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In celebration of The New Day’s 10th anniversary, Big E recently wrote a reflective biographical essay for “The Players’ Tribune,” detailing his journey from childhood to the 2022 neck injury that ended his career. He revealed that the initial concept for The New Day was more similar to the Nation of Domination than the lively trio fans know today.
“Woods’ initial idea for The New Day was to reboot the Nation of Domination. The Nation was a faction of Black militants. And while it had a lot of cool moments, and those guys are all legends,” Big E explained. “Woods, Kofi, and I are not militants. But I think that just tells you what it’s been like at times to be a young Black wrestler trying to make it. You pitch based on what you feel will get you on TV. And what you feel will get you on TV is probably what’s gotten on TV before. And what’s gotten on TV before is a very narrow definition of Blackness.”
Initially, WWE envisioned The New Day with gospel-inspired vignettes featuring Woods preaching before a Black choir, drawing inspiration from Southern Black church imagery. Big E admitted that he was partly responsible for this since he had been experimenting with a sermon-like cadence that WWE’s front office enjoyed. However, this concept did not align with what he or his teammates envisioned. The trio gradually moved away from the gospel theme, eventually embracing the fun, quirky aspects of their personalities.
Despite WWE recognizing The New Day‘s incredible longevity, there are ongoing teases of their breakup on WWE programming. Woods and Kingston continue to struggle as they accumulate losses on “Raw,” both in singles matches and as a tag team.
