Big E says WWE had a pretty nasty piece of New Day revenge lined up after Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods turned on him, but they never went with it.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Big E admitted that while he and the group were proud of the shocking heel turn in 2024, they felt the story kind of stalled afterwards. In fact, he had already planned a way to keep the heat going, and it involved ruining one of Kofi’s signature Royal Rumble moments.
Big E envisioned Kingston pulling off another one of his trademark escapes by balancing himself on the barricade, only for Big E and another mystery person to reveal themselves and send him crashing out of the match.
“And, you know, there was the plan. I loved the idea of me sitting for the Rumble. Imagine Kofi does a save where he ends up on the barricade. There’s some dude with his hat low because they were taking shots at my fiancée at the time, too. So I loved the idea that maybe our hats are real low at the time. Kofi lands on the barricade, we tilt our heads up, take our hats off, and then maybe there’s a swipe with a foot, and we cost him the Rumble. He goes out, something like that.”
Big E thought the angle was a no-brainer, but WWE creative had different ideas. According to him, he was told they could always circle back to it later, but he isn’t exactly a fan of putting good ideas on ice.
“But, you know, creative had other plans. I was told, ‘Hey, that’s something we can get to later.’ And I’m not a ‘save it’ guy. Oftentimes people are like, ‘Oh, let’s save that idea for later.’ But things with creative and direction move so much. If we have a great idea, I’m like, let’s capitalize on it now.”
Instead, Big E said they focused on making the breakup angle as strong as possible and hoped the company would take it from there. Unfortunately, he feels the story never really got the second chapter they were hoping for.
“So ultimately, I just thought, let’s try to make this breakup the best we can, and the rest is in their hands. So unfortunately, the follow-up of that turn didn’t go the way we wanted, but we were proud of the initial heel turn.”
It is a pretty interesting “what if” for WWE fans. Kofi Kingston getting blindsided during one of his signature Royal Rumble escapes by Big E and a mystery accomplice could have been a solid follow up. Instead, the idea was put on the shelf, and according to Big E, once momentum is gone in wrestling, sometimes those plans never come back around. Big E sounds at peace with how things played out, but he also seems convinced that if the company had struck while the iron was hot, the New Day breakup might have had a much stronger second act.
Do you think WWE should have gone with Big E’s Royal Rumble payback idea, or was shelving it the right call? Let us know in the comments and share your thoughts below.
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