The New Day picked up a victory over the LWO on the February 24 episode of WWE Monday Night Raw. They continued the beatdown after the match, further pushing their heel turn. There was a time when The New Day angle was one of the hottest, if not the hottest in all of WWE. That time has changed, as the angle and all the momentum Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods held has stalled.
Rewind the clock to August/September 2024. Kingston and Woods were going back and forth each week, setting up what could have been the most dramatic team split since Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty took a trip to a barbershop. It was the split no one wanted to see, but one that everyone predicted was coming.
The turn on Big E was something else though. It was the perfect way to get the nastiest levels of heat on two men who are widely loved across professional wrestling. And it worked. These two were getting harassed by fans every time they held a microphone and every time they posted on social media. WWE turned them but then did nothing with them.
Starting in August 2024, the duo has two wins on television and several losses as singles performers. They haven’t been on a PLE since 2024 when they were in the six-pack ladder match for the tag team titles at WrestleMania 39. That’s simply not enough for a duo that WWE seemingly has big plans for with this character change.
Where is The New Day Heading Now?
Woods and Kingston picked up a victory over the LWO. Fantastic, but what is next? Are they due for a tag match against Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee? While that would be fun, that match doesn’t do much for either man. Mysterio and Lee may be fan favorites, but they aren’t contenders in the tag team division.
The War Raiders are there as WWE World Tag Team Champions on Monday Night Raw. Fans are hoping this duo can lead a revitalization of tag team wrestling in WWE, but that’s a huge hill to climb. Pitting The New Day against them as top opponents would be fun, especially when looking at the history between the two teams.
But again, WWE hasn’t prioritized the tag team titles as they rarely appear on weekly shows and are especially vacant from PLEs. Will The New Day as champions be a driving factor in changing that? Perhaps, but there are more questions to ask when it comes to the number of Black men appearing on WWE PLEs. But that’s a further conversation for another piece.
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods are two popular names across all professional wrestling. WWE had fan interest locked in on them both, then opted to not do much with them in the months that followed. What should have been a main angle on the show has stalled and it is going to take work to fix this issue.