Xavier Woods (aka ya boy Austin Creed) took some time out from his side hustle as a gaming personality and entrepreneur at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco to address Vince McMahon’s latest screwjob - the one that cost his boy Kofi Kingston a WrestleMania shot at Daniel Bryan’s WWE title.
In it, he reinforces what Big E said in a similar video earlier and what they both said in the post-SmackDown segment from last night, that Vince’s actions make it clear it might be time for The New Day to explore other options. Woods/Creed even thanks McMahon for reminding him he could make his side hustle his full-time gig:
We have kept other skills on deck for a reason.... pic.twitter.com/3B2IrqKqrE
— ✈️ GDC Wed/Thurs✈️ (@XavierWoodsPhD) March 20, 2019
“I’m sure you guys saw what happened this past Tuesday to Kofi, you guys probably watched the video that E did, and he kind of said it best, so just kinda each those sentiments. We have other things that we enjoy doing, we have other skills. Me? I love video games, I’m a part of this community and I love this community, with all of my heart. And this community loves me back. That’s a relationship that I’m willing to be in. And considering the fact that I am attempting to create a small video game studio, that is another skill that I have, that is another way to feed myself and my family that I have. So you fully understand that constantly being treated in the way that we, New Day, has been treated - and mostly likely be treated from here on out...
I just want to say that I appreciate what you did Vince, thank you very much. Because it’s definitely shown me which direction I need to go in to take care of myself, and take care of my family.”
X stops short of the “people like us” argument which has made E’s promo such a lightning rod today, instead specifying The New Day when discussing who’s affected by Vince’s limits and roadblocks. It doesn’t mean the race angle won’t become part of the on-screen story, but similar to Kingston saying “someone like me” on a recent episode of SmackDown, Woods’ rhetoric is a little more open to interpretation than his teammate more-or-less invoking the company’s entire history with minority performers.
The big takeaway is that Xavier, a font of positive thinking and the leader of years long movement to make Kofi WWE champ, is giving up:
Will this lead to a walkout, or will New Day snap? Is Kofi on the same page with his brothers? Is it next Tuesday yet?