Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods walked away from WWE, and there’s a very good reason for that.
Back in May, the former New Day members officially became free agents, bringing one of the most successful tag team runs in modern WWE history to an end.
That was not really a small decision at all.
Kingston and Woods helped turn The New Day into one of WWE’s defining acts of the last decade alongside Big E.
They became multiple-time tag team champions, broke the record for the longest WWE Tag Team Championship reign at the time, and remained one of the company’s biggest attractions for years.
Kofi also captured the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35, while Woods built his own legacy through King of the Ring and UpUpDownDown.
So, it’s not really hard to see why they would turn down a pay cut in the first place.
According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the expectation has been for months that Kingston and Woods will join AEW after rejecting a 50 percent pay cut from WWE.
Meltzer also noted that Woods has resumed using the Austin Creed name, Kingston recently filed several new trademarks, and The Young Bucks have wanted to work with the former New Day members for years.
That report comes at an interesting time.
During this week’s AEW Dynamite, Swerve Strickland appeared to tease the arrival of Kingston and Woods ahead of All In at Wembley Stadium, adding even more fuel to the speculation.
Nothing was officially announced, but it didn’t take long for fans to start connecting the dots.
With All In less than three weeks away, the rumors surrounding Kingston and Woods aren’t slowing down. Nothing is guaranteed, but after turning down a huge pay cut to remain in WWE, all signs continue to point toward the former New Day members beginning the next chapter of their careers in Tony Khan’s company.
