wrestling / Columns

The New Day: Rocks Or Sucks?

October 27, 2016 | Posted by Justin Watry
New Day Trash WWE Raw 3.21.16

Hi, I’m Justin Watry. You may remember me from such classic columns as March 2012’s “WWE WrestleMania 28: Sheamus Should Defeat Daniel Bryan in Less Than a Minute” and October 2015’s “WWE NXT: Bobby Roode, You’re Next.”

Reader Feedback

Going forward, I will be doing ‘reader feedback’ only once a month. I’m putting something together for later in the week. We’ll see how it goes.

Backstory

During the past week, I wrote about the TNA Impact Wrestling issues, the great Bill Goldberg return on Raw, problems with the WWE product in 2016, what SHOULD main event Heck on a Deck this Sunday night, and much more. However, I still had one topic that I had been wanting to discuss for awhile now: The New Day! After months of dropping hints and giving out teasers, here is my full blow column on the current W-W-E World Tag Team Champions…

The Beginning

Ah, that one infamous segment with Xavier Woods trying to recruit Big E and Kofi Kingston. Oh, good times indeed. Basically, whatever was planned for the three with then back in July 2014 never went anywhere. Thankfully, it was scrapped in no time.

Long story short, Kofi Kingston and Big E lost a tag team match on Raw to the team of Ryback and Curtis Axel. Just another ho hum, nothing bout to fill time. After the conclusion though, out came Xavier Woods! No longer dancing with Naomi and Cameron. Nope. He was wearing this slick looking red and white suit, black glasses, and was telling his buddies that you can’t move ahead by shaking heads, and being a “puppet.” It was their time to find focus, find order, and together, they will find a purpose. Ominous words from Woods that seemed to get the attention of the face characters of Kofi and Big E.

In between all the words was the premise that Woods was sick and tired of playing the nice guy. He and his friends would be turning heel. When you cut through all the cliches and meanings, that was the message. The trio was done playing by the rules.

Gimmick Change

Well, so much for that.

As mentioned, it went nowhere. Whether WWE got cold feet or had a different idea in mind (think of Brodus Clay upon his gimmick change mid-promos). Something or somebody had a change of heart on the group,and what we got was…preachers? Or singers? Or dancers? Or three guys just having a good time. Spreading the power of positive thinking, smiling, and be happy to all. I think. First was a vignette for Xavier Woods, then Kofi Kingston, and finally Big E. Their debut was imminent.

Debut

People forget this now, but the group debuted on Smackdown. After weeks of hype and MONTHS of waiting (their forgotten July segment now a distant memory), the three showed up on Smackdown. Not RAW. Not a pay-per-view. Just a standard episode of Smackdown in late November 2014. Now wearing light blue and doing a lot of clapping, it was a far cry from what Xavier Woods had been talking about back in the summer. Either way, they had arrived and showed off a ton of personality right away. In a winning effort, it was clear WWE had found its new fan favorites…

…or had they?

Reactions

It was not pretty.

Fans didn’t care for the lovable human beings who did nothing but smile. Despite getting booed and/or hearing crickets upon entering the arena, their attitudes didn’t change. The New Day, who were drifting in and out of relevancy on television, had their gimmick down pat. Whether we liked it or not. I compared it to the Tim Tebow Syndrome. The guy does NOTHING wrong, works with great charities, gives his all 100% of the time, actually had a winning record in the NFL, and even won a playoff game…yet gets bashed. People, for some oddball reason, HATE the dude! I don’t get it. Maybe he should get arrested a few dozen time or be fined by the league? Maybe then he will be “cool.” I don’t know.

“New Day Sucks!” “New Day Sucks!”

Eventually, the chants and boos did get to The New Day though. As the saying goes, no more mister nice guy…

The Tide Was Turning

In a forgotten but memorable series of tweets, Big E explained on Twitter WHY he clapped.

There were a few other messages sent that day, but I thought it was very powerful. Instead of just being moronic clowns and judging the gimmick at face value, none of us actually took the time to think about WHY they acted so happy. Why they taught the power of positive thinking. Why they kept smiling. Why they were always clapping. It was at this moment I fully backed them as a group. Previously, I was simply happy for all three to get a chance to do something (fresh for Kofi) of note. Especially Woods who had done nothing on the main roster after spending an eternity in FCW/NXT. Now that I understood why they were so happy and joyful, it made me enjoy their act even more.

That One Promo

July 6th, 2015.

I still remember seeing this for the first time ever.

Seriously. Look at Big E and his eyes during the promo. Look at Woods and Kingston having the time of their life. Look at JoJo not having a clue as to what is going on. Look at the crew walking around and the one man hiding, trying not to be seen. This was the greatest thing I had ever seen. The New Day were now stars in my eyes at this point. Forget whatever wins or losses the trio had at the time. This was their moment it officially clicked with me.

WWE Summerslam 2015

Yeah, The New Day had held the tag titles before, but it was nothing. No big deal or memorable. After The Primetime Players had a brief run with the championship, it was back to The New Day. Fans were now 100% on board with the group and more than willing to cheer for the decision at Summerslam 2015. Great moment then, just as it is a great moment now. The next night in Brooklyn on Raw, they were confronted by the returning Dudley Boyz, and a “dream feud” was on!

Was That The Peak?

You know, I wonder if that was the top of the mountain for The New Day. Not in terms of notoriety or fame or even star power but in terms of their act. I wrote the same thing the day after WrestleMania XXX about Daniel Bryan. He could have been WWE World Champion for a full year, beaten every star on the roster, main evented, etc. Still, the peak was going to be at Mania, beating Triple H, Randy Orton, and Batista in two matches and hailing at “Yes-leMania!” I feel the same *could* could apply here.

The story line with the Dudleyz never did much for me. Their goal to save wood and treat tables with respect was pretty lame. Not clever at all. You could tell they were testing the waters for a face turn (and official one since they were still technically heel). Never landed too well. Also didn’t help that they defeated The Dudleyz in every match. The right move for the veterans to put over the new act but doesn’t make much of a feud when one side wins all the time.

The Lucha Dragons and The Usos would follow, and the less said the better about that time period.

After some stuff with Edge and Christian that went nowhere and received little reaction, their next saga was even more embarrassing.

The League of Nations…

Bootyos!

Now faces and tag champs for over six months. The New Day embarked on a WrestleMania 32 feud with The League of Nations. Sheamus, Wade Barrett, Alberto Del Rio, and Rusev are wonderful talents on their own. As a stable, it was a disaster. Blending into The New Day “humor” was a mess. The jokes weren’t funny, and the bout at WM33 was as pointless as it gets. Not only did the heels actually win, but it was just a setup for a whole bunch of legends to come out and kick their butts anyways. Massive fail on the entire feud, although the WM32 stuff did entertain – after the bell!

More Nothingness

Remember The Vaudevillains? Dud. The Wyatt Family junk? Dud. More booty references and PG Jokes that fans ave ripped on John Cena and others for. Yet, it continued, and continued, and continued some more.

Present Day

After easily getting past Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, we are now left with Sheamus and Cesaro as the next challengers to the WWE World Tag Team Champions. A once fun and entertaining tag team, the division has not done any favors to The New Day. Nor has the material or stale act. In my opinion, there was a golden opportunity at Summerslam 2016 to flip the titles. It marked the one year anniversary of their reign and would have allowed The Clud to actually get some momentum. Instead, nope. The New Day rolled on, just as they did a month later in their rematch. Nothing fresh, nothing different, nothing to write about at all. No surprise, I expect The New Day to retain again this Sunday at the pay-per-view.

Longest Reigning Tag Champs Ever?

Want to know a secret? Even though I have been fairly outspoken about The New Day for most of 2016, I have predicted them to retain their tag titles in EVERY SINGLE match except Summerslam – which they did end up losing (by disqualification). Yes, that is right folks. Despite other ‘fans’ picking them to lose the belts multiple times, I only did once in 2016. I even said they would win at Clash of Champions in September when conventional wisdom (and betting odds) had them losing. Amazingly enough, it appears WWE is deadset on them breaking the all-time record. Good for them…but is it good for us?

Maybe they are the “old” day now.

Facts

Yes, The New Day did not defend their titles at Survivor Series, FastLane, WM32, Payback, or Battleground. Plus, the trio LOST at Summerslam. These are your longest reign tag champs. I wonder if we are secretly being served up a heel turn or something for them because I am not sure we are supposed to be cheering this? A record is about to be broken, like that? Um, okay.

Very curious people are fine with The New Day (ignoring the facts) but distorted the facts to bash Nikki Bella when she broke the record longest reigning Divas Champ of all-time…

Makes you think.

Future

Long story short, what started out as an opportunity has turned into stardom but has transformed into the need for another re-invention. Saying booty over and over and being the champs for the next 1,000 days does not sound very exciting. I did NOT want them split up in the WWE Draft in July and stand by that. I don’t think the group should break up. Not yet anyways. At the same time, it is hard to argue the trio do not need some kind of refresh. Perhaps a heel turn is too drastic. I thought a title change at Summerslam versus Anderson and Gallows would give them purpose again. My belief is we are in a stand-still until the record is broken. Then we will see some kind of change with the gimmick and a new chapter in their careers. Just my opinion.

Those are my thoughts. Thus, I turn it over to you. Is it “New Day Rocks” or “New Day Sucks” right now? Let me know.

Self Promotion

Watch Big Brother Over The Top on CBS All Access.

NFL season is finally here! Colts over Packers is my Super Bowl pick, write that down.

Tons of columns posted last week – find them on my Twitter account! Speaking of…

Follow me on Twitter: @JustinWatry – I am hosting a WWEShop giveaway! Must be following to win.

Email feedback: [email protected]

Thanks.

article topics :

The New Day, WWE, Justin Watry