WWE superstar Big E was the latest guest on the After The Bell podcast with host Corey Graves to talk all things pro-wrestling, including the unique bond he shares with Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, and reveals other members who were originally pitched to be in the faction. Highlights are below.
Says he initially thought the New Day would be a revolving door faction:
The thing that I think of most is the fact that when we started The New Day, the goal was always to be a faction,” Big E recalled. “I don’t want to say we were forced into being a tag, team this weird three-man tag team, and I’m so grateful for it because I had an incredible time, but we always saw ourselves as this kind of revolving-door faction where Kofi [Kingston] can have his singles run, and [Xavier] Woods and I can do tag stuff. And then we can just kind of have these interchanging parts, or we could all have singles, and we never really got that until last year when Kofi had his world title run. And that’s kind of what I wish we had done a little bit more of. I think that would have allowed us to kind of show more sides, and that’s just kind of the one thing that comes to mind is I just wish we got to operate more as a faction.
That Damien Sandow and Alica Fox were considered to join at one point:
And I’m so glad I worked out this way, but it’s interesting when thinking back to 2014, we always thought we would be a group that was always trying to add more members,” Big E revealed. “It’s funny looking back, but I remember thinking Alicia Fox was someone we wanted to add because at the time, she was doing the stuff with the tantrums. We had this idea when we were the more militant New Day. That idea was very quickly taken off TV. Just ‘na, na na. Get that off my TV screen and y’all sit in the back while we cook up something more, I guess, family friendly,’ but that was kind of the idea I remember. We never talked to them about it either, but her and Sandow, we thought would be a great addition. That was kind of the idea is just a group that would recruit, and I think that would’ve been a lot of fun. I wish we got that incarnation of The New Day. As grateful as I am that it went the way it did, I’m also kind of intrigued to see what it would have been like for us to have gone that militant route to see what we could have done because we shot so much stuff in pre-tapes.
Why he’s always trying to keep a positive mindset, even backstage:
I think we’ve been wonderfully blessed man. I never want to have this moment where I think I made it, and I can just rest on my laurels because I always think back to 2014. I always think back to how hard it was to get this group off the ground. It was six months of every week thinking at some point, ‘well, this is over. All that work is for naught,’ so I always remember that. I also think, I don’t know when this window is going to close. I’ve been fortunate. I started at 23. I’m 34 now. The fact that I’ve been doing this, under contract with WWE, for over 11 years. A job I took on whim, and I’ve had the opportunity to travel the world. I’ve been to Tokyo four times. I’ve been to places I never thought I’d be able to go all on WWE’s dime getting to entertain people. That’s incredible man, and so I always try to, for lack of a better term, count my blessings and realize man, this could be over tomorrow for me. I feel like this should be the time of our lives and not saying that things can’t get better, but if we’re not enjoying this run and if we’re to mired in complaining or in the negatives, and we never get to see the silver lining, I feel like it’s such a wasted opportunity. I don’t want to be 50 years old and look back and say, ‘man, I really should have treasured that, and I just griped and moaned and complained and thought about the times I only slept two hours and had to do 6:00 a.m. media. I’m really grateful for this opportunity. It’s changed my life profoundly and tremendously, and so that’s what I try to always remember is it’s been an incredible run. And it’s had its ups and downs, but the ups, so far, outweigh the downs.
The unique bond that he, Kofi, and Xavier all have:
Check out the full interview here. (H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)
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