WWE News: Has The New Day Been Punished By Vince McMahon?

When WWE re-packaged Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods to form their new group, The New Day, the trio was originally designed to be babyfaces enforcing the power of positivity. Their vignettes foreshadowing their arrival centered around gospel music and baptist-like encouragements. However, the group did not go over well with the WWE Universe, and the dawn of that new day quickly forced them to turn heel.

Eventually, the crowds came around on The New Day, their brand of humor, and their antics. Despite playing the role of heels, their brand of entertainment struck a chord with the fans, coming full circle from their intended debut back in July, 2014. They first captured the WWE Tag Team Championships at Extreme Rules last year, and save for a two-month stint when the Prime Time Players were champs, The New Day has dominated the division ever since. They may have lost to the League of Nations at WrestleMania in what was their first pay-per-view match since the face-turn, but it became apparent that was all a set-up designed for WWE legends Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin to make their surprise appearances.

It’s become rather clear that The New Day has some measure of carte blanche when it comes to their on-screen personas and presentation. The louder the reaction, the more they’re able to push the envelope. Recently, The New Day were guests of the Sam Roberts’ Wrestling Podcast, where they were specifically asked if they’d ever been reprimanded by Vince McMahon when it came to the idea of reeling it in. Thanks to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription, as Big E responded to that one.

“I love being subversive and I really like seeing where the line is, but, no, we haven’t gotten in trouble at all. I think the only time Vince has ever pulled us aside and said, ‘hey, pull it back a little bit’ is when Woods went through a table, the Dudleyz put him through a table, and he did the old school D-Von sell and I didn’t realize how bad it was until I watched it back and Vince had every right to pull [Woods] aside because it was ridiculous!”

Either Xavier got permission or abandoned that criticism when it came to WrestleMania. Woods received one of the many stunners that night courtesy of “Stone Cold,” who also applied his signature move to the League of Nations. But Xavier sold it more than anyone, drawing comparisons to The Rock from back in the Attitude Era. The New Day may have lost that match, but everyone won because of that moment.

The New Day’s pre and post-match dancing has also become routine during their television segments. It took a while for fans to get used to the unusual gyrations, but they’re over now, as well. And they also appear to be over in the back, as another example of pushing the envelope has worked in their favor, according to Big E.

“I’ll be honest. I didn’t know I had that in me. I don’t dance. Like, I don’t dance at all. I don’t do any of that. And then, I don’t know when it started, but it just felt right. I was like, ‘oh, I’m going to try this’ and it felt so right. And now it’s getting out of hand! I can’t remember the first thing that was said, but the cool thing is Vince loves the nonsense. We always get reports that, like, we’ll have a writer or someone in Gorilla and they’ll tell us that Vince is doubled over laughing. He loves the nonsense and that’s really cool.”

The WWE tag team division is in the midst of a renaissance as a tournament has been booked to determine new No 1. contenders for the championships. The finals of that tournament between Enzo & Cass and The Vaudevillains will take place at Payback, while the winners should get three weeks of build-time to feud with The New Day for a potential championship match at Extreme Rules, the very pay-per-view they won the titles for the first time.

[Image via WWE]