WWE SummerSlam 2016: Why New Day’s End Could Begin at the PPV

The New Day have had a great Tag Team Championship run lasting for one year. However, there’s a very good chance that their time together could begin to end at SummerSlam.

There’s a storyline injury heading into the SummerSlam with the group’s big man Big E on the shelf with a groin injury due to a heinous attack from Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson. He’s not really hurt, but it’s a way to paint the picture that he’s not going to be a part of the match. Perhaps he’ll return to be in the corner of Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston. At this point that isn’t known.

Is there a chance that New Day retains the titles? Sure, of course there is. It just seems like the right time to do a change since Gallows & Anderson can move on to feuding with Enzo Amore & Big Cass for the tag titles in the near future. What the title loss could mean is that the New Day’s nearly two year run of fun may come to an end and if it does, it’s important to think back to the better times.

When I attended the Extreme Rules 2015 pay-per-view event in Chicago, it was pretty telling when the crowd chanted “New Day Rocks” as soon as we got into the building. This was when they were starting to get momentum as heels. They ended up beating Cesaro & Tyson Kidd for the titles, which was a bit of a surprise.

Following that first Tag Team Title reign, they lost the titles a couple months later and won them back at SummerSlam 2015 to begin this year long reign. They were very entertaining as heels, but the crowd loved them so much  that they turned. That turn happened around WrestleMania and ever since then they’ve been one of WWE’s most popular acts.

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Speaking of WrestleMania, they had a memorable entrance as they emerged from a giant box of “Booty Os” cereal. The group became so popular that they apparently sold more merchandise than any WWE performers during WrestleMania weekend and part of the reason that they turned face was because of the merchandise they were able to sell. If you check out WWEShop, there’s all kinds of New Day merch available. That’s a reason to keep them face long term, but it doesn’t mean it will happen.

The good news about the WWE brand split is that the company can take their time telling stories. If somebody is going to turn heel or face it can be built up over a few months since Raw talent is only on television once per week. If this New Day split does happen it’s probably going to take some time for them to really go their separate ways.

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At SummerSlam, let’s say that Gallows & Anderson find a way to beat Woods & Kingston for the titles. The next night on Raw, Big E could return to television saying how it feels weird without the titles, but they are confident they can win them again because he’ll be ready for the rematch at the Raw PPV called Clash of Champions on September 25. Then they lose that match. After that, where does the group go? The breakup is the next logical step.

It makes sense to turn somebody heel to end the group. Big E would be a wise choice as the lone heel because he could be angry about how they lost the titles without him. Plus, he’s the biggest guy in the group and we all know WWE tends to favor the guys with the bigger muscles. That’s just how they operate. Kingston or Woods could turn heel too, but Big E just makes the most sense as the angry big guy that wants to see what he can do on his own.

One of the big problems with the New Day group possibly ending is that it would leave a big hole in the tag team division. It’s easy for somebody to create a new team with other performers and hope that team can be successful, but that’s far from a sure thing. That’s why if they’re going to do a split, they need to take their time with it rather than doing it suddenly.

There’s a famous saying that goes as follows: “All good things must come to an end.”

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For The New Day, as much as we may hate it, Sunday night at SummerSlam could be the beginning of the end of their good thing.