Is “The Team Formerly Known As The New Day” Headed To Be #ALLELITE?

It’s been well over a decade, almost 12 years to be exact, since the trio of The New Day’s debut in WWE. But two of the remaining active members, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, shook the wrestling industry when the former members of The New Day mutually agreed to end their tenure in WWE after management requested the duo restructure the multi-year contracts they signed last year and take a major pay cut.

It’s been a wild ride. From unicorn horns, to Francesca the Trombone, Booty-O’s cereal, and pancakes. Together, the trio of Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, and Big E quickly became one of the most exciting and beloved tag teams the WWE has ever seen. Their accolades are equally as impressive, being a record breaking 12 time WWE tag team champions. And two of the three original members have become WWE Champion: Kofi Kingston when the historic KofiMania ran rampant, and Big E when he cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase on RAW on a vulnerable Bobby Lashley. And let’s not forget their wildly vivid anime and video game inspired gear.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. On an episode of SmackDown on March 11th, 2022, New Day member Big E took an overhead belly-to-belly suplex outside the ring from Ridge Holland. He landed awkwardly on top of his head, resulting in fractures to his C1 and C6 vertebrae. Claiming he may have broken his neck, he was fortunate that the injury wasn’t serious enough to require surgery. Unfortunately, it did end his in-ring wrestling career. To this day, Big E is still an ambassador and analyst for the WWE Premium Live Event (PLE) pre-show kickoff panels and post-show coverages.

But without Big E in their faction anymore, Kingston and Woods were put in tag team limbo. At first, they went to NXT and managed to snag the NXT tag team championships to become the first ever Triple Crown Tag Team Champions (RAW, Smackdown, and NXT). But by 2024, friction came between the remaining New Day members. During The New Day’s 10-year anniversary celebration on RAW, Big E returned to TV and tried to become their manager to help patch things up. In a dramatic twist, Kingston and Woods kicked Big E out of the faction, claiming he could’ve come back from injury like how Edge did. But instead, he chose his broadcasting career over his friends. This caused a New Day heel turn. A heel turn they never fully recovered from. Until early May of 2026, when they ceremoniously left the company, refusing to take a pay cut from a contract they had already signed.

So where does this leave Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods now? And what does it mean for Woods’ popular UpUpDownDown YouTube gaming channel? Let’s look at things one step at a time.

Kingston (who now just goes as Kofi) and Woods (who must now use his real name of Austin Creed) still have a 90-day non-compete clause in their contract. Which means they can’t compete in another organization until about August. However, they are currently booked for autographs, photo ops, and meet & greets at GalaxyCon in Oklahoma City and Nashville at the end of May.

But once their non-compete clauses expire, major promotions are highly expected to pursue them, AEW being one of the most rumored and vocal. In fact, according to Sean Ross Sapp from Fightful.com and a report from Fightul Select, “Every AEW source I’ve spoken to about Kofi and Austin Creed are pushing for AEW to sign them, including some big names.” According to their report, a total of a dozen internal AEW sources are universally pushing for the promotion to sign Kofi and Austin Creed, the most notable big names being Swerve Strickland, who openly endorsed the idea, while MJF teased fans online.

So, If Kofi and Creed are indeed headed to AEW, what does this mean for the popular YouTube gaming channel UpUpDownDown? While Creed built that YouTube channel himself and hosted it alongside Tyler Breeze, who has a WWE digital host contract, WWE owns the channel as part of their Digital Division. And because WWE has legal control over the channel they can choose to keep the name and assign a new WWE Superstar or digital host to take over Creed’s role. It was rumored that Creed was offered a digital host and content creator deal similar to Breeze’s contract. While it would have saved his role hosting UpUpDownDown and allowed him to take independent bookings, the contract almost certainly would have included strict WWE clauses prohibiting him from signing with or appearing for other major wrestling competitors like AEW. In his official public statement, Creed doubled down on his choice to “walk away as Austin Creed”, signaling he has strayed away from WWE for the foreseeable future.

So, this is exactly where Kofi and Austin Creed stand. Even though nothing is official as of yet and everything is just a rumor at this point, anything can happen in the next few months. Nevertheless, after shaking up the foundation of wrestling by walking away from WWE, once their non-compete clause is up it’s very likely they could become ALL ELITE by early August. So circle your calendars for AEW’s big event, All In: London, on Sunday, August 30^th, and let’s see if trombones and pancakes can excite AEW’s tag team division.