Big E on Creative Freedom in WWE, Influence of Social Media

IT’S A NEW DAY, YES IT IS! Big E, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods. A recipe for perfection. Dynamic, interesting gimmick, fans love them.

According to WrestlingInc, during the recent tour of India for WWE, Big E spoke with ‘NDTV Gadgets 360’ on the influence of social media and how much creative freedom The New Day has in WWE.

Big E was first asked about creative freedom in WWE. As most fans should know, WWE has a list of writers who produce each show, character and storylines. Unless trusted by the higher ups, it is unlikely that a talent will get the opportunity to produce their own promos or modify those given to them.

“We have a long leash for sure. That’s taken time to get trust from the higher ups and people of importance. But yeah, we don’t write everything. A lot of times we’re given scripts and we disagree with the script’s directions and we have some leniency to retool. A lot of times it’s ‘hey we need an overhaul and none of it works’ and sometimes it’s just a few tweaks here and there.

“We’ve been very fortunate. A lot of talent really don’t have that ability to just say ‘hey I want to rewrite this promo’ but it’s really helped us. And one thing we’ve noticed too is that as much as we – as a company – try to attach ourselves to pop culture, we felt also that a lot times they were a little outdated or a little bit, outside of their window of freshness.”

Big E also spoke about how influential New Day has become through various forms of social media. Nowadays, most people use some form of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat. New Day wanted to utilize this to create a more ‘current’ product for the WWE Universe.

“We’re on Twitter, we’re on Instagram, we like viral videos. It’s something we felt was needed in WWE. Something that was contemporary, something that was just hot on Instagram or Twitter or when Vine was still a thing, we wanted to implement that stuff immediately. Cause that’s the stuff we were just in the car buzzing over that made us laugh so why not use that the next day? I still vividly remember the hubbub over the Steph Curry shoes happened and when we talked in the car I think, it was a day later and we were in New Orleans and Kofi was all like ‘alright I gotta get these shoes’ and we wore them on TV and then we had to clown them for it.

“But it’s things like that people enjoy. People want stuff that’s up to date, that feels current, that feels fresh, that’s in the zeitgeist, that’s still being talked about so that’s an element that we’ve tried to use to separate ourselves and we take a lot of pride in that.”

The New Day returned to WWE programming via ‘Talking Smack‘ last week, where Xavier Woods announced the birth of his child. This past ‘Smackdown Live,’ The New Day made their anticipated debut to be announced as the number one contenders for The Usos’ WWE Smackdown Live Tag Team Championship.

The New Day returns with a warning for The Usos: SmackDown LIVE, May 30, 2017

Editor’s Note:

Big E and The New Day in general are amazing. I love what they said, because I find it so telling. All three members of The New Day are amazing talents. I’ve always thought Big E never got his chance with the ‘5 count,’ Xavier couldn’t reach his potential in his previous gimmick and Kofi Kingston has been severely underrated in my opinion his entire career.

What do you think of what Big E had to say? Should The New Day have full control over everything they do? Sound off in the comments below, or over on our Facebook page or Twitter account. Additionally, you can follow me at @SOSNH1995 on Twitter if you so desire.