WWE apparently considered taking The New Day’s betrayal of Big E in a much more personal direction. The idea never made it to television, but considering Big E’s history with the person involved, this one would have definitely gotten people talking.
According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there was an idea to add Ridge Holland as the third member of The New Day after Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods turned heel on Big E. WWE discussed the possibility but ultimately decided not to go through with it.
“There was an idea when the New Day turned heel on Big E to have Ridge Holland as a third member of the New Day. It was discussed and ultimately nixed.”
Big E suffered a broken neck on the March 11, 2022 episode of SmackDown after landing badly from an overhead belly-to-belly suplex delivered by Holland outside the ring. Big E recovered from the injury but was never medically cleared to return to the ring, bringing his wrestling career to an unexpected end. Interestingly, Big E revealed back in June that there was another idea floating around for the aftermath of the breakup. He wanted to get some revenge by ruining one of Kofi’s trademark Royal Rumble saves.
“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.”
That never happened either. Big E said creative had other plans and told him they could potentially save the idea for later, which wasn’t exactly what he wanted to hear.
“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.”
Big E has already made it clear that he felt the story lost momentum after such a strong start. Knowing WWE actually discussed bringing Holland into the mix makes the direction they didn’t take almost as interesting as the one that eventually made television.
Would adding Ridge Holland to The New Day have been brilliant heel heat, or would using that history with Big E have been too much? Let us know what you think in the comments.
