Kofi Kingston and Austin Creed (formerly Xavier Woods) are opening up about the real reasons behind their WWE exit, and it goes well beyond the money, even though the money turned out to be a bigger factor than most assumed.
The two departed WWE in May after more than a decade together as The New Day, then resurfaced four months later at AEW All In from Wembley Stadium as New Level.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Kofi explained that the terms WWE proposed simply didn’t reflect what he and Creed felt they brought to the table as performers, mentors, and entertainers.
We just thought the terms that they wanted us to perform under were not fair based on what we brought to the table, based on what we’re worth, based on the knowledge and prowess we have as performers and wrestlers,” Kofi said.
“What we can give back to the younger people and do in entertainment. Being able to go out there and garner a reaction as good guys or bad guys, no matter the situation.
When Helwani asked directly whether the proposed pay cut was 50 percent, Kofi confirmed it was actually steeper than that.
I will say, it was more than 50%. It was more,” Kofi said. “The compensation is a big part of it, for sure, but the bigger part is being able to go out and live your dream in a way you want to live it out and be appreciated for it. We took it all into consideration and we knew this was the only path to take.
But Kofi was clear that compensation wasn’t the whole story. The bigger draw was wanting to wrestle regularly again.
We took a lot of great pride in being Swiss army knives. Whatever the situation was, we would make it great and make it entertaining,” he continued.
“Compensation was definitely a big part, for sure, but more so, we wanted to work.
He pointed to AEW’s tag team scene, name-checking teams like The Young Bucks, FTR, and Cope and Christian, as the kind of consistent, high-stakes tag wrestling he and Creed weren’t getting the chance to do. He described watching AEW pay-per-views and feeling like a fan again, which became a driving factor in wanting to test themselves there.
We wanted to work. When it came to tag team wrestling, it really wasn’t a priority, so we looked across the pond and saw the Bucks, FTR, Cope and Christian, Private Party, the Dogs, all these tag teams having bangers. ‘Man, what if we could be involved with that?’” Kofi said.
“They look like they’re having so much fun. You watch AEW pay-per-views and I’m jumping out of my seat, like a fan again. It excites me to watch that show.
