PWP Nation’s Brennan Daly explains why he thinks Xavier Woods is WWE’s secret weapon.
For the past three years, WWE has lacked a consistency that has made the product less entertaining. One of the aspects WWE has always tried to implement was some sort of comedy. Do you remember Santino Marella? Of course you do, whatever skits WWE threw at him he would do it. If it was bad, he elevated it with his delivery. If it was good, he made it even better. He was so good that he could team up with Vladimir Kozlov, who did not have the best grasp of English to say the very least, and it was funny.
Making a fool of himself is what clicked with the audience and allowed him to receive surprisingly loud pops. Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) was very similar as the two brought polar opposites to the table, which made their segments so damn funny. Who is today’s comedy act? Meet The New Day led by Xavier Woods, who has helped make the group become the best thing WWE has going for them.
Woods (then Austin Creed) career began back in 2005 while attending Furman University. Being a lifelong wrestling fan, he started in Ultimate Christian Wrestling promotion. During his time there he came up with a very interesting gimmick that was based heavily on the character Apollo Creed from the ever so popular Rocky Series. He went to NWA Anarchy and was voted the Most Popular Wrestler and because of this was given an opportunity on a bigger stage. That stage was Total Nonstop Action Wrestling In 2007.
TNA at the time was known as the #2 promotion in the world and had some intriguing talent on the roster. The roster was made up of well known guys like, Samoa Joe, Kurt Angle, AJ Styles and Sting. The tag team was where Creed was going to succeed and he did so with his counterpart Jay Lethal (Current TNA Champion). In 2009 the two formed a rather entertaining team called Lethal Consequences and the duo won the World Tag Team Championship from Beer Money, Inc (Robert Roode and James Storm). For some reason after his title reign, he was stuck with nothing to do and was let go for unknown reasons.
Maybe it had to do with the fact that Creed threw up in the ring during a match with Amazing Red. That reasoning seems very unrealistic, but TNA has been known to do some crazy unthinkable stuff. Over the next couple months Creed headed over to New Japan Pro Wrestling, which helped him hone his skills by learning from the most popular Japanese wrestlers in the world.
WWE signed Creed to a Florida Championship Wresting developmental contract where he wrestled under the new name Xavier Woods. He found success in FCW as he won the tag team titles. When FCW transitioned to NXT he began using the gimmick of a fanboy of 1990s popular culture
He began to implement Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Dragon Ball Z, and other 90’s pop culture into his matches and attire. I was a big fan of his 90’s throwback gimmick back in NXT as it was something that had never been done before. The gimmick showed us that he had the ability to be an exceptional talker and that he could be amazingly charismatic. At worst he could pull off being a pretty good manager.
Like many other WWE prospects who are called up, Woods was put in a poor situation being R- Truth’s lackey. The duo had some success but it was not memorable. Woods was not given the freedom that he was used to back in NXT. He was now thought of as just another wrestler on the roster. For 7 months we would randomly see Woods thrown into matches but it was clear that WWE had nothing for him at the time and in the relative future. Not being involved in any serious storylines allowed Woods to think of some creative ways that he could get back into the WWE spotlight.
Kofi Kingston and Big E were in the same situation. Like much of the WWE product, it only made sense that the WWE put three African American talents into a stable. People were claiming that this was stereotypical of WWE and maybe, just maybe they could form a stable like The Nation of Domination. We all knew damn well that they couldn’t do so. Wrestlers doing a knock off another gimmick just don’t work. The Ascension for example, has tried to copy The Road Warriors and it has not gone well for them.
The careers of Big E, Kingston and Woods careers never truly looked bright, as they had been given midcard roles. 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. He declared that they could not “get ahead by kissing babies and shaking hands” and that it would be “their time to shine”. Well their time to shine didn’t come until November as the angle was put to the side.
WWE began airing vignettes for Big E, Kingston and Woods, calling them “The New Day”. The new babyface black gospel gimmick debuted toward the end of the month on Smackdown and I wasn’t quite sure if it was going to succeed. After weeks of the same boring positivity that The New Day expressed the crowd began turning on the group. Fans began chanting “New Day Sucks” instead of the “New Day Rocks” chant that the trio said over and over again. Woods appeared to be the heart and soul of The New Day, as he would start interfering with the others’ matches to help each other gain unfair competitive advantages.
When given a title opportunity at Extreme Rules against Tyson Kidd and Cesaro, The New Day got a shocking win using the shenanigans that had helped them win many of their previous matches. With a ton of momentum on their side, the team really started to take off. Woods was pivotal in all of the matches that the trio were involved in. By encouraging his teammates and bantering with the crowd during matches, people starting seeing the potential that Woods brought to the table.
The PhD candidate (Woods) is one the most intelligent competitors of the modern era, proving himself proficient in bending the rules to keep The New Day clapping their way to victory. Although, the trio had a blemish on their record as they lost the tag team title to the Prime Time Players, they recaptured the title at Summerslam. The New Day future looks bright as they try and help rebuild the tag team division.
That stated, Woods showed his gift of gab and kinetic, and proved that he could play such a good asshole. At 29 years old it should be clear that they should keep him heel and keep the New Day together for a long time. Realistically if they were together long enough they could be one of the best tag teams ever. They’re just such a joy to watch with Woods as the Quarterback of the team making Big E and Kofi better. Woods given the ability to me himself has shown us that he is witty, funny and so sneaky. He’s a perfect heel. One of my favorite quotes so far from Woods was, “why are you booing? We’re winning!” If that’s not funny charisma, than what is?
You can expect greatness every time The New Day is on your TV and I know that I am entertained by the one an only Woods.
Woods being a big gamer and I being one as as well has had a ton of success with his YouTube Channel. If you cant get enough of his hilarious segments on Monday Night Raw, you need to checkout UpUpDownDown on YouTube. There, you will see how some wrestlers behave when they’re just chilling, which is something that we often don’t see. Please do give his gaming channel a try and if you haven’t become a fan of the guy, you will after watching his videos!
Do you feel the power of Xavier Woods?
