THOUGHTS | THE NEW DAY GOT FUTURE ENDEAVORED?!

Wrestling news is buzzing this weekend with the release of your boys, The New Day.

Well, it is the release of Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, with Big E conveniently locked into his analyst role.

Reports say that the TKO execs found them too expensive, and as much as I have been a fan of them for years, I must say that it is true.

Look, even if TKO is not cutting costs, they cannot really have two men earning seven-figure salaries without a credible storyline. As much as many wrestlers thrive under Triple H, I have always believed The New Day were among those who were not too pleased with the departure of Vince McMahon. Yes, their comedy act should not have worked in the first place, but they shot their shot and became insanely effective.

And yeah, the company also released JC Mateo and Tonga Loa from their contracts. Now, I guess at least 70 percent of the people involved in the MFT versus Wyatt Sicks storyline are gone from the company.

In their case, I get it. JC Mateo could have been a Bronson Reed-type character, but instead was wrapped in the bad side of the Bloodline universe. The former Jeff Cobb, who is also Filipino-Guamanian, could have been one of those guys who would have benefited from starting in NXT, which means not everyone can jump straight to the main roster.

As for Tonga Loa, what has he done in the company other than be a glorified manager and the first line of defense in an MFT feud? Do we even know if he has a finishing move? More than destroying tag teams, I think WWE is keeping its factions to three members, with one challenging for singles gold while the other two go after tag team titles.

With Solo Sikoa running the MFTs as the leader and Talla Tonga as the giant of the team, I cannot really see the other two guys as anything other than sheep being led to slaughter. In some ways, I also fear for Tama Tonga, as he was noticeably absent on SmackDown before their release, though he had been getting his voice heard for weeks. It is just that his voice has been watered down with Solo feuding with Jacob Fatu.

Fatal Influence and The Vanity Project are great examples of this.

Now, returning to The New Day, I guess the problem with Kofi and Woods is the fact that they have accomplished what there is to accomplish, and without Big E, they just do not look the same. Yes, they had an amazing heel turn in 2024, but they never really followed it up. When they turned heel and had Grayson Waller randomly on their side, it felt like everything good about them was taken away. I thought they had the right idea when Kofi was interacting with Je’Von Evans because he could have been the guy to replace Big E and revitalize the team. Kofi and Woods could challenge in the tag team division, while Je’Von could be the guy they push to the moon.

The New Day lost their tag team record to The Usos. Evans has replaced Kofi as their resident crash test dummy. They rarely see any television time, let alone a spot in the Royal Rumble. UpUpDownDown went from being awesome to whatever it is at the moment.

I think Triple H can always bring these two back with a restructured salary, but they also need to get their mojo back in other companies. Yes, Kofi is 44, and Woods is 39, but spending at least two years elsewhere to resurface with their old gimmicks would be optimal. Maybe during that span, they can have great feuds in AEW against The Hurt Syndicate, The Young Bucks, and FTR, or in TNA against The Hardy Boyz or The Motor City Machine Guns, who will likely be featured better there than in AEW.

As much as R-Truth returned to WWE and reverted to his goofball role, there was a time when his pop was louder than usual. Triple H is an old-school guy, and I can see him talking to The New Day about stepping away to hit the refresh button on their careers. And if you say a return would not work, if the Danhausen shtick becomes stale, maybe they can just have these guys randomly pop up in a carton of Booty-O’s to get their old ovation back.

So for all The New Day fans out there, don’t you dare be sour. I’m pretty sure they’ll have one last run in WWE before they retire for good.