Many fans consider The New Day to be the best stable in modern WWE history, with a total of 12 tag team title reigns across all three brands among the three. Big E was forced to retire several years ago, followed by Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston being granted their releases in 2026, but Big E remains proud of the years he spent working alongside his real-life friends.
During an interview with “INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet,” Big E recalled New Days formation, acknowledging that the initial fan response wasn’t the greatest. “It sucks! It sucks, man!” he recalled.
Big E then stated New Day’s origin dates back to Florida Championship Wrestling, which was WWE’s developmental territory immediately before NXT came into existence. Back then, Big E and Xavier Woods were part of a group known first as The Clan and then as The Plan, which was a Nation of Domination-inspired stable that also included Abraham Washington and Byron Saxton.
The group eventually went their separate ways, with Big E and Woods ending up directionless on the main roster several years later. He remembered one night in particular, when he had lost the Intercontinental Championship and Woods lost a squash match, and Woods brought up the idea of working together again under a similar concept as their original faction.
“Woods goes in and pitches the writers that day, pitches them this idea of doing a new Nation of Domination; they essentially laugh him out the room,” he recalled.
Kofi Kingston joins the fold
While he was optimistic about Woods’ pitch, WWE creative had told him later the same day that they had nothing for him, and he simply had to return to pre-taped shows. “Knowing that the office really had nothing for me, that Woods was in need of something, I just said, ‘Let’s do this man; let’s give it a shot!” he said.
It was Woods who suggested Kingston, but Big E was set on The New Day being heels, and he wasn’t sure WWE would’ve allowed Kingston to turn heel. Big E stated that Kingston was considering retirement at the time, but the pitch revitalized him. Though it wasn’t quite the initial idea Woods pitched, WWE put the three of them together.
“Eventually we got to be the New Day that people knew and loved, but it was months and months and months of pitching. … The three of us were on house shows together. We didn’t have a name, but we got to work on our chemistry,” he recalled, noting that the process allowed them to realize they all wanted the same thing out of wrestling. “We knew, yeah, that this idea is worth dying on this hill for, because we were all in desperate – we were all searching for something.”
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet,” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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