Christmas is a time to gather with family and spread holiday cheer, but let’s be honest: presents are a big part of it.
WWE Superstar Xavier Woods showed off his Christmas 2022 gift on social media and you’d be hard pressed to find a better gift than what he received.
Woods is one half of the reigning NXT tag team champions, along with Kofi Kingston, as part of the New Day. He’s also a huge gamer. His wildly popular UpUpDownDown digital series boasts over 2.3 million subscribers on YouTube.
Woods Scores the Motherload
On Sunday afternoon, Woods revealed that he scored a monster haul of vintage video games.
More specifically, he was gifted the full North American N64 collection – containing every single game that was released (in North America) for the classic Nintendo 64 console. We’re talking Super Mario 64, WWF No Mercy, Golden Eye 007, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64 and a couple hundred others.
This collection is currently available for purchase on eBay, with the bundle of 296 (previously-played) games selling for a cool $29,999.99.
Woods promises to show off his new collection on an upcoming episode of UpUpDownDown. Whatever you got for the holidays this year, we can all agree that Woods made out like a champ.
HOPE YALL HAD A GOOD CHRISTMAS! I got a full North American N64 collection! And yes Mischief Makers is still 🔥🔥🔥
What do you see? I’ll go through all of it with y’all later on @UpUpDwnDwn
On Monday, another video was posted by each member. Breeze said he was calling because it’s been a long time and “we haven’t played anything.” The rest of the group offered suggestions such as Halo, Elden Ring, and League of Legends. Breeze stopped them and told them, “we know what we’re playing.” The camera cuts to each one and they all look overjoyed with Breeze’s suggestion.
“Da Party” will finally reunite on Sunday, November 20 at 10 PM (no timezone given, but East Coast is assumed) on Twitch. The Twitch handles for @TheSweetZLive, @ClaudiosCafe, and @TheChugs.
A “Da Party” reunion was teased a year ago with many assuming it would take place on Wood’s G4 show. Sadly, G4 has shut down. Luckily for “Da Party” fans, Twitch will be the host. This will be their first time playing together since “Chuggs” (Cole) left WWE for AEW last year.
WWE Superstar Xavier Woods is a part of the beta for the upcoming Street Fighter game. AEW star Kenny Omega is as well and they will clash in an upcoming video, presumably on Woods’ UpUpDownDown channel.
Woods and Kenny Omega have battled several times in Street Fighter in years past and will do so again this year. Xavier took to Twitter and shared a clip of Kenny Omega accepting a challenge for a battle in Street Fighter beta.
During the video, Omega told Woods that he is “biting off more than you can chew”.
Don’t Beta shame me, mother father! You’re biting off more than you can chew!!! ROFL
Xavier Woods then responded that Kenny Omega is one to talk about biting.
You’re one to talk about biting…
The former AEW Champion told Woods that the joke was too soon and suggested that the New Day member have some class.
Too soon, man. Have some class, why dontcha?!
Kenny Omega was reportedly bitten by Ace Steel during AEW Brawl Out, the media scrum following the All Out PPV on September 4th. CM Punk had just captured the AEW World Championship for the 2nd time and went on an epic rant in between taking bites of a muffin.
Punk claimed that the AEW EVPs couldn’t manage a target, Hangman Page was empty-headed, and Colt Cabana shared a bank account with his mother in a rant that will always have a special place in wrestling history.
Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston are set to face The Usos this Friday on SmackDown for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships. New Day confronted Jimmy and Jey on last week’s episode of SmackDown and said that they’ve got next if The Usos beat The Brawling Brutes at Crown Jewel.
9 Best Moments From WWE Crown Jewel 2022
Butch & Ridge Holland of The Brawling Brutes put up a good fight at the premium live event but The Usos retained. Jimmy and Jey planted Butch with the 1D off the top rope for the pinfall victory and will defend the titles against New Day on Friday night.
History is on the line this Friday as @WWEUsos defend their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles against The New Day.
If The Usos are victorious, they will be the longest-reigning WWE Tag Team Champions ever, meaning that they would surpass The New Day’s previous record. pic.twitter.com/UDu6ZjapVO
“Prince Pretty” (Breeze), “Mr. OP” (Cesaro), and “Chugs” (Cole) would regularly play Uno together on Woods’s UpUpDownDown YouTube channel. It was dubbed “Da Party Day”. For many viewers, it was a way to cope during the pandemic.
When Cole signed with AEW, “Da Party” as fans knew it was over. They posted a heart-wrenching farewell to “Chugs”.
Last November, they teased a reunion. Fans assumed that it would be on Woods’s G4 show. Unfortunately, G4 has shut down just months after it was relaunched.
Xavier Woods ran a wildly successful campaign amongst wrestling and video games in order to be named a host for the G4 network.
The video game network had recently been revived and was looking for some new personalities to carry the brand forward. Woods got the job and was named the host of “Arena” on the network. Xavier was also recently named the host for “Attack of the Show” on G4 as well.
Comcast Cancels G4TV, Xavier Woods Comments
Unfortunately for fans of G4, the network’s revival was short-lived and has come to an abrupt end.
As reported by Deadline earlier today, Comcast CEO Dave Scott sent out a memo and announced that G4 is immediately being discontinued. Dave explained that the network was being canceled because is it was not financially sustainable.
You can check out the full memo from Comcast CEO Dave Scott below:
Team:
As you know, G4 was re-introduced last year to tap into the popularity of gaming.
We invested to create the new G4 as an online and TV destination for fans to be entertained, be inspired, and connect with gaming content.
Over the past several months, we worked hard to generate that interest in G4, but viewership is low and the network has not achieved sustainable financial results.
This is certainly not what we hoped for, and, as a result, we have made the very difficult decision to discontinue G4’s operations, effective immediately. I know this is disappointing news, and I’m disappointed, too.
I want to thank you and everyone on the G4 team for the hard work and commitment to the network.
Our human resources team is reaching out to you to provide you with support, discuss other opportunities that may be available, and answer any questions you may have.
Thank you again for all of your hard work for G4.
Sincerely,
Dave Scott Chairman and CEO Comcast Spectacor
Xavier Woods sent out the following tweet less than a half hour ago and apparently found out the news on social media.
On a flight currently. Decided to get the wifi so I could shoot a text. Out of habit opened twitter….
On a flight currently. Decided to get the wifi so I could shoot a text. Out of habit opened twitter…. pic.twitter.com/sH8b8txgPi
Forbidden Door has been the trending topic of discussion among fans the last few days. Xavier Woods has now used it to retrieve the UpUpDownDown Championship from a released WWE superstar.
Tyler Breeze had held the YouTube brand’s top title for over 500 days until last year. However, Mia Yim defeated him in April 2021.
The gaming channel then went through an inactive phase. The content creators of the channel went on a strike in solidarity with Woods to get him a better deal for running the whole operation.
Unfortunately for the brand, it was during this time that many of their regulars were released from their WWE contracts due to budget cuts. This included Yim.
Xavier Woods announced the return of UUDD in May this year but the status of the championship remained in question.
Finally yesterday the New Day member noted that he had been trying to get through the Forbidden Door to retrieve the belt. Now Shayna Baszler has gotten the job done:
Woods and company are set to hold a tournament to crown a new UUDD champion on July 2. Baszler has earned herself a spot in it by getting the belt back.
This isn’t the only time the Forbidden Door has been opened by WWE this week. A number of AEW stars appeared on Monday’s Raw. You can check out the reason behind it here.
Xavier Woods can be found each week competing on WWE SmackDown and each month at Premium Live Events, but he’s getting tired of facing Sheamus, Ridge Holland, and Butch.
The feud between Woods and Kofi Kingston against Sheamus, Holland and Butch has been going on for months now and is showing no signs of slowing down.
Recently, the two New Day members have recruited Drew McIntyre into the feud and gave the former WWE Champion a special ‘Big D’ kilt on this week’s SmackDown.
Sharing a clip of the segment on Instagram, Woods took aim at WWE’s repetitive booking.
“King’s log: Yesterday counted the 14th week that we have fought Sheamus, Ridge, and Butch. That’s more than a quarter of this year. Once we are rid of them I can focus on Ricochet and the IC title. But for now we walk for miles inside this pit of danger….”
That last line is in reference to the theme song of Batista, who Woods is a huge fan of.
Woods has had his hands full with Butch, Sheamus, and Holland for most of this year.
The last time Woods faced an opponent in a televised match that wasn’t one of these three men, was on the January 7, 2022 edition of SmackDown on Fox.
The appearance of AEW stars on Attack of the Show this week shouldn’t come as a surprise. The show is shot in Glendale, California and AEW Dynamite will be taking place in Los Angeles tonight (June 1).
It’s likely that Adam Cole will continue his “feud” with Jirard “The Completionist” Khalil, a popular video game YouTuber and Twitch streamer. Cole called Jirard out for a face-to-face meeting at this week’s Dynamite event.
Cole was initially scheduled to compete in a tag team match on Dynamite this week. He ended up being pulled from the match and Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live reported that Cole will be given some time off from in-ring action due to a shoulder injury.
As for Woods, he headlined the May 27 episode of Friday Night SmackDown. He teamed with Drew McIntyre and Kofi Kingston to defeat The Brawling Brutes.
The New Day has been the most successful faction in WWE for years but the original pitch wasn’t exactly hitting home with the group’s members.
Together, Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods have had great success in WWE. They have won tag team gold 11 times. In singles action, Big E and Kofi have both had WWE Championship reigns, while Woods won the 2021 King of the Ring.
The initial pitch for The New Day didn’t exactly give E, Kofi, or Woods the chills but they knew they could knock it out of the part.
Vince McMahon’s Initial Plan For The New Day
Kofi Kingston was a guest on Out of Character with Ryan Satin. During his appearance, Kofi said that Vince McMahon had serious gospel vibes with The New Day when he first pitched the idea (h/t 411Mania.com).
“When we were given the gimmick of positivity preaching preachers, I’ll never forget it. We had been going back and forth with Vince about what we wanted to be. We wanted to be some guys who were not pleased with our positions in the company.
“He’s like, ‘Okay, well, how about you guys be preachers and you guys come out here and there’s gospel music.’ We’re just sitting there and we know that the people are going to reject this idea because nobody comes to WWE to go to church.
“But this is what he wanted us to do. We told him, ‘Whatever you give us, we’ll make it succeed because of our chemistry. We believe in it.’ He’s like, ‘Alright, I’m going to put that to the test. You guys are going be positivity preaching preachers. Go get it over.’
“We’re just like, alright, this is our chance, and we supported each other. There were a lot of people who took a big dump on our aspirations. They didn’t believe in us. They made fun of us when we were just trying to get over.
“But now you fast forward, and those same people have come back around, and they admitted that they were wrong. Not that we do it to prove people wrong, but we proved them wrong.”
Kofi certainly isn’t playing revisionist history. He’s absolutely right when he says people panned The New Day gimmick at first and didn’t think it was going to work. The faction quickly turned things around and has become one of the hottest acts in WWE.
Unfortunately, The New Day is currently down a member. On the March 11 episode of SmackDown, Big E suffered a broken neck after landing awkwardly off an overhead belly-to-belly suplex from Ridge Holland.
E recently gave an update revealing that his recovery has hit a snag due to his C1 not healing the way he had hoped. He’s keeping his neck in a brace for the next month or so in an attempt to avoid fusion surgery.
Xavier Woods has pressed the restart button on UpUpDownDown.
The YouTube gaming channel of the WWE star had been barely active in the last few months. Though it appears that things are going to change soon.
The New Day star posted a video message on the channel on Monday afternoon. He welcomed the fans back with a majestic promo.
The video package saw Xavier Woods discussing the highs and lows of UpUpDownDown. It featured images of stars such as Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, Big E, and more.
Behind The Scene Issues At UpUpDownDown
The gaming channel became inactive in November last year, after the creators stopped working in a show of solidarity with Woods.
The people who worked on the channel believed that the New Day member was being taken advantage of. They wanted WWE to give him a better deal.
The channel had mostly been inactive since then. The only content posted on UpUpDownDown in recent months was related to WWE 2K22.
Back in April WWE officials held a meeting. They confirmed that talents will now be additionally compensated for all revenue they generate through third-party sites.
This latest video from Woods suggests that he may have gotten a new deal too, that will help him be paid more fairly for his work on the channel.
Xavier Woods returned to action at Saturday night’s WWE live event from Jackson, Mississippi.
The New Day member hasn’t wrestled in over two months. He’s been recovering from a leg injury (the plantaris muscle in his calf).
His last match took place on the January 7th edition of SmackDown, when New Day lost a street fight to The Usos. According to Woods, the injury occurred when he delivered a Tornado DDT to Jey Uso. Despite the injury, he was able to finish the match and actually took a Samoan Drop moments after hurting his leg.
Woods said he expected to miss 4-6 weeks of action, but was out for approximately 9 weeks.
At Saturday’s live event, Woods and Kofi Kingston competed in a tag team triple threat match for the SmackDown tag team titles. The Usos retained over New Day and the team of Sheamus & Ridge Holland.
WWE Jackson Results
Here are quick results from WWE Jackson (3/12/22):
Viking Raiders def. Los Lotharios
Shayna Baszler def. Aliyah
Ricochet def. Sami Zayn to retain the Intercontinental championship
Happy Corbin def. Shinsuke Nakamura
The Usos def. New Day and Sheamus/Holland
Sasha Banks & Naomi def. Charlotte Flair & Sonya Deville
Roman Reigns def. Drew McIntyre to retain the Universal Championship
WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston shared that he doubted that KofiMania would happen until his Wrestlemania 35 entrance.
CBS’s Shakiel Mahjouri interviewed Kingston ahead of the Royal Rumble on January 29. Kingston will compete in the Men’s Royal Rumble match to earn a title opportunity at Wrestlemania. During the interview, Mahjouri asked Kingston to reflect on his WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 35 on April 7, 2019. Kingston admitted that he was unsure until that day.
“…It really wasn’t until like I heard my music or rather like when the promotional package right before the match came on I was like oh my god,” said Kingston. He continued, “…I’m looking around making sure no one’s going to come up to me like ‘Oh well, we just changed the plans. Sorry, We are not going to go with you right now, and you know we’re going to do this. Brock Lesnar is going to come in the middle of the match, and you know what I mean, you just have no idea.” Kingston added that Mustafa Ali had a similar situation with Lesnar winning the Money in the Bank match on May 19, 2019.
Kingston also shared that he didn’t want to get his hopes up to be let down by WWE. Luckily for him, the company decided to have Kingston defeat Daniel Bryan to win the WWE Championship.
What’s Next for the New Day
The New Day faction of Kingston, Xavier Woods, and Big E is having a difficult time in the WWE. Woods suffered an injury, and the WWE hasn’t added him to the Men’s Royal Rumble. However, both Kingston and Big E will compete in the match, but it’s unclear if either will win. The former WWE Champion Big E hasn’t won a match since Monday Night Raw on December 6, 2021. Kingston has worked as a singles competitor against Madcap Moss for several weeks. It’s unclear what WWE has planned for The New Day heading into Wrestlemania this year.
It appears that King Xavier Woods might be returning to the WWE TV sooner than first thought and we might see him at the Royal Rumble event as well.
Mike Johnson of the PWinsider recently provided some update on the New Day star who has been off TV due to his injury for the past few weeks.
According to the report, Woods is expected to join the WWE crew back on the road starting this Friday. Though it’s unknown whether he has been cleared for active competition.
The King Of The Ring winner tore his Plantaris muscle during a Street Fight with The Usos on the January 7 episode of SmackDown earlier this month.
At the time it was assessed that Xavier Woods will miss four to six weeks of action. Kofi Kingston had confirmed that he will not be competing in the Royal Rumble.
Though his recovery period is short enough for WWE to keep the New Day member on TV until he gets cleared for in-ring action by the doctors.
Woods won’t be the only unexpected star backstage at SmackDown as reports suggest that several NXT stars are scheduled to be in the arena for the show as well.
Xavier Woods of The New Day revealed on G4’s Attack of the Show that he is dealing with a leg injury suffered during a tag team match on WWE SmackDown last week.
During last Friday’s broadcast, Woods teamed with Kofi Kingston to take on the SmackDown Tag Team Champions, The Usos, in a Street Fight. The Usos were victorious and Woods tore his Plantaris muscle beneath his calf in the process.
Woods revealed that the injury occurred when he delivered a Tornado DDT to Jey Uso. Woods is expected to miss between four and six weeks of action due to the injury, meaning he would miss the Royal Rumble and also possibly the Saudi Arabia event in mid-February.
Despite suffering the injury in the middle of the match, Woods was able to carry through until the finish. He took a Samoan Drop moments after hurting his leg on the Tornado DDT.
WWE has not officially commented on the injury. The Royal Rumble takes place two weeks from now in St. Louis, Missouri. The next event in Saudi Arabia is on Saturday, February 19th. The Rumble is three weeks from when the injury first occurred, making a Woods appearance in that match all the more unlikely.
Check out the Top Rope Nation wrestling podcast for your weekly dose of pro wrestling talk featuring interviews, analysis and exclusive news: Apple – Spotify – YouTube.
In addition to being crowned “King” on WWE TV, Woods also plays host on the revived G4 network. His next gig is hosting a holiday special on Nickelodeon called, Treasure Truck.
TheWrap is reporting that Xavier Woods has agreed to host Treasure Truck. The show will see four families compete to win gift prizes. It wouldn’t be a Nickelodeon special without slime, of course.
As of late, Woods has developed a reputation for being a solid host when it comes to gaming. He definitely seems to be branching out a bit more with this new gig at Nickelodeon.
Woods garnered success with the UpUpDownDown YouTube channel but there has reportedly been tension in that area. It was reported by Fightful that the content creators of UpUpDownDown have halted production as there is a sense that WWE is taking advantage of Woods’ hard work on the channel.
Woods surprised some when he told SportsKeeda that if he were to be released by WWE, he’d simply say, ‘Deuces, it’s been a fun ride.’
For others, his response wasn’t surprising as Woods has carved a niche for himself outside the wrestling business.
Adam Cole, Xavier Woods, Tyler Breeze, and Cesaro are known to video game fans as Da Party. Their frequent gaming adventures were dealt a blow this year, however, after two members of the group left WWE. Tyler Breeze was released and Adam Cole signed with AEW after his WWE contract expired.
Recently, members of Da Party have been teasing a reunion. They took to social media using the hashtags #DaParty and #DaPartyForever yesterday.
Xavier Woods recently commented that a Da Party reunion could take place on his G4 show when it begins next year.
“Being linked to WWE where anything can happen, G4 would be a great place to interact with other wrestling talent from anywhere,” Woods said to Cinema Blend recently.
“I’m hoping that it is a means to create more content with more people that you normally wouldn’t see us creating content with.”
“I’m not sure the ins and outs of things like that, but I am definitely hoping that we see a little bit of [holds up Adam Cole t-shirt]…some of that. So if we can re-link up with some Da Party stuff, that’d be great.”
WWE will be producing Woods’ show on the rebooted G4 network.
Included in that list were the remaining members of Hit Row, John Morrison, Tegan Nox, Drake Maverick, Shane Thorne, and Jaxson Ryker.
Xavier Woods Saddened By WWE Releases
A clip quickly surfaced online of Woods looking at his phone during a G4 live stream. The 2021 King of The Ring winner then got up from the couch and walked off.
“Yeah, it sucks dude. It sucks cause those people are my friends and some of those guys didn’t even get a chance to have a match on TV. So, it always sucks hearing that news.
“I saw that floating around too, somebody sent it to me and I legit actually didn’t take a second cause I knew we still had an hour left of the live stream.
“That is my job, I have to do my job but I also have to check on my friends and make sure that people are okay. And I’m not trying to say like, ‘Me, me,’ like no, it’s just, obviously, it happens.
“It’s a job, it happens everywhere but it doesn’t make it suck any less when you’re not working with your friends anymore.”
Please H/T SEScoops with a link if you use any quotes from this article
With WWE releasing people like Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt, it appears no one is safe in the roster. Though Xavier Woods doesn’t seem too worried about getting axed.
The 2021 King Of The Ring winner recently had an interview with SportsKeeda. He was asked how he would react if he was released from the promotion.
Replying to it, Woods mentioned how he has been able to achieve a lot of things in WWE. He explained that he wouldn’t be mad if the officials decide to let him go after the King Of The Ring win.
“So, as far as wrestling with New Day, we’ve been able to accomplish so many things as a tag team, and that’s been my focus as a kid. I love tag team wrestling, and I love King of the Ring. So, as far as wrestling goals, now I’m on bonus time.”
Deuces, it has been a fun ride!
Xavier Woods already knows how he would react if WWE fired him.
“If they would have been like, ‘Hey, you won King of the Ring,’ and they came back and hit me with the ‘You’re fired,’ I would have been like, ‘Okay, deuces, it has been a fun ride.”
The New Day star also talked about his singles run. He claimed that he is getting to do his best to create things every week in his solo run.
Woods explained that his goal is to attempt to bring something different to the table for fans every time they see him. We will see if the people like it.
Xavier Woods is hoping to use his new gig on the rebooted G4 network to stage on-screen reunions with wrestlers unaffiliated with WWE.
Woods, Adam Cole, Tyler Breeze, and Cesaro previously streamed as Da Party. The group unofficially disbanded when Adam Cole left WWE and signed with AEW.
The King of WWE is now teasing that G4 would be a great place to reunite Da Party. We could also see other talent from outside WWE on that program.
“Being linked to WWE where anything can happen, G4 would be a great place to interact with other wrestling talent from anywhere,” Woods said to Cinema Blend recently.
Non-WWE Talent on Xavier Woods’ G4 Show
WWE will be producing Woods’ show on the G4 network.
“I’m hoping that it is a means to create more content with more people that you normally wouldn’t see us creating content with.”
“I’m not sure the ins and outs of things like that, but I am definitely hoping that we see a little bit of [holds up Adam Cole t-shirt]…some of that. So if we can re-link up with some Da Party stuff, that’d be great.”
Perhaps an avid gamer like Kenny Omega could show up Woods’ show.
Don’t expect Big E to collide with Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods anytime soon.
Big E is the reigning WWE Champion. He may not be on the same brand as his New Day brothers, but the bond certainly hasn’t been broken.
This is why you shouldn’t hold your breath on the three men clashing.
Big E Won’t Fight New Day Members
Scott Warren of RN Pro Wrestling got to chat with Big E during WWE’s European tour. The WWE Champion explained why a triple threat match with Kofi and Woods simply wouldn’t work.
“No, no, no, no, no. We’ve talked about this before and I think we’d be giggling the whole time. Imagine me putting in a headlock on Kofi.
“I would just be laughing. Like, ‘Kofi, I got you in a headlock. Isn’t this funny?'”
Big E agreed with Warren, who said it would be like brothers trying not to crack during a serious moment.
“Exactly. No, no, no. There’s so many other things that we can do as a collective together against other people. We don’t really wanna see that.”
As WWE Champion, Big E has a target on his back. As of late, he’s been having issues with number one contender Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens.
The content creators of UpUpDownDown are apparently unhappy with the way WWE is treating Xavier Woods and they want a better deal for the New Day member.
Only two short-length videos have been posted on the gaming YouTube channel over the course of the past three weeks. This had made fans wonder about behind the scene rift among the minds running the channel.
The content creators have stopped producing videos in a show of solidarity to Woods, according to FightFul.
The creators reportedly feel that WWE is taking advantage of King Xavier and they want company officials to give him a better financial arrangement for the show.
Xavier Woods started the UpUpDownDown channel by himself in 2015. He later sold it to WWE but he has continued to be the face of the brand.
People involved with the channel believe that the SmackDown star has been the key force behind the growth of the brand and he should be rewarded for that.
Though the report notes that it doesn’t mean the channel is done. Things may return to normal in terms of content production once the situation is ‘rectified.’
There is no word yet on how WWE officials or Woods himself is reacting to the news. We will keep you posted on any development with the story.
Xavier Woods has earned his biggest accomplishment to date as far as singles competition is concerned.
Woods has been a member of The New Day since the group debuted back in 2014. In fact, he started the trio on WWE TV by bringing Big E and Kofi Kingston together. While Woods is the mastermind behind The New Day, he hasn’t had the singles success that E and Kingston have enjoyed. Finally, Woods has gotten his due.
Xavier Woods made it to the finals of the King of the Ring tournament. The lone obstacle left to win the tournament was Finn Balor. The two collided at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia. Woods picked up the win, realizing his dream of becoming the King of the Ring.
In a WWE backstage interview, Woods had trouble describing just how surreal this moment is for him.
“I don’t know, it’s just this weird new feeling. Which is weird because I’m 17 years in and I have a new feeling and that’s really cool. Almost 20 years in wrestling; since I was 17. This is the only real thing — this and tag team stuff. Love tag team wrestling. This is the only singles accolade that I’ve ever cared about. Titles are cool. Even that white leather IC title is so dope, but I only care about this. Like you know that you can do something, and you know that it’s possible but there’s something in your head that says, ‘This will never happen. This is a pipe dream. You’ve done well enough. Be happy with what you have.’ So, I don’t know, I guess I never actually really believed that would actually ever happen for me.”
In Woods’ mind, he has reached the mountain top in terms of singles matches. Big E and Kingston captured the WWE Championship, but for Woods, winning the King of the Ring is what he truly wanted.
WWE held the King of the Ring and Queen’s Crown tournament finals at this year’s Crown Jewel pay-per-view event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
On the King of the Ring side of things, Xavier Woods vs. Finn Balor went down. The back and forth match ended when Woods fought back and hit an elbow drop off the top rope.
Regarding Queen’s Crown, Doudrop vs. Zelina Vega took place. The match featured Vega controlling the action with Dewdrop fighting back throughout it. They did some near falls before Vega hit a Code Red for the win. The match went nearly six minutes.
The first round matches of the Queen’s Crown tournament saw Vega beat Toni Storm, Carmella defeat Liv Morgan, Doupdrop go over Natalya and Shayna Baszler over Dana Brooke. The semi-finals saw Vega beat Carmella and Dewdrop defeat Natalya.
For the King of the Ring, Sami Zayn beat Rey Mysterio, Finn Balor over Cesaro, Jinder Mahal defeat Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods over Ricochet in the first round. The semi-finals were Woods beating Mahal and Balor beating Zayn.
This was the first-ever Queen’s Crown tournament that WWE has held up to this point. All the way back to August 2019, Bayley was one person in WWE that publicly made it known she would like to see a Queen Of The Ring tournament. Two years later, WWE started making progress towards this by coming up with the Queen’s Crown name by filing a trademark for it.
On the flip side, WWE previously held the King of the Ring tournament in 2019 with Baron Corbin being crowned king.
