Wrestlers’ Court: A new year, a New Day?

Monday, January 6 marked the first WWE RAW on Netflix.

I enjoyed the show. I’ll have more to say about it (especially one very special guest star) next time out. RAW was so stacked that planned appearances by Becky Lynch and the debuting Pentagon Jr. were cut. They shouldn’t feel bad. RAW’s world champion, Gunther, didn’t even make it to the arena.

With so much firepower on the show, it’s impressive that WWE managed to sneak in some mid-card storyline development. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods – the revisionist heel New Day, featured in several segments where they tried to explain their abandonment of former partner Big E. Their attempts were shut down by time constraints, other wrestlers or the audience’s jeers. Despite saying very little over the past few weeks, the only way Woods and Kingston could be more hated would be if they trotted out Hulk Hogan as their new third member.

Note to WWE: Please don’t do that.

The seeds of New Day’s current heel run were planted by accident back in March 2022, when Ridge Holland broke Big E’s neck by botching an overhead belly-to-belly suplex on the arena floor. Holland dropped Big E on his head, causing fractures to his C1 and C6 vertebrae. His injuries have been slow to heal. It remains to be seen whether he will ever wrestle again.

In E’s absence Woods and Kingston continued as a duo without much direction. In December 2022 they appeared in NXT and beat Pretty Deadly for that brand’s tag team championship. The New Day held those titles for almost two months before losing them to Gallus. Ever since, Woods and Kingston were just kind of … around.

In April 2024 they began feuding with Karrion Kross and his Final Testament stable. Kross has waged a campaign of corruption against WWE babyfaces – a super slow burn storyline in the tradition of Kevin Sullivan’s slimy brand of evil. I love it. Kross targeted Woods, whom Kross claimed was being held back by his association with Kingston. Kross’ efforts created dissension between the New Day members, made worse when Kingston recruited NXT’s Odyssey Jones to help beat the Final Testament to end their feud. Kingston favored adding Jones to the New Day, while Woods opposed replacing his friend.

Wherever this storyline was headed, it screeched to a halt in September, when Jones was released from WWE following domestic assault accusations. The angle was dropped and Jones hasn’t been mentioned since.

The New Day continued to drift, tensions rising between its remaining members as they faded into the mid-card. Team leadership became a point of contention. On the November 25 RAW, the New Day lost to borderline enhancement tag team Alpha Academy and blew up at each other, calling out each other’s worked-shoot failures.

Amid this apparent internal strife, Woods and Kingston headed to RAW on December 2 to celebrate the New Day’s 10th anniversary. Big E joined his teammates in the ring and announced that he would return as Woods’ and Kingston’s manager until he is medically cleared. This offer was rejected and Woods and Kingston jointly turned heel while Big E slunk back stage.

I am excited about the New Day’s heel turn, not only because I think it’s long overdue (and because heel New Day is infinitely more fun than fan-pandering New Day).

It’s possible that Woods’ and Kingston’s turn are part of a bigger work. I hope that Big E has in fact been cleared by doctors to resume competing, and the fan reactions courted by his running buddies are designed to elicit the biggest possible reaction when returns – perhaps at the Royal Rumble.

The New Day’s turn feels suspect. Before his December in-ring appearance Big E wrote a moving piece for The Players’ Tribune, describing the challenges he faced growing up and the impacts of his lifelong mental health struggles. Big E also wrote at length about his relationship with Kingston and Woods, and how they saved each others’ WWE careers by developing a wildly successful, improbably long-lived, ultimately personal gimmick in the New Day. It’s a lot to pour into a piece that will be used to push Woods and Kingston as heels, and for Big E to be forgotten.

Maybe that’s just me hoping Big E gets well enough to do whatever he chooses with his life, without limitations due to injury. It probably speaks to the level of deception inherent in pro wrestling that all but the most serious news is greeted with this kind of skepticism.

Assuming the New Day’s heel turn sticks, I wonder what is next. I can’t imagine they will continue as a duo indefinitely. Part of the group’s magic lay in it’s frequent use of the Freebird Rule, which allows any two members of a three-person (or more, in the case of the Spirit Squad) team to defend a promotion’s tag team titles. At one point the New Day held the record for the longest WWE tag team championship reign.

I enjoyed their promos and in-ring work but always thought Freebird-style reigns should be asterisked. The first part of holding a championship should be showing up to contest every defense. The Freebird Rule gives team members a night off or allows the group to modify its lineup to counter an opposing team’s strengths instead of using a duo’s resourcefulness. It’s a solid way to build heel heat, which is how the New Day’s run started. It’s unfortunate that the New Day were such effective heels that audiences turned them babyface.

But I digress.

As good as Woods and Kingston are, their styles are similar. Both are lighter, smaller, more athletic wrestlers. To be taken seriously as a unit they need a bigger, stronger, ‘heater’ like Big E. WWE’s original plan was to have Odyssey Jones fill that role. In his absence the New Day needs a big man to anchor the team, literally and figuratively. They also need to be mindful of the difference between evolving the faction and just plopping in anyone who looks the part. WCW made the latter mistake when it broke up the original Harlem Heat tag team of real-life brothers Booker T and Stevie Ray. WCW split the team to nurture Booker’s singles career and cast Tony Norris – the former Ahmed Johnson in WWE – as Stevie Ray’s new partner, Big T. Harlem Heat gained a new manager in J. Biggs (previously Clarence Mason in WWE) and Cassius – who had previously appeared in a similarly infamous WCW group, the No Limit Soldiers. The new Harlem Heat failed miserably in-ring and with fans, and effectively ended Stevie Ray’s wrestling career.

I’m wary of suggesting replacements for Big E in a villainous New Day, because, a) I’m not sure this heel turn is for keeps, and b) in the best possible world, this whole story arc presages Big E’s and the New Day’s return to action, that Woods and Kingston ‘abandoned’ Big E to show the fans how much we miss them as a unit. I’ve been wrong before, and I acknowledge that if Big E is finished as a competitor, he leaves big shoes to fill.

The New Day was created in response to the limited opportunities afforded Black wrestlers, even in WWE, the world’s most successful wrestling promotion. The group’s members speak about this at length in their excellent, retired New Day Feel the Power podcast. The New Day stands for a kind of empowerment. They frequently call out the Black community in their promos, matches, and presentation. Big E even wore ring gear that spotlighted the contributions of prominent Black people. Diluting that hurts the group and its’ members.

Used properly, the ‘open’ spot in the New Day offers a great opportunity to a new or underused talent…or maybe two, if WWE wants to redefine the group by growing it from a Freebird Trio to a Four Horsemen powerhouse.

Oba Femi, who just won the NXT Championship, would be a natural fit. He is more athletic than Odyssey Jones and channels his intensity in an even more menacing way than Big E. I don’t think Femi is a long-term solution. At 26 years old he is more than 10 years younger than Woods and Kingston, with much more of an upside. The New Day could be a springboard to launch him to an eventual championship career…or it could hinder his development if fans ultimately decide the group has gone stale.

Femi beat Trick Williams for the title. Williams is a 30-year-old former college football player. He debuted in NXT in September 2021 as an associate of Carmelo Hayes. He has collected a pair of NXT championships – a title that Big E held as well. Williams’ promo work and wrestling have improved steadily, and he has shown his ability to connect with crowds under his “Whoop That” gimmick. Williams also seems to have NXT Announcer Booker T’s attention, which could be a strong endorsement. Booker isn’t shy when it comes to criticism. After losing his title to Femi it might be a matter of time before Williams joins the main roster, and pairing him with established stars like Kingston and Woods could be a great way to rejuvenate the New Day and build Williams’ profile.

Another option would be Omos, who has been adrift since MVP left WWE for AEW. Omos recently showed up in Pro Wrestling NOAH and won its tag team championship. He is a bit older than Femi and has appeared on the main roster off-and-on for the last five years. Omos has yet to stick on any of WWE’s flagship brands, despite a few false starts on RAW Underground and as a giant Ninja supporting Akira Tozawa. Omos was successfully reintroduced as a bodyguard and later co-tag team champion with AJ Styles. He impressed enough at one point to have marquee singles feuds with Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar.

Omos offers a physical contrast to Woods and Kingston. He has established himself as a powerful, glowering threat whenever he’s been featured. He is also a better wrestler than he has been allowed to show; at the very least he’s a great base. As a super big man, he could always come in for a hot tag then retreat to a corner for Woods or Kingston to jump off his shoulders, dealing New Day’s opponents a fatal blow (as he did for Styles, Diesel did for Shawn Michaels, or Andre the Giant did for Jimmy Snuka back in the day). Omos is well-liked by the WWE roster and deserves some profile within the company. In a recent podcast with the Undertaker he showed he can talk, but having Woods as his voice would be a step up even from MVP.

The New Day’s turn seems like part of an emerging trend in WWE storylines. WWE has emphasized, slower, more rational shifts to the dark side instead of sudden, psychotic breaks over trivial things like missed phone calls.

In my last column I celebrated Drew McIntyre’s masterful work as a sympathetic, justified heel.

In recent months McIntyre has been joined by Kevin Owens, who turned evil over his frustration that “friends” like Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn have sided with once-mortal enemies in the OG bloodline.

Seth Rollins is headed down the same path. Rollins resents CM Punk’s return to WWE after a decade of estrangement and Punk’s repeated trashing of the company while he was away. Throughout, Rollins defended WWE publicly, which in-universe should make him the hero, but instead has cast him as a craven, boot-licking heel.

Now, the New Day can’t understand why they’re being booed out of buildings after cutting former member Big E loose. Big E has moved on to other projects. Kingston and Woods must continue without their fallen friend to survive in the cutthroat world of pro wrestling, but the fans only see value in their happy go lucky three-man act.

The wonderful thing about these turns is that in each case, one can argue that the ‘heel’ is right.

Hopefully we are finally realizing the promise of layered, grey-shaded storylines we were promised during the Attitude Era, but that never materialized due to Vince McMahon’s cartoonish approach to his product.

Happy New Year to the Heel New Day.

TOP PHOTO: The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) at WWE Monday Night Raw at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA, on October 21, 2024. Photo by George Tahinos, georgetahinos.smugmug.com

RELATED LINKS

• Drew McIntyre story archive
• Previous Wrestlers’ Court columns by Jonathan Schwartz