Rhea Ripley breaks silence on why she didn't add 33-year-old RAW star to The Judgment Day

Rhea Ripley stole a pen from Adam Pearce on WWE RAW this week and used it to take a dig at JD McDonagh, who has been auditioning for The Judgment Day for weeks.

JD McDonagh was starting to gain the heel stable's trust on the red brand before he made a huge mistake at Fastlane 2023. He accidentally hurt Damian Priest during a title match against Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso, which caused The Archer of Infamy and Finn Balor to lose their tag team gold.

The group unanimously dismissed all equations with JD McDonagh, including Finn Balor, who seemingly ditched his old friend. This week on RAW, Rhea Ripley was due to sign the contract for her upcoming title match at Crown Jewel 2023.

The actual contract signing segment ended in a chaotic brawl between the four challengers who will compete in the fatal five-way match while Rhea Ripley walked away. However, the Women's World Champion approached Adam Pearce backstage by hijacking his conversation with The Miz.

She signed the contract and took the pen with her. USA Network's official social media account took a dig at JD McDnagh by posting that pen 'made it into The Judgment Day' before the 33-year-old RAW star. Ripley reiterated the point by resharing the post, where she claimed the pen never let her down, unlike McDonagh, who cost her group the tag team titles.

"The Pen never let me down," wrote Rhea Ripley in her post.

It is worth noting that Finn Balor and Damian Priest have regained their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions, and JD McDonagh was recently spotted back with The Judgment Day. He helped Damian Priest carry out a brutal attack on Cody Rhodes' injuring The American Nightmare's ankle in the opening segment of WWE RAW this week.

---

Cody Rhodes used Rhea Ripley to taunt current champions on WWE RAW

Finn Balor and Damian Priest looked to celebrate regaining the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship on RAW last week. The Judgment Day members kickstarted the show but were soon interrupted by Cody Rhodes.

The American Nightmare taunted the champions about Rhea Ripley's powerful leadership position in the group. He further instigated Balor and Priest by saying that Ripley was also playing Mami to them in addition to Dominik Mysterio.

This led to a confrontation between Cody Rhodes and Damian Priest, with Mr. Money in the Bank laying down the challenge for a singles match at Crown Jewel. The American Nightmare accepted the challenge but was soon ambushed by The Judgment Day, especially by Priest and JD McDonagh, who dragged Rhodes to ringside and viciously targetted his leg.