The New Day — Big E., Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods — recently appeared together as guests on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast. During their appearance on the show, a lot of behind-the-scenes information about Vince McMahon’s plans for the group and his reaction when those plans didn’t go as he expected them to are covered.
The following are some highlights and notes from their appearance on the show.
On how the idea for The New Day began: “So I’m working on that character, trying to get something going and then I’m kind of realizing that, ‘oh, [Big] E’s not doing anything, he’s kind of coming off his I.C. title run and starting to float, so, you know what? I like E, he’s one of my good friends, lets see if we can merge him into this,’ said Xavier Woods. “So we kind of start working on something, literally weeks at a time, and we’re going into pre-tapes, filming things, pitching ideas and then we’re thinking, ‘something is missing from this, like, we need one more thing.’
“That’s when we kind of thought, ‘maybe Kofi’, but it was kind of a heel thing. We’re thinking, ‘Kofi has never been a heel – I don’t know if [WWE] would let him turn heel’. After talking about it for a while, we kind of approached them with what we wanted to do and rather than being this group that everyone thought it was going to be, like three angry black guys, it’s like, ‘no, it’s three guys who come up from kind of the same background, that just want more from life, more from their jobs, more from their friends, more from everything around them’. So we tried to take that mentality and get it across TV as best we could and we did.”
On WWE taking The New Day off of TV immediately after forming the group: “We got taken off [TV] and then we basically had to reevaluate and come up with something different,” Kofi Kingston said. “We were told we needed to go in a kind of positive, uplifting type of direction and we would be going into Vince [McMahon’s] office, pretty much every week for probably months.”
On Vince McMahon changing the idea to a preacher gimmick, and their reaction: “We kind of got frustrated too and then we didn’t go back to his office for a little while and then he called us back in, like, a few weeks later, and he’s like, ‘you know, guys, it [has] taken me a long time to come up with this, but I think I got it: I want you guys to be preachers’ and all three of us are like, ‘oh my god,'” said Kingston.
Kofi would go on to explain that the preacher gimmick was the exact opposite of what they wanted to do, however Big E. saw it as an opportunity. The trio then decided collectively that if they were super over-the-top with the gimmick, it would become a heel stable, which is basically what happened.
From there, Kingston claimed McMahon told him he felt The New Day preacher characters would be “the greatest babyface thing ever.” Woods noted that McMahon looked visibly emotional when talking about the group failing to get over as a babyface faction.
You can listen to the complete interview at PodcastOne.com.
On Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in San Jose, California, a big match was announced for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
In a six-man tag-team match that will be taped on Tuesday night, The New Day — Big E., Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods — will be taking on the trio of Mark Henry and the WWE Tag-Team Champions, The Prime Time Players — Titus O’Neil and Darren Young.
Make sure to visit SEScoops.com on Tuesday night for live WWE SmackDown spoiler play-by-play results coverage.
– Following the “Beast in the East” live show from Tokyo, Japan which was broadcast on the WWE Network, the WWE have shared two videos one of which features Finn Balor taking on Kevin Owens.
The second short video features the “Beast in the East” himself Brock Lesnar in his match against New Day member Kofi Kingston. The full show can be seen here – with results here.
– Shortly after the event, Triple H took to Twitter to thank everyone from around the world for tuning into the live event:
WWE is scheduled to hold a special Hall Of Fame ceremony for 2015 WWE Hall Of Famer Tatsumi Fujinami on the July 3rd WWE live event in Tokyo, Japan, the night before the big WWE Network “Beast In The East” special.
Also while WWE is in Japan this weekend, the company will be holding tryouts for Japanese wrestlers who would report to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando and attempt to rise through the NXT ranks.
Headlined by Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston and Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor for the NXT Championship, WWE’s “Beast In The East” live special takes place on Saturday, July 4, 2015 in Tokyo, Japan, airing live on the WWE Network.
Make sure to join us here at SEScoops.com on July 4th for the best “Beast In The East” live results coverage on the web!
There has been some speculation regarding WWE possibly changing Brock Lesnar’s opponent from Kofi Kingston to someone else at the July 4th “Beast In The East” WWE Network special from Tokyo, Japan.
While WWE has yet to publicly announce Lesnar’s opponent on television, the WWE Network has updated their official listing for the special and the Lesnar vs. Kingston match is still being advertised, along with Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens for the NXT Championship as the two main events.
The special is scheduled to air live at 5:30am EST. on July 4th and is expected to run for two hours. There are replays scheduled for 2pm, 8pm and 11pm, and it will also be available for On Demand viewing.
The WWE Network description for the special reads as follows:
“Live from Tokyo, Japan, Brock Lesnar returns to the ring against Kofi Kingston. Finn Balor challenges Kevin Owens for the NXT Championship!”
Below is the advertised lineup for the show:
– Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens
– Kofi Kingston vs. Brock Lesnar
– Neville vs. Chris Jericho
– John Cena and Dolph Ziggler vs. King Barrett and Kane
– Paige vs. Naomi vs. Divas Champion Nikki Bella
– Cesaro vs. Diego
– The Lucha Dragons vs. The New Day
Immediately following RAW tomorrow night on the WWE Network, a new episode of “Swerved” will air featuring R-Truth, Axxess, Kofi Kingston and more.
Following “Swerved”, fans will get a unique 30-minute look at WWE’s latest DVD “Monday Night War: Shots Fired” where Renee Young will be interviewing Triple H and Sting.
Speaking of Renee Young, she’s back once again on Wednesday at 4pm EST with yet another episode of “Unfiltered” where she sits down with Arnold Schwarzenegger to talk “Terminator Genisys”
Its synopsis reads: “Renee’s back! Join the Unfiltered host for an exclusive interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger and the cast of Terminator Genisys!”
Don’t forget, next Saturday on the WWE Network, WWE comes to you live from Japan for their special “Beast in the East” event. Check out the current card at this link.
In an update on the WWE status of Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman, both guys are scheduled to return at WWE RAW next Monday night in Cleveland, Ohio.
Lesnar and Heyman will be back again the next week in Indianapolis, and are both planned to be regulars on television at least through the WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view.
Lesnar’s next high-profile match is scheduled to be at the WWE Battleground pay-per-view on July 19th, however he’s also booked fr the July 4th live WWE Network special from Japan, where he will be taking on Kofi Kingston.
It’s worth noting that the current plan is that WWE will not be promoting the 7/4 live special from Japan the same way they did with the recent Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.
On Monday, WWE confirmed two new title matches for this Sunday’s WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view event.
Below is the current official lineup for WWE Money In The Bank 2015:
WWE World Heavyweight Championship (Ladder Match)
– Seth Rollins (c) vs. Dean Ambrose
Money In The Bank Ladder Match
– Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton vs. Neville vs. Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Kane
WWE Intercontinental Championship
– Ryback (c) vs. Big Show
WWE Divas Championship
– Nikki Bella vs. Paige
WWE Tag-Team Championship
– The New Day (c) vs. The Prime Time Players
– John Cena vs. Kevin Owens
WWE Money In The Bank Kickoff Show
– R-Truth vs. King Barrett
WWE Money In The Bank is scheduled for Sunday, June 14, 2015 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Make sure to join us here at SEScoops.com for live results of the event!
As announced on this week’s edition of NXT TV, WWE will be holding a live WWE Network special from Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on July 4th. Below is the full lineup for the show.
– Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston
– John Cena & Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane & King Barrett
– Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor (NXT Title)
– Chris Jericho vs. Neville
– The New Day vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro*
– Nikki Bella vs. Paige vs. Naomi (WWE Divas Title)
– The Lucha Dragons vs. Los Matadores
* – Tyson Kidd may be pulled from this match due to injury.
The announcement of Brock Lesnar wrestling at what we now know will be a live WWE Network special at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on July 4th resulted in ticket sales going from average to an immediate, legitimate sell out. Because of the way WWE will be setting up the arena, there is only 6,500 tickets for the event, however WWE will likely announce a figure close to 11,000. Lesnar is scheduled to wrestle Kofi Kingston on the show.
There was still advertising for Daniel Bryan appearing on the tour as recently as this week, although he could appear in a non-wrestling capacity, as Hideo Itami, who will not be wrestling, is also being advertised for the show.
Additionally, Japanese wrestling legend Tatsumi Fujinami may attend one or both of the shows in Japan, with the hook being that WWE put him in their Hall Of Fame earlier this year.
WWE inserted a pre-taped segment during tonight’s NXT broadcast on the WWE Network, announcing a live special with a major title match in Japan.
On tonight’s show, it was announced by William Regal that there will be a live special from Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on July 4th that will feature Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor for the NXT Championship.
The show is scheduled to start at 6:30am EST., which would be 8:30pm in Japan, so it’s possible that only part of the show will air on the WWE Network, since the show is scheduled for a 7pm start-time.
The event will also include the previously reported Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston match, and will also feature a John Cena main event, as well as a match including Chris Jericho.
On Monday’s WWE RAW, which was the second to last edition of the show before this year’s WWE Money In The Bank event, three matches were made official for the pay-per-view.
Below is the current official lineup for WWE Money In The Bank 2015:
WWE World Heavyweight Championship (Ladder Match)
– Seth Rollins (c) vs. Dean Ambrose
Money In The Bank Ladder Match
– Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton vs. Neville vs. Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston
– John Cena vs. Kevin Owens
WWE Money In The Bank is scheduled for Sunday, June 14, 2015 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Make sure to join us here at SEScoops.com for live results of the event!
WWE announced six of the participants for the Money In The Bank ladder match at the upcoming Money In The Bank match.
During Sunday’s WWE Elimination Chamber special event on the WWE Network, WWE announced Neville, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler will be taking place in this year’s Money In The Bank ladder match.
It’s worth noting, however, that WWE made it clear that the aforementioned six WWE Superstars are only some of the participants who will be featured in this year’s Money In The Bank contest.
The WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view is scheduled to take place on Sunday, June 14, 2015 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Brock Lesnar is being advertised to wrestle in Japan for the first time in twelve years for WWE.
The official YouTube account is promoting that the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion will be appearing at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on July 4, 2015. According to WWE.co.jp, Lesnar’s opponent at the event will be WWE Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston. It will also be his first wrestling appearance at a non-televised WWE event since 2004.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTrvQhQTDJs
On the F4WOnline.com message board, Dave Meltzer said Lesnar is working the event because he planned to visit Masa Saito, a retired Japanese wrestler, with friend Brad Rheingans (a former wrestler from Minnesota who competed for the American Wrestling Association, New Japan Pro Wrestling and briefly WWE in 1986 as an enhancement talent).
“Lesnar and Brad Rheingans wanted to go to Japan to see Masa Saito,” Melter wrote. “Just figured since he was going anyway, make it tax deductible, get his trans paid and work one show.”
Meltzer noted that Lesnar is only working that one show. Another show will be held at the same venue on July 3, 2015.
– WWE announced during the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on Sunday that at the upcoming Payback pay-per-view on May 17th there will be an “I Quit” match between WWE United States Champion John Cena and Rusev. Lana noted that this will be the final chapter in the Cena-Rusev feud.
– WWE announced an attendance of 14,197 for last night’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view, which took place at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois.
– Kofi Kingston posted the following photo of The New Day celebrating with their new WWE Tag-Team Championships backstage at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view last night.
Ring Of Honor performer Cedric Alexander recently spoke with the folks at the Jobbing Out podcast and had some interesting comments to make regarding The New Day faction in WWE.
“This opens up a whole different can of worms here, because everyone I know watching WWE is offended by The New Day,” said Alexander. “Extremely offended because of the whole racial thing. It’s like, `oh, we’re three black guys, we’ll sing, we’ll dance. You’ve got Kofi Kingston, who is a phenomenal athlete. Big E Langston is a gigantic, threatening man and Xavier Woods is extremely intelligent. So why make them sing and dance when they obviously can be more serious, I guess.”
Alexander continued, “When they first started this thing, it was like two or three weeks that they did it where Xavier would come out and be like a Malcolm X type of thing. He was preaching black power, without saying black power, which I think is fantastic because you don’t offend anyone. But when you’ve got three black guys singing and dancing, stereotypes get fed too much and I hate it.”
Ring Of Honor wrestler Cedric Alexander recently spoke about the issue of racism in pro wrestling, citing WWE’s “New Day” faction as one of many examples he feels to be offensive and racist.
Regarding the WWE faction, Alexander said, “This opens up a whole different can of worms here, because everyone I know that watches WWE is offended by The New Day… extremely offended because of the whole racial thing.”
“It’s like, ‘oh we’re three black guys, we’ll sing, we’ll dance,” he continued. “You’ve got Kofi Kingston, who’s a phenomenal athlete, Big E Langston is a gigantic, threatening man and Xavier Woods is extremely intelligent. So why make them sing and dance when they obviously can be more… serious, I guess?”
Alexander concluded, “When they first started this thing, it was like two or three weeks that they did it where Xavier would come out and be like a Malcolm X type of thing. He was preaching black power without saying black power, which I think is fantastic because you don’t offend anyone. But when you’ve got three black guys singing and dancing, stereotypes get fed too much and I hate it.”
Check out the complete interview as part of the latest “Jobbing Out” podcast by going to GlennClarkRadio.com.
– Deadline.com has an article up today about the ratings for last night’s Saturday Night Live, which was hosted by The Rock. The show did the lowest ratings of any episode this season.
– Our condolence go out to Kofi Kingston, whose sister passed away this past week.
– Those who saw the rehearsals for WrestleMania 31 said that the entrances for Triple H, Rusev, The Undertaker and Bray Wyatt are all spectacular. Triple H’s in particular is said to be amazing.
WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston recently spoke with XXL Magazine to promote this Sunday’s WrestleMania 31 event at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Below are highlights from the interview.
On his three favorite WrestleMania moments of all-time: “Well, selfishly, I was gonna make all of them include myself, but I’ll only do that for two of them. My favorite one was my first Money In The Bank match. I believe it was in 2009. It was the first time I got to be on Wrestlemania. And you know, ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be a WWE superstar. So I always pictured myself in Wrestlemania matches. So when that happened it was like a dream come true, literally. So that’s probably my top favorite moment.
My second favorite moment is when Shawn Michaels faced the Undertaker. That to me was awesome. I got to watch it from the crowd. It was just an amazing match. Shawn Michaels is one of my favorite competitors of all time. And just to see him in there with Undertaker, them going back and forth, like from their entrances all the way to the end… And again, I got to be out in the crowd to watch that, which I normally don’t get to do.
And my third favorite Wrestlemania moment would probably be the Money In The Bank I was in. I believe it was my second. I’m terrible with years so it was either 2010 or 2011. But I got to walk on stilts. Basically, Kane had split a ladder in half and I got to use those two parts of the ladder to kind of walk myself to the middle of the ring and climb up, which was a pretty cool moment.”
On his thoughts on The Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt match: “It’ll be really interesting. If you would have asked me like a year ago I would have said Undertaker because he had never lost at Wrestlemania. But then he lost to Brock Lesnar. So it’s like when Rocky made the Russian bleed. Mick comes out of the corner and he’s like, “He’s just a man. He’s human.” So now I feel like Undertaker is beatable, ya know? Because it has been done. So if anyone can do it again, it might be Bray. Either way it’s gonna be an interesting match with two really cool characters squaring up against each other. It’s kinda like a fantasy booking situation where you’re like, “What would happen if Bray Wyatt faced the Undertaker?” And we’re all gonna find out at Wrestlemania.”
On his thoughts on the Sting vs. Triple H match: “Yeah, man. You know who the real winners are? The fans who get to see it. Because I know a lot of people, myself included, who never expected to see Sting in a WWE ring, and now it is happening. It’s Triple H in there with him, too. So any time Triple H has a match at Wrestlemania, it’s always an awesome match. Now you get to see these guys go up against each other. I’m pulling for Sting. I was always a big Sting fan with the colorful rainbow face paint and also with the Crow-like, black and white stuff. So I’m pulling for Sting, but we’ll see.”
The following matches were taped for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event prior to the SmackDown television tapings on Tuesday night in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dark Match
– The Prime Time Players def. two local wrestlers.
WWE Main Event
– Cesaro & Tyson Kidd def. The Lucha Dragons in tag-team action. This is the second straight week that the Lucha Dragons have worked the Main Event tapings. The finish in this one saw Cesaro hit his big uppercut for the 1-2-3.
– The Bella Twins def. Paige & Emma in Divas tag-team action. This was a rematch from Monday’s RAW, which saw Brie pin Emma for the finish.
– Stardust def. Kofi Kingston in the headline match of the evening. The crowd got on Stardust’s case with “Cody” chants throughout the match. In the end, Stardust picked up the “W” by way of clean pin fall.
The following matches were taped prior to Monday’s RAW in Nashville, Tennessee for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
– Erick Rowan def. Adam Rose in singles action to kick off the taping. Rowan controlled the majority of the offense in the match. He hit a few power moves and then took out Rose via pinfall after hitting him with his finisher.
– Luke Harper def. Kofi Kingston in the headline match of the WWE Superstars taping. Harper absolutely dominated the match, which he ended up winning via pinfall after hitting Kingston with his 360-clothesline.
The following matches were taped on Thursday night in Hartford, CT. prior to the live edition of WWE SmackDown for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event. While they will not air on the WWE Network, they will still be available on Hulu Plus on Friday and will air in some international markets on television this weekend.
– The New Day def. The Miz & Damien Mizdow in tag-team action to kick off the show. Big E. and Kofi Kingston represented The New Day in this one. The finish saw Big E. and Kingston pick up the pin after The Miz yelled at Mizdow outside of the ring, causing a distraction.
– Luke Harper vs. Dolph Ziggler is announced for the main event of the show.
– Erick Rowan def. Curtis Axel in singles competition. This was described as a really solid match, however the fans in Hartford were apparently not making a lot of noise for it. There was a “Rumble winner!” chant directed towards Axel during the match. In the end, Rowan picked up the win with his finisher.
– Roman Reigns is shown on the big screen, which prompted a loud boo response from the fans in attendance. The Arnold Schwarzenegger WWE Hall Of Fame video package was also shown.
– Dolph Ziggler def. Luke Harper in the main event of the show. Ziggler got a great pop from the Hartford fans for his entrance, and the crowd was said to be really hot for Ziggler throughout the entire duration of the bout. In the end, Ziggler picked up the win to end this week’s show.
The following is the final advertised lineup for tonight’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view, which takes place from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and airs live on the WWE Network.
WWE Royal Rumble Kickoff Show
– Big E., Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods vs. Cesaro, Tyson Kidd & Adam Rose
– Booker T interviews Shawn Michaels
WWE Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View
– The Bella Twins vs. Paige & Natalya
– The Ascension vs. New Age Outlaws
– The Usos vs. The Miz & Damien Mizdow (WWE Tag-Team Championship)
– 30-man over-the-top Royal Rumble match
– Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins (WWE World Heavyweight Championship)
Make sure to join us here at the website tonight for the best WWE Royal Rumble live play-by-play results coverage on the web!
The following was taped on Tuesday night for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event in Austin, Texas.
– JBL and Tom Phillips came out to a good reaction from the crowd.
– Kofi Kingston def. Tyson Kidd with a roll-up after countering a Sharpshooter attempt. Adam Rose and Cesaro, who were at ringside, joined in to beat down The New Day afterwards.
– The Miz and Damien Mizdow def. Los Matadores when Miz hit his Skull Crushing Finale for the 1-2-3.
– Natalya def. Summer Rae in Divas action.
– Bray Wyatt def. Jack Swagger with his Sister Abigail finisher for the pin.
– The Usos def. Goldust and Stardust in a non-title match, which served as the main event of the taping.