When New Day finally turned heel in 2015, Vince McMahon was unsure it would work despite the crowd reaction. New Day was being booed by audiences almost immediately upon their debut, but it wasn't until months later that they officially turned heel.
On the New Day: Feel The Power podcast, the trio revealed that Vince was hesitant to pull the trigger on a heel turn because he didn't believe the crowd would boo Kofi, who has been a babyface his entire WWE career.
"I ended up going to He Who Shall Not Be Named's [Vince McMahon] office and asking again about us turning heel and giving all the points on why what we're doing is not going to get us that babyface reaction," recalled Xavier Woods. "But if we lean into it a little more and we allow it to be taken as heels, it's going to get us [the reaction]. He told me, 'Kofi Kingston is the consummate babyface. This is what people know and love. People will never buy him as heel.' That's when I asked him if I could get a microphone. I said, 'If people don't boo Kofi within four weeks, then I'm not good at my job and I shouldn't be here.' He said, 'That means you'd be fired?' I said, 'If I'm not good enough on the mic to make them boo Kofi then I don't deserve to have this job and you've got 70 dudes in NXT who deserve to have my spot.' He goes, 'Alright, you can talk tonight.' The third week, when [Kofi talked] there was little booing. We walked to the back and Vince stood up from behind the monitor, shook his head in approval and it was like, 'Hell yeah.'"
Kofi had his doubts that the crowd would boo as well but believed he was suited for the heel role he was playing.
"From my perspective, having been the babyface for so long, just having doubts like, 'I don't know if I can get these people to boo me.' I'm never gonna be a guy who is going to come out and start talking mean. That's not the kind of heat I can get. But being obnoxious and condescending and hypocritical, it worked perfectly," said Kofi.
Elsewhere during the podcast, the trio discussed how Vince McMahon was the only person who thought the group would work as babyfaces when they first debuted as positivity preachers. You can read their full comments by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes aboves, please give a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
