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On SmackDown last night (July 24), we got the bad news that Kofi Kingston is going to be out for six weeks with an injury.
It came with some good news, however. WWE made it clear Big E would be used as a singles wrestler with his fellow New Day members sidelined (Xavier Woods has been out since October of last year recovering from surgery to repair a torn Achilles).
And while this certainly isn’t how he would have wanted it to happen, this is something E - and his fellow Princes of Positivity - have been hoping for for some time.
Large Epsilon just talked to D-Von about it on the WWE Hall of Famer’s Table Talk podcast:
“Our thing was we always wanted to be a faction. Kofi would have his singles stuff, Woods would have his singles stuff. We could also go into tags. I still think we can do everything we want to as a faction. I could still do singles stuff and the New Day is still in tags. I’m prepared to do singles. I came in doing singles and I never saw myself as a tag team wrestler, but I love tag team wrestling and I grew to love it. But, I still think we don’t need to break up. We can do stuff like Kofi did where we still stayed a faction. We were still together and he pursued his singles stuff.”
Staying true to their vision is only one reason New Day don’t want to have to break up to pursue individual accolades. The real life friends have spoken about the importance of “live the gimmick,” and E also revealed there’s a practical concern - WWE likely won’t push them as hard if they’re unaffiliated acts after a break-up angle.
“As cool as the singular moment of us breaking up might be for some, tell me besides The Shield, it is very rare will all three benefit. I don’t foresee us breaking up and then a year from now, Woods is on a roll, Kofi is on a roll, and I’m on a roll at the same time. It’s not really going to happen. The chances are very slim because we are not booked in that way.”
Basically, there’s almost always a Jannetty. And none of these guys wants or deserves to be a Jannetty.
We’ll see what happens for E over the next six weeks, and when Kingston & (eventually) Woods make it back. Nice to see he’ll get his shot without anyone turning heel, no matter the circumstances.
Now, give him Goldberg.
H/T: WrestlingNews.co for transcription