In a battle between former Judgment Day brethren, Damian Priest beat Finn Bálor at WWE Bad Blood on Saturday.

The two men traded blows right up to the end, with Priest seeming poised to finish the match several times. However, an interruption by JD McDonagh and Carlito distracted him long enough for Bálor to recover and get back on his feet.

The rebuttal was short-lived as The Archer of Infamy delivered the devastating South of Heaven, securing the pinfall victory over the Irishman.

Priest was one of the founding members of The Judgment Day along with WWE Hall of Famer Edge in 2022. Rhea Ripley joined shortly thereafter, and Bálor entered the fold in June 2022, coinciding with the veteran getting thrown out of the group.

The trio of Priest, Ripley and Bálor became a dominant force in WWE, and the eventual addition of Dominik Mysterio added another layer to the stable as well.

One of the hallmarks of The Judgment Day was that they were all equals and there was no leader, and that appeared to be the case for some time.

Priest and Bálor were the best of friends, even holding the WWE World Tag Team Championships together for a combined time of more than 200 days over two reigns from 2023 into 2024.

The dynamic began to change at WrestleMania 40 when Priest successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Drew McIntyre to become world heavyweight champion for the first time.

From that point forward, Priest seemed to take on more of a vocal leadership role within The Judgment Day, and it was clear at times that it didn't exactly resonate with Bálor.

Things finally came to a head at SummerSlam during the World Heavyweight Championship match between Priest and Gunther.

Earlier in the night, Dominik turned on Ripley and helped Liv Morgan retain the Women's World Championship, but when he was confronted by Priest, Bálor denied having any prior knowledge of that happening.

During the match against Gunther, the Irishman made his way to ringside against Priest's wishes under the guise of helping him, but he ended up costing his former friend instead.

Coming out of SummerSlam, a new Judgment Day was formed with Bálor, Mysterio, Morgan, JD McDonagh and Carlito, leaving Priest and Ripley on the outside looking in.

Bálor managed to avoid Priest for a while, leading to Priest and Ripley teaming against Mysterio and Morgan at Bash in Berlin, but The Archer of Infamy finally got his match against his rival at Bad Blood and got some measure of revenge in victory.

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