Admit it, you didn’t like the New Day when they started out. Maybe it was because they were trying so hard to make you like them. You might have even been one of those people who chanted, “New Day Sucks.”
Now, you can’t get enough of them. Their appearance on RAW is among the highlights of the show every week. It’s all “New Day Rocks,” and, well, unicorns and rainbows.
“We were able to turn people’s emotions,” Kofi Kingston, of the New Day, said. “That’s one of the most powerful things you can do as a WWE Superstar. At the very base level, that’s what we do. We feed people’s emotions.”
That doesn’t mean it was easy. Kingston says the group of he, Big E and Xavier Woods spent five months working with WWE boss Vince McMahon to get time on television. “That’s a struggle nobody will ever see,” Kingston said.
When the group finally debuted as a trio of sort of gospel preachers, the act was panned as racist and stereotypical. The New Day are among the 13 African-American performers on the WWE main roster. Kingston says the initial product was “not what we wanted to do at all; it was not our vision.”
“(The reaction) was almost like being spit in the face because we had worked so hard to get on television and then to be rejected by the very people that we are trying to please was insulting, disheartening, angering,” Kingston said. “It was very frustrating at times. … But we knew with the chemistry we had with each other, we knew we could make it work. To say that we did that was an understatement.”
Through their own mix of the “power of positivity,” the chemistry formed among the three men by hours spent on the road and a heavy dose of pop culture references, the New Day has become the most entertaining act on the show.
This week, the New Day became the longest-reigning tag team champions in WWE history, eclipsing a mark of 478 days set by Demolition from March 1988 to July 1999.
“I’ve always been a WWE fan, and one of my goals when I was a young person was to hold every single WWE championship,” Kingston says. “You always have these lofty goals as a young person, I don’t think anyone strives to be the longest reigning champion of anything.”
But here they are.
The New Day defends the titles against Sheamus and Cesaro on Sunday night on the RAW-exclusive “Roadblock: End of the Line” from Pittsburgh (8 p.m. ET, WWE Network).
Kingston spent time with For The Win this week to talk about the journey of the New Day, his partners, the group’s new book and the racial dynamic at work with the WWE’s five African-American champions.
You were more established in the company than Big E or Woods when the New Day came together. Was there any reluctance on your part to get involved?
They were going to be together. They came up through the developmental program. It was Woods’ brainchild to have three guys who were not really happy with their positions in the company. We joke about how he had like the worst debut of all time when he was R-Truth’s friend. R-Truth would say that’s my friend over there and then it was basically back to my match. He never got the chance to really shine. E was at a point in his career where he was having matches with Wade Barrett and they were giving Barrett all the mic time. He saw his career going in a certain way that happens all too often when you’re being kind of forgotten about. I was in the same boat. I wanted to switch things up. I’d been doing the same thing for a long time and getting on that stale pathway. I was approached by them because they were looking for a third guy with the idea of having three guys who were legitimately upset with where they are in the company at that point at time. I was immediately on board and wanted to do it.
We started riding together for about six months and getting to know each other. We found we had a lot of things in common. We are three college graduates, we all like video games, we all like sports. We just have a similar philosophy on the way we look at life. There was instant jelling and chemistry right off the bat. Riding together on these long drives we were able to develop that chemistry, which is what comes out on the mic and in the ring. We know each other so well that we finish each other’s sentences. That is real chemistry. A lot of times there are some tag teams with guys put together randomly — and I’ve been on some of those teams — and you kind of make it work. It either flourishes or flops. What we have is a really natural and entertaining chemistry that is very, very real.
Where was the turning point for the New Day?
We talk about the cool towns, the towns that want to cheer for the bad guy. We were good guys and we were facing Cesaro and Kidd in Philadelphia in November 2014. Everyone in Philly wanted to chant for them. We had kind of had it. We poured so much of our heart and soul into and to be rejected really angered us. That allowed us to play on the emotions of the people. That was the real turning point.
People wanted us to be bad guys. They booed us. There is a blurred line as to who is good and who is bad, but it’s really who the people decide is good and who the people decide is quote-unquote bad. They just didn’t like us at all. We inadvertently became the bad guys and we took that ball and ran with it. We owe a debt of gratitude to the people for doing that.
For me, at that point in my career, I had never had a chance to be on that side of the coin. I had always been a good guy. People were cheering for me and my high flying moves and my athletic prowess, etc., and I got a chance to go to the other side. It was awesome and something I always wanted to do.
The pursuit of the record has been a key element in the storylines recently. With the record accomplished, what’s next?
We always said that we were going to be champions until the end of time. That remains our goal to be champions until the end of time or until we choose to relinquish these titles. Every time we step out there, we are trying to top ourselves and outdo ourselves and really stay fresh. The key to being a successful WWE superstar is being able to adapt. We did it from coming out and being hated to being loved to being champions to being the longest reigning champions. We always have our finger on the pulse of pop culture. We keep that involved in what we say and what we do. By doing that, we are able to stay relevant and entertaining. The New Day is going to keep on doing what the New Days does best and that’s entertaining the masses in the way only the New Day can.
Big E’s tweet with the hashtag #BlackExcellence and a photo of the New Day, women’s champion Sasha Banks and cruiswerweight champion Rich Swann got a lot of attention this week. You responded with a post that said, “It does not come from a place of malice, spite, or gloating. It comes from a place of joy and a place of happiness.” What compelled you to respond?
I don’t think there has ever been point in this company where there have been that many African-American champions. It’s a very important moment. Everyone knows the history of our nation. There was a point in time when this would have never happened. It means a lot to us to be the guys – and the woman – to be in the situation right now. It’s a testament to how far we’ve come.
When you hear people talk about race, people all of sudden get defensive. Well, if you would have put #WhiteExcellence there, you would have been run out of town and would have gotten banned and blah, blah, blah. It wasn’t about that … If someone wants to be proud of who they are, how far they’ve come and journey they’ve traveled then by all means. We’d be very, very supportive of it. That’s what we were trying to convey, not just us as a people but us a nation.
There’s a lot of negativity surrounding race relations. We’re very quick to want to point that out in the media. It’s important to point out the positive things. This is a very, very, very positive time for race, for us as a nation and really a testament to how far we’ve come. We are five black champions and we’re proud of that. We have sense of pride we hold to let everybody else know who might be a situation who thinks they can’t get ahead because of the color of their skin that look at us to be the guiding light and shining example of yes you can. It doesn’t just apply to us as black people. It applies to any race. You can achieve anything no matter what color you are. We feel like we had a social responsibility to let everybody know that you can have success regardless of race, background, whatever. If you believe in yourself, you can. We found it very important to convey that to people who might need to hear it.
Courtesy of WWE
WWE announced a hardcover book from the New Day coming out in April called “The Book of Booty: Shake It. Love It. Never Be It.” What can you tell me about it?
It’s going to be great. I can’t really get into the details. We were approached with an idea and when it does come out, people will be really excited with the product. We can’t wait. The final product will be epic. We hold ourselves to a very, very high standard. Because this is our first literary endeavor, we need to make sure it’s right and it’s correct, but we can’t wait for people to see it.
You have been with WWE for 10 years since signing in developmental. That is much longer than the average. Do you think that’s due to the different roles you’ve played?
It’s wild, especially now. I remember coming in the locker room and being the young guy. … All of a sudden, I start looking around, and I’m like one of the oldest guys in the room. It’s crazy. I’m very fortunate to have been able to adapt. … They didn’t give me a lot of mic time early in my career and that has actually helped extend my career because nobody knew Kofi Kingston could talk until we started doing this thing with the New Day. It’s become a new layer that I was able to deliver on. We have to figure out what’s next with the New Day guys, but with Xavier and Big E, we’re going to keep on doing this fo