Celebrating a decade: The Top 5 New Day Moments

Close your eyes and imagine that you are back in high school. You come in, sit down, and prepare yourself for the day ahead. As a few minutes go by, you look at your fellow classmates enter the room, and do the exact same thing that you do. You have the quiet kids, the popular ones, the athletes, and the outsiders filing their way in. Eventually, the class lights up with energy as a group of guys poke their heads in and start the day by cracking endless jokes at your and everyone else's expense! You don't know whether to laugh with them or cry due to being put on the spot. You finally get a sense of relief from the teacher telling them to knock it off as they bring focus back to the class, but you know that somehow that group of class clowns might target you again.

Now in your life, those guys might not have a name anymore, but in wrestling, that is the stable known as The New Day. Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, and Big E took their athletic talents and sense of humor and turned it into gold, becoming the most accomplished stable in modern wrestling history. Though they made fans laugh and cry along the way, they meant business in the squared circle, and their spirit of positivity in the midst of hard times inspires joy in the wrestling fandom. In this tribute to the team who will never be booty, three moments were not enough, so we needed a Top 5!

5) The New Day vs. The Usos-SmackDown Tag Team Championship-SummerSlam Kickoff, August 20, 2017

In 2016, The New Day broke new ground by becoming the longest reigning Tag Team Champions in WWE history. After a year of feuding with the likes of The OC (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson), The Bar (Sheamus and Claudio Castagnoli (FKA Cesaro)) and Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens, they would go on to be drafted to SmackDown Live and begin a feud that would change the course of their careers.

The stable would cross paths with a more aggressive version of The Usos, Jimmy and Jey. As their feud grew more intense, it became must-see television on the Blue Brand. Though the fandom showed great appreciation for this rivalry at the time, the sentiment seemed different backstage as Xavier Woods and Big E were scheduled to defend their SmackDown Tag Team titles against The Usos on the SummerSlam 2017 Kickoff show. The sentiment at this time was that the kickoff show was a step down from the actual premium live event card. Both teams took this placement as a challenge to perform on a level that deserved top billing on a Big Four event.

Between the isolation game that Jimmy and Jey were playing with a locked-in Xavier, the strength showcase of Big E, and the strategic tag chemistry of both teams, this match was a master class in tag team wrestling. Woods and Big E were greatly impressed by using each other as weapons, and the twins took advantage of every opening they had to become the new tag team champions. With this match, they breathed new life into a division that deserved more respect.

4) Big Meaty Men Slapping Meat! - The New Day: Feel The Power, January 20, 2020

Remember that sense of humor that was mentioned in the beginning? That came in full swing on the January 20, 2020 episode of the WWE podcast The New Day: Feel the Power. On an episode that featured one of Big E's college friends Rashad Dunn, the Money in the Bank winner answered a fan question about a dream match. What would follow would go down in wrestling meme history for years to come.

In his animated way, Big E described the type of match he would want to have with WWE Hall of Famer and WCW legend Goldberg. He dismissed the average online descriptions of a great match and gave a simple answer to the type of match he watched wrestling for. "Big Men! Bumping Meat! That's why I'm here! Big Meaty Men Slapping Meat!" This sent Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Rashad, and wrestling fans as a whole into a laughing fit. In the years since this phrase has been featured on t-shirts and used to describe matches where heavyweights clash. Though this started as a joke between friends, it wound up giving the wrestling community a moment full of honest joy.

3. Kofi and Big E Take a Knee for Black Lives-SmackDown, June 12, 2020

On a summer day in 2020, the American public was horrified by the unjust murder of George Floyd by a former Minneapolis police officer. This caused an outpour of emotion from various communities, but African Americans were dealt with yet another devastating loss of life. As celebrities spoke out and organizations took accountability for their problematic pasts, WWE did the same by condemning the tragedy and standing by their Black athletes and staff. The New Day used their podcast to poignantly address their anger, sadness, frustration, and fears as Black men living in the United States.

They also used their voices in a potent way on television. As Kingston and Big E made their entrance before their match with Shinsuke Nakamura and Claudio Castagnoli (FKA Cesaro), the two SmackDown Tag Team champions kneeled in the squared circle with their fists raised. This moment harkened back to Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics and Colin Kaepernick during the 2016 NFL season. This moment was further immortalized on a t-shirt where the proceeds benefitted the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. As Kofi and Big E used their voices to speak truth, they proved that athletes do not have to leave their identities and issues behind once they reach success.

2) The New Day vs. The Usos Rap Battle with Wale, SmackDown Live, July 4, 2017

Hip-hop and wrestling are a match made in Heaven. Just ask The New Day, Jimmy and Jey Uso and Diamond-selling rapper and wrestling connoisseur Wale. During their white-hot feud over the SmackDown Live Tag Team titles, both teams decided to hash out their differences in a Rap battle on Independence Day.

Though these teams were not trained lyricists, the bars they offered were equal parts hilarious and scathing. Big E began the battle by throwing shade at Jimmy and Jey's father Rikishi, but Jimmy and Jey hit below the belt by delivering a certain line to Xavier Woods (if you know, you know) and by insinuating that Big E's famous chest was equivalent to a woman's. Though Kofi would try to bounce back and The Usos roasted Kingston for his early Jamaican character, former King of the Ring Woods would deliver a set of bars that made Jimmy and Jey falter. "You and your brother, you're tag champs; you turned the Universe into believers. But please always remember: you were absolutely nothin' 'til your wife put you on Total Divas! I said, y'all should get back to doing what you do best, and that's carrying bags for who? That's carrying bags for Roman!"

Jimmy and Jey were so angry that they broke Wale's rule of no physical violence and lost the battle. This moment was so iconic that it was given its own page on the lyric and pop culture website Genius! Though The New Day was mostly known for being goofy and fun, they stood on business when it came to dissing their opponents. Drop the Mic!

1) KofiMania, Wrestlemania 35, April 7, 2019

A crown can have many jewels, but usually there is one that truly stands out amongst the others. Kofi Kingston's journey towards the WWE Championship is the rare diamond in the crown of The New Day's legacy. For years, Kingston had served as a workhorse who had won multiple championships and given the wrestling fandom memorable moments in the Royal Rumble, but never quite got to the top of the mountain.

It took a twist of fate at Elimination Chamber and the voices of the wrestling community to make WWE consider the idea of Kofi Kingston being the top champion. After unfairly being knocked out of multiple chances to become a contender, it took the brotherhood of Xavier and Big E to push Kingston to what he truly deserved. They would battle multiple tag teams in a gauntlet match on SmackDown for Kofi to get his title shot against Bryan Danielson (FKA Daniel Bryan) at the Showcase of the Immortals. With the encouragement of Woods and E who saw him as a pioneer for their careers, Kofi fought doubt and underlying microaggressions to make his dream a reality.

When Kingston hit his Trouble in Paradise to Danielson and the referee counted to three, the arena erupted in absolute joy. Byron Saxton gave the call of his career as he watched his fellow brothers celebrate and other pioneers such as MVP and the late Shad Gaspard tearfully absorbed the moment from afar. Kofi's win broke glass ceilings not only for himself, but for other Black and African stars to rise to the top like Woods as King of the Ring and Big E as a Money in the Bank winner and champion as well.

WWE does not have a dominant run out of Bobby Lashley as WWE Champion during the Thunderdome era without Kofimania. Bianca Belair and Mercedes Moné do not main event Wrestlemania 37 without Kofimania. Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams do not become the first Black male main event during Philadelphia's Wrestlemania weekend without Kofimania. This is the magnum opus of The New Day's legacy and regardless of how Kingston's reign ended, it will always stand the test of time as a pivotal moment in wrestling history.