Name(s) The New Day Debut July 21, 2014 | Combined
weight 702 lb (318 kg) Years active 2014–present | |
 | ||
Members Big E
Kofi Kingston
Xavier Woods Heights Big E: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Kingston: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Woods: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
The New Day is a professional wrestling stable performing in the WWE, composed of Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods, under the Raw brand. They are two-time Raw Tag Team Champions, with their second reign being the longest for any tag team championship in WWE history at 483 days. The New Day defended their title under the Freebird rule, with all three members being recognized as champions.
Contents
- Background and formation
- Longest reigning Tag Team Champions 2015present
- Characters and reception
- In wrestling
- Championships and accomplishments
- References
The stable originally debuted on the July 21, 2014 episode of Raw, but made their official television debut as The New Day in November 2014. On April 2015 at Extreme Rules, they won their first WWE Tag Team Championship. They lost the championship to The Prime Time Players the following month at Money in the Bank, but won it back in August at SummerSlam; their second reign became the longest in the title's history, the first to last more than a year, and the last with the title being the sole tag team championship in WWE. On December 14, 2016, they became the longest reigning tag team champions in WWE history (beating Demolition's 28-year-old record of 478 days with WWE's original World Tag Team Championship), and the longest reigning champions for any WWE championship over the last two decades; they lost the renamed Raw Tag Team Championship four days later to Cesaro and Sheamus.
The early months of the stable were marked by negative reactions to their personas from fans and critics alike, but after turning into villains in April 2015, they began to receive acclaim for being entertaining, as well as for their in-ring performances. In 2015, the trio were collectively named "WWE Wrestler of the Year" by Rolling Stone, while also being recognized as the "Best Gimmick" of the year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Additionally, they became the first trio to win the Pro Wrestling Illustrated award for "Tag Team of the Year", doing so in 2015 and 2016, (the first two wins in a row in this category for two decades). Their popularity resulted in the trio reverting to fan favorites in early 2016.
Background and formation
After wrestling in WWE's developmental territories Deep South Wrestling (DSW), Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) and Florida Championship Wrestling, Kingston made his debut on ECW in January 2008 and has since won many championships in WWE such as the Intercontinental Championship, United States Championship, World Tag Team Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship. Big E began his career in FCW and NXT, becoming the second NXT Champion after defeating Seth Rollins. On the December 17, 2012 episode of Raw, he made his main roster debut attacking John Cena and aligning himself with AJ Lee and Dolph Ziggler. In October 2013, he won the Intercontinental Championship. Woods signed to WWE in 2010 and worked in FCW and NXT until the November 18, 2013 episode of Raw, when he made his main roster debut.
On the July 21, 2014 episode of Raw, after Big E and Kingston suffered another loss as a tag team in a recent losing streak, Woods came down to address the two and he declared that they could not "get ahead by kissing babies and shaking hands", and that it would be "their time to shine". The duo then joined Woods and on the following day on Main Event, Woods managed Big E and Kingston to a decisive victory over Slater Gator (Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil). However, the group disappeared from television soon after (although they continued to make appearances together at house shows).
From the November 3 episode of Raw, WWE began airing vignettes for Big E, Kingston and Woods, with the stable now being billed as The New Day, displaying an heroic black gospel gimmick. The New Day made their in-ring debut on the November 28 episode of SmackDown in a winning effort against Curtis Axel, Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil. On the December 1 episode of Raw, Kingston and Woods competed in a tag team turmoil match to determine the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship, eliminating Goldust and Stardust, before being eliminated by Cesaro and Tyson Kidd. On the December 5 episode of SmackDown, Kingston and Woods defeated Cesaro and Kidd with a pendulum backbreaker and diving double foot stomp combination. At the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pre-show on December 14, Big E and Kingston defeated Goldust and Stardust.
On the January 5, 2015 episode of Raw, while Big E was on his way to a victory against Adam Rose, the team of Cesaro and Kidd, masquerading as Rosebuds, interfered by laying out Woods on the outside and performing their finisher on Big E in the ring. At the Royal Rumble, The New Day's winning streak came to an end when Cesaro and Tyson Kidd defeated Big E and Kingston. On the March 27 episode of Superstars, The New Day defeated The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) with their pendulum backbreaker and diving double foot stomp combination. A fatal four-way for the WWE Tag Team Championship took place on the WrestleMania 31 pre-show on March 29, including The New Day, but they failed to win the championship.
The following night on Raw, they were involved in an eight-man tag team match alongside The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) against Cesaro, Kidd and The Ascension. During the match, the live audience responded negatively to The New Day with loud "New Day sucks!" chants which carried over into the following weeks. When asked about the crowd's disapproval of them in a backstage interview on the April 6 episode of Raw, The New Day claimed that they were hurt and responded in a more aggressive tone and maintained their upbeat nature, but during their following match against The Lucha Dragons, Kingston attempted a cheap shot from the outside, though he was not actually involved in the bout, and this act would solidify the trio as villains and mark Kingston and Woods' first time playing as villains in their WWE careers. On the April 20 episode of Raw, The New Day defeated The Lucha Dragons to become number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship at Extreme Rules after Woods held onto the feet of Sin Cara, thus preventing him from answering the ten count.
Longest reigning Tag Team Champions (2015–present)
At Extreme Rules on May 26, The New Day defeated Cesaro and Tyson Kidd to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship; Big E and Kingston were the participants in the match, but WWE also recognized Woods as champion under the Freebird Rule, in which any two members of a stable can compete for the titles. At Payback on May 17, Big E and Kingston defeated Cesaro and Kidd in a two-out-of-three falls match. At Elimination Chamber on May 31, all three New Day members competed in the first ever tag team Elimination Chamber match, where they lastly eliminated The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil) to successfully defend their title. However, at Money in the Bank on June 14, Big E and Woods lost the title to The Prime Time Players. The New Day would then win the championship for a second time after they defeated Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando), The Lucha Dragons and The Prime Time Players in a fatal four-way tag team match at SummerSlam on August 23. The New Day then started a feud with the returning Dudley Boyz, setting up a title defense against The Dudley Boyz at Night of Champions on September 20, where Big E and Kingston lost to The Dudley Boyz by disqualification and retained their title. Big E and Kingston then went to defeat The Dudley Boyz via pinfall at Hell in a Cell on October 25 to retain the championship, thus ending their feud. The New Day led their own team at Survivor Series including King Barrett and Sheamus, but left the match prematurely to tend to Big E after his elimination. The New Day's next title defense was at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 13 against The Lucha Dragons and The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) in a triple threat ladder match, which The New Day won. The New Day then successful retained their title against The Lucha Dragons on the special December 22 episode of Super SmackDown Live! and against The Usos in January 2016 at the Royal Rumble event.
At Fastlane on February 21, The New Day began mocking The League of Nations (Alberto Del Rio, King Barrett, Rusev and Sheamus), calling them the "league of booty". They then continued to mock The League of Nations in various segments and skits while simultaneously feuding with other teams and turning into fan favorites for the first time since 2015. The New Day retained their title both at Roadblock (against Barrett and Sheamus) on March 12 and the following night on Raw (against Del Rio and Rusev), but were attacked after the match. This led to a six-man non-title tag team match between the two stables at WrestleMania 32 on April 3, where The New Day was defeated, but Big E and Kingston retained their championship once again against Barrett and Sheamus the following night on Raw. At Payback on May 1, the final match of the tournament to determine the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship between Colin Cassady and Enzo Amore and The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) ended in a no contest after Amore suffered a legitimate concussion during the match. As a result, The New Day faced The Vaudevillains for the WWE Tag Team Championship at Extreme Rules on May 22, where they successfully retained their championship.
On the May 30 episode of Raw, The New Day defeated The Vaudevillains in a non-title match via disqualification after they were attacked by Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson of The Club, sparking a feud between them. At Money in the Bank on June 19, The New Day defeated Big Cass (formerly Colin Cassady) and Enzo Amore, Gallows and Anderson and The Vaudevillains in a fatal-four way tag team match to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship and, as of that victory, they hold the record for the longest combined reign as a tag team. On the June 20 episode of Raw, The New Day confronted the returning Wyatt Family (Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan) and interrupted Wyatt's promo, thus starting a feud between the two teams that would lead to a non-title six-man tag team match at Battleground on July 24, where they would lose.
During the 2016 WWE draft, The New Day were drafted to the Raw brand, making the WWE Tag Team Championship exclusive to the brand. In parallel to a lengthy feud with Gallows and Anderson for the title, The New Day became the longest reigning WWE Tag Team Champions in the title's history, breaking the old record of 331 days previously set by Brian Kendrick and Paul London and, after the creation of the SmackDown Tag Team Championship for the SmackDown brand, became the last people to have held their championship as the sole tag team title in WWE and the first to hold it under its new name of Raw Tag Team Championship. The New Day would continue to successfully retain their championship against Gallows and Anderson in the following months, such as SummerSlam on August 21, Clash of Champions on September 25 and the following night on Raw, ending their feud in the process.
After their feud with Gallows and Anderson, The New Day began feuding with Cesaro and Sheamus and at Hell in a Cell on October 30, The New Day were defeated by Cesaro and Sheamus via disqualification, but they managed to retain the title as a result. On the October 31 episode of Raw, The New Day revealed that they were made captain of Team Raw for the 10-on-10 Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination match at Survivor Series. At the event on November 20, they made the first elimination, but were then eliminated themselves by The Usos. However, Team Raw still managed to win the match thanks to Cesaro and Sheamus. On the two following Raw episodes, The New Day successfully retained their title against Cesaro and Sheamus and then Gallows and Anderson.
On the December 12 episode of Raw, after successfully defending their title in two successive triple threat tag team matches – first against Cesaro and Sheamus and Gallows and Anderson, and then against Chris Jericho and WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens and United States Champion Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins – The New Day broke Demolition's 28-year-old record to become the tag team to procure the longest single-run with any tag team championship in WWE history. Demolition held this record with WWE's original World Tag Team Championship and still hold the specific record for that (defunct) version of the title. At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, The New Day's reign ended at 483 days after they lost the championship to Cesaro and Sheamus. On the December 26 episode of Raw, The New Day received a rematch for the title, but failed to reclaim the championship.
Characters and reception
Initially characterized as stereotypical black gospel characters, The New Day received overwhelming negative reviews from fans and critics alike. Jim Ross noted that "today's wrestling fan may be a little hard on the talented trio" due to them "espousing such positivity". ProWrestling.net wrote that The New Day "seem to be all about smiling and dancing; one of the three racial stereotypes WWE assigns to their African-American performers". Entertainment website The A.V. Club called the gimmick "racist" because "they literally pantomime shooting dice when they get into the ring".
Upon transitioning away from the gospel aspect, The New Day developed their own unique identity of frequently excited proponents of positivity, which sees them usually encourage live audiences to clap along with them. In 2015, Woods began bringing a trombone to the ring and playing it during the group's entrance and matches, later naming the trombone Francesca; after "she" was destroyed by Chris Jericho, Woods replaced her with her sister Francesca II in January 2016; he also introduced her Scottish cousin Agnes (bagpipes) at a Scotland show on November 2016. Following Francesca II's destruction, she was replaced by Francesca II: Turbo, a nod to Street Fighter II: Turbo. Also in late 2015, a unicorn pony was incorporated into The New Day's newest shirt, and the trio began making unicorn gestures, using their fingers as horns and even having interviewers claiming to perceive them having "unicorn magic". The group later began wearing plastic unicorn horns during their ring entrance. One of their assault tactics, the "Unicorn Stampede" was also named after this theme. Also in 2015, The New Day began using the word "booty" as their catchphrase and began occasionally using it to mock other wrestlers and the host city where WWE events would take place, such as calling Birmingham "Bootyham". In 2016, The New Day introduced their "Booty-O's" cereal, while claiming that "They make sure you ain't booty", and even had a giant "Booty-O's" box at WrestleMania 32 as part of their entrance, and later "Booty-O's" shirts were created and were a very lucrative success.
In vast contrast to the gospel-based version of The New Day, the new positivity-based version of the group began to receive an overwhelming positive reception from fans and critics in mid-2015 after they turned heel and had a series of strong in-ring performances and promos. At times, crowds would chant "New Day rocks" along with the team even though they continued to portray villains on-screen. Kenny Herzog of Rolling Stone named the group as WWE's "Wrestlers of the Year" for 2015, describing them as "a hat-trick of pro-wrestling awesomeness" having "transformed from preachy dreck to a source of constant entertainment". In early 2016, Aaron Oster of The Baltimore Sun described them as "the most entertaining wrestling act of the past few years". Former WWE Champion CM Punk praised The New Day for getting over on their own. At the end of 2015, the group won Wrestling Observer's "Best Gimmick" award. However, some remained critical of the group, with both Jim Ross and Jason Powell from ProWrestling.net suggesting that The New Day should be trying to gain "heel heat" as opposed to being comedic, and in January 2016, following the Royal Rumble, James Caldwell of PWtorch noted that the group's babyface opponents came out "mainly to boos since New Day was too entertaining", adding that the group "don't act overly-heelish to get heat. So, their opponents continue to suffer opposite New Day". The New Day were so over that they had a presence in the WrestleMania 32 main event between Triple H and Roman Reigns, with the crowd chanting, "Roman sucks", in the same rhythm as "New Day rocks". This got ascended when The Hardy Boyz defended their titles on the April 3, 2017 edition of Raw against Gallows and Anderson, with the crowd chanting "obsolete" in the same rhythm as "New Day rocks".
In wrestling
Championships and accomplishments
1 Big E, Kingston, and Woods defended the title under the Freebird Rule. New Day won their second tag team championship when the title was still called the WWE Tag Team Championship. During their reign on September 5, 2016, the title was renamed the Raw Tag Team Championship after SmackDown established the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.