After watching Karrion Kross attempt to sew dissent within The New Day for weeks, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston were finally able to settle the score on the RAW after SummerSlam, where the latter employed the services of former NXT standout Oddessey Jones to help fight off the Paul Ellering-led faction once and for all.
After securing the win over the Authors of Pain, Akam and Rezar, The Final Testament began their beatdown on The New Day, but before they could do any lasting damage, Jones matched out from the back to a confused response and swiftly cleared house, taking out the trio before walking back up the ramp a hero alongside Woods and Kingston.
What gives? Was this a one-time thing, as Jones has been on the main roster for a year now without doing basically anything? Or is this a plan to expand the team's reach heading into the future, making New Day a trio once more after having their original lineup forever sidelined due to Big E‘s neck injury in 2022? Surely Big E won't get kicked out of the group, right? As even if Jones is much bigger than E, he is no Big E and likely never will be.
Fortunately, it doesn't look like WWE is looking to just send E to the pre-show panel and gloss over his accomplishments in favor of a shiny new prospect, as even Woods seemed uneasy about the idea of working with Jones long-term during their post-match exchange, a feeling that the character Kingston doesn't seem to share.
Could this create some tension between the members of The New Day or serve as a way to bring back Big E as a manager for the trio? Either way, this is the most interesting storyline the faction has been given in literally years, and I, for one, am incredibly interested to see how things shake out moving forward, especially considering how invisible Jones has been since he was drafted onto Monday Night RAW last May.
Big E has long pushed for a replacement member in The New Day
While wrestling fans and potentially Woods too would likely be disappointed to see The New Day, the most important trio in WWE history, become a quartet, one party with considerable stakes in the situation, Big E, actually feels differently, as back in April, the former WWE Champion endorsed the idea of his friends adding a fourth since he won't be able to wrestle any time soon, if ever, due to his neck injury.
“I’m grateful that I am healthy, mentally and physically. I’m not one to spend a lot of time thinking about the past. More than anything, I’m grateful. There is no room for bitterness. That wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t unbreak my neck. I’m too busy being grateful in the present. I appreciate people caring and rooting for me. I talk to people who broke their neck and they still have headaches, they still have other impairments. I have none of that. It’s obviously not the path I would have taken, but that’s the nature of life. That’s my biggest takeaway: it wasn’t bitterness, it wasn’t anger. It was gratitude. I’m grateful I have more healthy days,” Big E explained via 411 Mania.
“I said to the boys, ‘I’ve been out for two years–if you want to find a new partner, I understand.’ They very quickly shut that down. I’m proud of what they’re doing. Kofi is in 40’s, and he’s still doing his thing. They’re building a legacy, and I’m extremely proud of them. And I’m proud to still be a member of The New Day.”
At the time, holding out for a future Big E return felt like the correct idea, as WWE has kept the duo of Kingston and E busy as a tag team with runs in NXT and RAW while expanding their offerings outside of the ring via philanthropical opportunities and UpUpDownDown. With The Final Testament increasingly becoming a problem for the faction, however, Kingston has clearly taken it upon himself to find a suitable replacement for his fallen friend to help even the odds, with Jones the biggest, baddest option he could find. If WWE plays its cards right and brings on Big E as a managing fourth, this could prove mutually beneficial for everyone, both New Day as a tag team and Jones as a single, but if they want to pit Woods against Kingston in something of a gentleman's power struggle, that has some serious potential too.
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