Although The New Day is perhaps best known for pancakes and the power of positivity, the group nearly became something entirely different.
Xavier Woods, Big E and Kofi Kingston discussed the creation of the group and how Kingston was pitched the idea of forming a stable as the three said they were pretty much floundering in WWE before New Day became a reality. During their "Feel The Power" podcast, Big E said that The New Day could have ended up as a modern incarnation of The Nation of Domination.
“The Nation thing is the first thing that you pitched, but then I think you got on Twitter a few times and you were just angrily responding to people that dare to think this was the new Nation of Domination," Big E said.
“Well, because from, okay, so from that perspective knowing, yeah that’s the first thing I said. When you only see what has been presented on this table, this smorgasbord of greatness, then you’re like, ‘Nation.’ To me, it was all I had. So I sat and thought about it for a few weeks and that’s when I realized, this idea that we had in developmental called ‘The Plan.’ It was the People’s Liberation of American Nationalism. It was me, [Big] E, [Byron] Saxton and Abe Washington. The New Day is kind of an evolved thought of that, but it was essentially people who were not happy with their position in the company and wanted more from themselves and from their job. So that’s when I went to talk about it with E and we kind of shot a bunch of different things and pre tapes and kicking back and forth ideas and that’s when it really hit me. None of this is really clicking. None of it is really working. I think we needed a third person for this to actually work and I was like, ‘I think we really need to get Kofi.’ For me, like I said, it was, this is either going to absolutely destroy my career or it’s going to be the best thing ever. So that’s when we went and talked to [Kingston] and was down. That was when the hustle started," Woods said.
“Do you remember that conversation? Because I remember it like yesterday. I was sitting on a crate and then when you guys came up and you start having a conversation with me like everything just kinda clicked. That’s what I wanted, that was the change I was looking for," Kingston said.
Big E then spoke about how he remembered a moment back in 2014 where he was told to start thinking of different things to try out because WWE had nothing for him at the time. He added that Woods was in a similar situation as he was losing a handicap match to Rusev at Extreme Rules earlier this year.
“To backtrack a little bit, [Woods], you talked about your handicap match with R-Truth against Rusev and that was Extreme Rules 2014. The only reason I remember that is because that was the same night I dropped the I.C. belt to Wade Barrett. So the pieces really aligned for me and that same day, I was actually told by Road Dogg that morning, ‘Hey you need to get into pre tapes and work on some stuff’ because it seemed like they liked me, but essentially the message was, ‘We have nothing for you and you’re pretty much on your own. So you need to get in there and just try some stuff...’ It just boggles my mind how we were all in separate places but also in the same space in terms of floundering in our career and knowing that we needed something," Big E said.
Kingston has noted in past interviews that New Day now has the trust of Vince McMahon due to their ability to deliver on the microphone. You can read his full comments by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please give a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
