn Balor was recently exiled from Judgment Day. (Credit: Michael Owens/WWE via Getty Images)
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WWE WrestleMania 42 marked a critical turning point for Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio and The Judgment Day as a whole.
Over the past several months, there have been plenty of indications that WWE’s longest-running faction was at risk of implosion. The first big domino fell on Raw earlier this year when Balor was unceremoniously kicked out of The Judgment Day, the culmination of major issues between Balor and Mysterio.
Now, Balor is in full babyface mode while Mysterio remains one of WWE’s most loathed heels. Naturally, WWE had no choice but two book Mysterio vs. Balor in a Street Fight at WrestleMania 42 with the future of The Judgment Day looming loud.
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WWE WrestleMania 42 Results For Finn Balor Vs. Dominik Mysterio
First, Mysterio lost his WWE Intercontinental Championship to Penta thanks to Balor. Now, Mysterio has lost another big WrestleMania match.
Just weeks after being exiled from the group he helped build, Balor got a modicum of revenge at WrestleMania 42 with a big victory over Mysterio in a Street Fight at WrestleMania. Balor was able to secure the win by crashing through Mysterio with a Coup de Grace through a table, adding another ***** in the armor of The Judgment Day in the process
Here are the most notable moments and highlights from Balor’s big win over Mysterio at WWE WrestleMania 42:
- Balor is wrestling his first match as “The Demon” in roughly three years. He started the match by immediately attacking Mysterio with a barrage of chops and a clothesline to the outside. Balor slammed Mysterio into the announce table and then repeatedly hit him with a kendo stick.
- Mysterio was able to hit a dive onto Balor on the outside, toss Balor into the ring and nail him with a chair a few times. Balor hit a front suplex onto Mysterio on top of two chairs and followed it up with a sling blade, but Mysterio responded with a superkick and went for the 619. He connected with it and hit a top rope frog splash, but “The Demon” shockingly kicked out at just a one-count.
- Balor hit a pair of shotgun dropkicks, went up top for the Coup de Grace, but Mysterio moved and threw a chair at Balor for a two-count. Mysterio brought a table into the ring but took too long to attack Balor, who hit him with another sling blade. Balor charged, but Mysterio nailed a superkick and then smashed Balor through a table. He followed that up with a chair shot and went for a super 619 with a steel chair, connected and then landed another frog splash. Balor kicked out yet again.
- Mysterio repeatedly blasted Balor with a chair, went to the outside and grabbed another table before setting it up in the ring. That gave Balor time to get to his feet and unleash a vicious chair attack on Mysterio. With Mysterio trapped head-first in a steel chair, Balor hit a shotgun dropkick and came off the top rope with a Coup de Grace on Mysterio through the table. That was enough for the three-count.
WWE WrestleMania 42 Results: What’s Next For Finn Balor And Dominik Mysterio?
After WWE WrestleMania 42, The Judgment Day is on life support. First, JD McDonagh failed to capture the Intercontinental title.
Then, Mysterio suffered a big loss to Balor despite hitting not one but two massive frog splashes. The Judgment Day first formed with Edge as its leader in April 2022 and has had a handful of variations since then. Up until a couple of months ago, the group’s longest-tenured member was Balor, who took over as the faction’s leader when Edge was exiled from the group in June 2022.
The Judgment Day has had plenty of ups and downs since then, losing key stars like Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley, but effectively adding the likes of Mysterio and Liv Morgan to keep the group going strong for nearly half a decade. Of course, The Judgment Day has become a staple of Raw, even outlasting The Bloodline in terms of overall existence, but all good things must come to an end.
Indeed, the end could be near for WWE’s most surprisingly successful stable this decade.
The losses of Balor, Priest and Ripley have noticeably decreased the group’s star power, and though the faction is shockingly still doing pretty well, it’s now down to just Mysterio and McDonagh on the men’s side. What’s impressive is its trio of women’s stars in Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez, but the schism splitting the group began with Balor’s exit and feels bound to continue.
Where does Perez ultimately fit in? Will Rodriguez ultimately get fed up with playing second fiddle to Morgan? WWE still has some stories to tell with Judgment Day, but once Mysterio’s feud with Balor is neatly wrapped up post-WrestleMania 42, there won’t be much left.
For now, Balor is basking in the glory of his WWE WrestleMania 42 win, and The Judgment Day is looking to regroup. But with so many cracks in the stable’s foundation beginning to show, that may prove to be impossible sooner rather than later.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com
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