KB’s Review: E Pluribus New Day

New Day probably shouldn’t have lasted as long as they have. The team formed just shy of four years ago and their original run was, uh, bad. They didn’t get over for a good while and even then it was just through force of will. Once they caught fire though, it was off to the races as they became one of the most successful teams in WWE history. The team is going to go into the Hall of Fame one day, but what about singles success for the three members? That’s where things might be headed and we should be getting to find out what that means in just a few weeks.

Last month, New Day won a match to earn a single spot in the upcoming Money in the Bank ladder match. However, the question became which member would be getting the spot. You could make cases for all three of them, but it was clear that only one would be going in. With eleven days to go before the pay per view, we still don’t know which member is going to be included in the ladder match and I can’t imagine that’s going to be announced until the match is ready to start.

A New Day it is.

A New Day is coming: Raw, Nov.3, 2014

So who should get in? Well that’s what we’re going to be looking at today. There’s a good chance that you have an initial answer and that it makes the most sense given a variety of reasons, but I don’t think it’s as simple as it sounds. Today we’re going to give each member of the team a chance and see which one would be the best fit in the match, taking into account their past, present and future (well at least potential future) status. This might not be as simple as you think.

We’ll start with Xavier Woods, the brains of the team. Now this one seems to be the least likely as Woods doesn’t exactly have the strongest in-ring career (though he’s certainly not terrible by any means), but he does a good bit of the talking in New Day. He’s shown that he can hang on the mic with anyone else and at the end of the day, that’s more important than the in-ring abilities. If nothing else, what does Woods have that can bring him up above the rest of the team, other than his talking abilities? Well there are two major things actually, and both of them would be enough to give him a second look.

First of all, there’s Up Up Down Down. If there’s one thing that WWE loves to do, it’s to tie things together into pop culture. Woods already has a pretty successful YouTube gaming channel and it’s gotten him a few steps into the gaming world. It’s not the biggest thing in the world, but at the same time it’s something that can give them a new outlet into a different world. Woods can bring in some different fans, which is the same thing they seem interested in with Total Divas and Total Bellas. If they can bring in those fans, why not gaming fans? They certainly seem to be more likely to be wrestling fans, so take a shot.

The other thing though is Woods’ education, which now includes a doctorate in educational psychology. It’s one thing to have someone with a college degree (both Kingston and Big E. have a bachelor’s degree each) but to go all the way to a doctorate is quite the thing to brag about. If WWE wants to look that much more impressive, having a talented wrestler with a Ph.D. is quite the way to make themselves go a step beyond the regular wrestler stereotypes. That might seem like a stretch, but it’s certainly something that could have some value later on.

Even if he’s in over his head, he’s smart while it lasts.

John Cena vs. Xavier Woods - United States Championship Match: Raw, Sept. 28, 2015

Then we’ll move on to the power of the team with Big E. This is one where the potential is so strong that it’s hard to fathom how he didn’t pan out on a much bigger level. Big E. took NXT by storm and was brought up to the main roster where he had a single Intercontinental Championship reign but never did anything beyond that. New Day saved his career and now the charisma and star power that his fans have known was there for a long time now.

The key thing with Big E. can be summed up by a tweet of his from a few years back (paraphrased): “When you look like me, you don’t have to sound very smart to surprise people.” The thing is, Big E. is capable of putting on a very good performance either in the ring or on the microphone. He’s someone you could pull something out of at any given moment and it could be fascinating to see how far he could go if he was given the chance.

The final thing about Big E. is how different he’s been over the years. It could be just the power guy, the odd unstoppable monster who sent the Shield running on his own, or the ball of charisma that has been the fun part of the New Day. I’m not sure if he could ever be a World Champion or anything, but a singles push really wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility, even if it’s several years later.

This should have been a big start.

Big E Langston vs. Curtis Axel - Intercontinental Title Match: Raw, Nov. 18, 2013

That leaves us with the most successful member of the team in Kofi Kingston. I know this is the kind of guy where it seems like the biggest layup in the world because Kingston is always presented as the singles member of the team. He’s already one of the most decorated wrestlers in WWE history and he’s basically the modern day Tito Santana: he can wrestle a great match with anyone and makes them look better in the process. After everything he’s done, he’s more than worthy of a World Title run and I’d be disappointed if he retires without getting at least a close shot at the title, hopefully in a nice short reign.

However, there are two big things against Kingston. First up, he’s going to be thirty seven years old this year (Big E. turned thirty two this year and Woods will be the same age later this year) and has been in WWE for about twelve years now. A lot of fans, myself included, think he should have been moved into the World Title scene back in 2008 during his feud with Randy Orton but for one reason or another it never happened. The key here though is Kingston’s age, which isn’t going to do him any favors, especially in the long term.

At the other end of the spectrum, Kingston doesn’t need that kind of a boost to get up to the main event scene. He’s a four time Intercontinental Champion, a three time United States Champion and a seven time Tag Team Champion. That’s a Hall of Fame resume on its own and really, pushing him towards the World Title scene really isn’t the biggest leap in the world. With his partners not having nearly the same singles success that Kingston has had, he’s not exactly in need of the boost.

That’s a main event scene if I’ve ever seen one.

Kofi Kingston defaces Randy Ortons gift.

So who should get the spot in Money in the Bank? Well, as impressive of a person as he is all around, I can’t imagine putting it on Woods. I’m a huge Kingston fan but I really don’t think he needs this kind of push to get back to his singles glory. That leaves Big E., who is young, has potential and has the skills to back it up. I could see Big E. as the World Champion down the line. I could see Kingston doing the same, but I can’t see the need for him to have a briefcase on the way there.

New Day is going to have some crazy levels of success on their own as the team idea has pushed them all the way to the moon and back now. There isn’t much left for them to do in the tag team world so putting them into singles acts wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. It’s clear that the potential and talent is there, so let them see what they can do. I mean, odds are if their entrant wins (which I can’t imagine) it’ll turn into a Freebird Rule for the briefcase, but if we can only get one person pushed, it should be Big E. as he has all the tools and needs the help the most, which is what the briefcase should be for.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 27 wrestling books. His latest book is the NXT: The Full Sail Years Volume III: From Dallas To New Orleans.

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