Kofi has revealed just how late his and Austin Creed’s AEW deals came together, confirming they didn’t officially sign until less than 24 hours before their surprise debuts at All In: London.
The former WWE stars made their first AEW appearance at Wembley Stadium as New Level, with Kofi Kingston becoming simply Kofi and Xavier Woods adopting the name “Awesome” Austin Creed.
Following their debut, Kofi and Creed spoke with Ariel Helwani about their arrival in AEW and the experience of walking into a new locker room after spending so many years with WWE.
For Kofi, the entire weekend felt almost surreal. “It seemed like this weird dream, right? Where you see so many talented individuals who I’ve been watching, many who I hadn’t met, but then you had so many people that we used to work with who were there, both on the roster as well as behind the scenes and the crew.
And everybody’s just there having a great time, loving wrestling. Tony Khan’s there. He’s super excited about the show. You know what I mean? High energy, positive vibes. It was amazing. And it really took a long time. I mean, it probably took until the plane ride home yesterday for it to really settle in. You know, it was such a whirlwind.”
While speculation surrounding their AEW futures had intensified ahead of All In, Kofi revealed that the deals themselves remained unsigned until shortly before the event. “You talked about it being like the worst kept secret. But the funny thing is, it didn’t really solidify and become official until less than 24 hours before the show. We didn’t sign until like less than 24 hours before. We know what we wanted, we know what everybody else wanted, but it wasn’t like officially official until very soon before the kickoff time, you know what I’m saying?”
Despite the last-minute nature of the agreement, Kofi said joining AEW has opened the door to matches he and Creed have wanted for years. “It was incredible. We’ve wanted to mix it up with all these tag teams for a very, very long time. And to see it all come to fruition, it’s like I said, just like a weird, bizarre dream, but the best dream possible.”
Kofi and Creed ultimately made an immediate impact at All In, debuting during the Trios Roulette match and joining forces with Swerve Strickland.
The trio went on to win the match, meaning Kofi and Creed’s first night as officially contracted AEW stars ended with them becoming AEW World Trios Champions.
Kofi and Austin Creed say they signed their contract with AEW the day before All In.#HelwaniShow pic.twitter.com/i4gEJ9PqL2
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) September 1, 2026
