WWE News: New Day Appears On ‘Raw,’ Jokes About Paige & Xavier Woods’ Sex Video
On the latest episode of WWE’s Monday Night Raw, a lot of fans were wondering if Xavier Woods and New Day would even appear. While the comedic trio wasn’t involved in any matches for their second-straight week, the official hosts of WrestleMania 33 still made an appearance on the show. With Raw taking place live in Brooklyn, New York, fans were certainly rowdy, but it seemed that WWE was also ready to deliver a big show and a subtle bit of humor aimed towards a recently leaked explicit video.
On Friday, headlines hit about Paige’s leaked explicit video and photos that appeared online after her phone was stolen by hackers. One video reportedly showed Paige along with her former boyfriend, former WWE talent Brad Maddox, engaging in various sexual acts. The video also showed current New Day member Xavier Woods involved with Paige while Maddox was filming the two of them. All of the leaked footage led to WWE rumors going into full gear about possibilities that someone might be released by WWE, whether it be Paige, or Woods, or both of them.
However, ProWrestling.net reported in their Raw results for Monday’s show from the Barclay’s Center that New Day appeared in a backstage promo segment. The segment started off with a quick joke making reference to the headlines over the past days. Both Big E and Kofi Kingston looked over at Woods before E nonchalantly asked Xavier if there was “something he wanted to tell us about?” Woods blurted out “WrestleMania!” and the official hosts launched into a short promotional bit to hype themselves and the pay-per-view up for April 2 in Orlando, Florida. The segment lasted just under two minutes and closed with the trademark “New Day rocks” chants.
As ProWrestling.net‘s Jason Powell also noted in his recap, this appearance on Raw will probably alleviate any concerns that Woods was going to be fired for the leaked video situation.
“New Day having fun with the leak situation even briefly should put an end to any concern over anyone being fired. It makes sense that New Day would acknowledge it the way they did. It fits their characters and tells the audience that they’re not hiding from it, which should take some of the ‘fun’ out of it for jeering fans. However, there was still a ‘New Day F—s’ chant, so they haven’t deflated the fans completely.”
The WWE website also continues to feature New Day on its various advertisements for “The Ultimate Thrill Ride” of WrestleMania 33. In addition, the site has posted that the former tag team champions will make an appearance at the Lids store in The Florida Mall in Orlando on Saturday, April 1, just a day ahead of WrestleMania. The appearance is scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern Time and seems to be a meet and greet with autographs where a purchase is required.
With all of that, it seems that Woods is going nowhere and that New Day is still going to serve as the official hosts for WrestleMania 33. As for Paige, her situation with WWE still seems unclear, although she is still officially with the company, appears on their website roster of superstars, and has a bio page. So for right now, while she’s not appearing live at any WWE events, she’s still part of the pro wrestling company as she heals from her neck issues, surgery, and this latest personal situation that hit the internet.
It seems WWE made the right call to subtly address the leaked sex video situation rather than completely sweeping it under the rug. There will probably still be comments and chants made by fans over the next several weeks, but New Day has been in a really reduced role on Raw. It will be interesting to see how fans react to New Day’s appearances at WrestleMania 33 in just a few weeks but the excitement over the recent leaked video and photos may have simmered down by then.
[Featured Image by WWE]
