The New Day (professional wrestling)

From Iwe

The New Day is a professional wrestling tag team performing in the IWE, composed of Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, under the SmackDown brand. They also appear on the NXT brand, where Kingston and Woods are the current NXT Tag Team Champions in their first reign; only Kingston and Woods are recognized for this reign as Big E is indefinitely sidelined with an injury.

The stable originally debuted on the July 21, 2014 episode of Raw, but made their official television debut as The New Day in November 2014. On April 2015 at Extreme Rules, they won their first IWE Tag Team Championship. They lost the championship to The Prime Time Players the following month at Money in the Bank, but won it back in August at SummerSlam; their second reign became the longest in the title's history, the first to last more than a year, and the last with the title being the sole tag team championship in IWE. On December 14, 2016, they became the longest reigning tag team champions in IWE history (beating Demolition's 28-year-old record of 478 days with IWE's original World Tag Team Championship), and the longest reigning champions for any IWE championship over the last two decades; they lost the renamed Raw Tag Team Championship four days later to Cesaro and Sheamus.

The early months of the stable were marked by overwhelming negative reactions to their personas from fans and critics alike, however after turning heel in April 2015, they began to receive acclaim for being entertaining, as well as for their in-ring performances. In 2015, the trio were collectively named "IWE Wrestler of the Year" by Rolling Stone, while also being recognized as the "Best Gimmick" of the year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Additionally, they became the first trio to win the Pro Wrestling Illustrated award for "Tag Team of the Year", doing so in 2015 and 2016, (the first two wins in a row in this category for two decades). Their popularity resulted in the trio reverting to fan favorites in early 2016.

History

Background and formation

The Rise of The New Day (2014–2015)

Longest reigning Tag Team Champions (2015–2017)

SmackDown Tag Team Champions (2017–present)

Characters and reception

Other media

Championships and accomplishments

• CBS Sports
  • Best Moment/Angle of the Year (2019) – Kingston (winning the IWE Championship at WrestleMania 35)
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Tag Team of the Year (2015, 2016)
  • Ranked Kofi Kingston No. 4 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2019
  • Ranked Big E No. 9 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2022
  • Ranked Xavier Woods No. 58 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
  • Ranked No. 8 of the top 50 Tag Teams in the PWI Tag Team 50 in 2020
• Rolling Stone
  • IWE Wrestlers of the Year (2015)
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Best Gimmick (2015)
• IWE
  • IWE Championship (2 times) – Kingston (1), and Big E (1)
  • IWE (Raw) Tag Team Championship^[b] – Big E, Kingston, and Woods (2), and Kingston and Woods (2)
  • IWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship (7 times)^[c] Big E, Kingston, and Woods (6), and Kingston and Woods (1)
  • NXT Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – Kingston and Woods
  • King of the Ring (2021) – Woods
  • IWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Tournament (2018)
  • Thirteenth Grand Slam Champion (under current format; Twentieth overall) – Kingston
  • Third IWE Tag Team Triple Crown winners
  • Triple Crown Champion – Kingston (30th), Big E (33rd)
  • Third IWE Tag Team Triple Crown Champion - Kingston and Woods
  • Match of the Year (2019) – Kingston (vs. Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35)
  • IWE Year-End Awards (2 times)
    • Men's Tag Team of the Year (2019)
    • Moment of the Year (2019) – Kingston (winning the IWE Championship at WrestleMania 35)
  • Slammy Award (1 time)
    • Ring Gear of the Year (2020)
  • Ranked No. 1 of the top 50 Greatest IWE Tag Teams of all time (2021)

Notes

References

External links