Additional claims have emerged regarding the contract negotiations that ultimately preceded Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods’ departure from WWE.
While speaking with Ariel Helwani, Kingston previously revealed that WWE wanted The New Day to accept a pay cut of more than 50% as part of a new deal.
During the Grilling JR podcast, Conrad Thompson discussed the situation and claimed that he had heard an even higher figure behind the scenes — although he stressed that the 75% number was based on what had been relayed to him rather than something Kingston himself confirmed. “More than 90 days ago, when we found out that New Day was no more in WWE. And there was lots of rumor and innuendo at the time that they were taking a 50% pay cut. The rumor and innuendo that I’ve heard is it was actually a 75% pay cut. Some of that was confirmed on an interview with Ariel Helwani. Now, they didn’t say 75, but that’s the number I’ve heard bandied around. So, there’s your headline out of today’s episode.”
Thompson went on to discuss Kingston and The New Day’s accomplishments during their lengthy WWE run, questioning whether their situation was comparable to wrestlers from previous generations reaching the point where it was time to move to another territory. “So, 75% is the number, and I think we all hate to hear that. I don’t know that everybody has this on their radar, but as a reminder, Kofi Kingston is the most decorated tag team wrestler in WWE history, more tag team title reigns than anybody. And New Day have more title reigns than anybody. They’re second all-time on the longest reign, only behind the Usos, thanks to Roman Reigns and The Bloodline. But still, they’ve done everything they could as a tag team in WWE. If this was a different generation, it was time to go to another territory, wasn’t it?”
Kingston and Woods ultimately left WWE before making their surprise AEW debuts at All In: London on August 30. Now competing as Kofi and Austin Creed under the team name New Level, the pair immediately made an impact by teaming with Swerve Strickland to capture the AEW World Trios Championship.
While Kingston has publicly confirmed WWE proposed a reduction of more than 50%, Thompson’s specific claim that the proposed cut was 75% remains unconfirmed.
