Big E Reflects On Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods’ Heel Turn, Wanted It To Feel ‘Real & Genuine’

Big E recently looked back at Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods’ heel turn on him, noting that he wanted his emotions to feel authentic in the moment. The turn took place on the December 2nd, 2024 episode of Raw. Woods and Kingston were at odds with each other for several weeks leading into the team’s “celebration” segment, which saw Big E come down and try to talk some sense into them.

Instead, the two turned on E and blamed him for their problems, blaming him for not coming back despite his injuries. The two then became among the most hated heels on the roster all the way through until they exited the company in April.

Big E was asked about the turn on Insight With Chris Van Vliet and said that the two wanted to turn heel, and that they knew he could help then do so. He added that he got in his own headspace to really sell the emotions of the moment to make the fans get behind him and thus turn on Kingston and Woods. You can see the highlights below:

On the Buildup To Kingston & Woods’ Heel Turn:

“So, I know a lot of the complaints afterwards were, ‘If Big E wasn’t going to get cleared, why are we doing this?’ We were not in limbo about me being cleared or not. We knew that those guys really wanted to turn heel, and they wanted to do something with me that would service that. Initially, the goal was Jey was a babyface at the time, very hot, and the initial thought was, okay we’ll do something where the physicality is on Jey, that gets shut down. We thought, oh, R-Truth is beloved, maybe the physicality would be on Truth, that gets shut down. So we thought, okay, these guys want to turn heel. I know I’m not going to be cleared. We’re not leading to anything with those guys, so they kind of came up with a bit of an idea, and I thought, okay, cool, this is what you want to do. I’m still in this position where I’m with the company, and it doesn’t behoove me for me to be a heel commentator, that’s not what we’re trying to do.

“So I was like, this is the message I’m putting out in the world. I’m talking about meditation and mindfulness, so I’m gonna remain a babyface. Those guys will be heels. So it wasn’t long before we all kind of put our heads together, and we had this idea. We never really had seen a turn with no physicality. In the month or so prior, those guys were doing such a great job of building tension between the two of them. I still remember that one promo they cut where they lose the tag match. I feel like we do it less these days, but that follow shot, where the camera is with them with their frustration at the end of the match, follows them through Gorilla to outside of Gorilla, and we see Kofi and Woods just saying terrible things to each other. I think what I love about that moment is we have been so purposeful about always talking about our brotherhood, how close we are, never breaking up, we love each other, we’re always fighting for each other. The importance of KofiMania and the sacrifice of me and Austin to make the sacrifice for Kofi, because we love him so much. ”

On the Turn Itself:

“So this is the first time you really see any real tension, and it’s like this idea of the worst things that you’ve been holding on that you can’t say to your brother because you love him, but these things have been floating in there. But now in this moment of anger, saying the things that you can’t take back. So those guys did such a phenomenal job of building tension, and the timing was also great for me and the message I was putting out in the world, because the Players Tribune article actually came out the same day we did the turn. So that comes out that morning, and I think one of the lines in there was about how The New Day saved me, about how this brotherhood and this path we took together just changed me in so many ways. So to have that heartfelt thing come out, talking about my own struggles with mental health, and then that same day, have the breakup, it just felt so juicy. But for me, we always had to be so, we often refer to it as happy clappy. That idea of we drop a title, the next night [we are happy], and that was the directive. Hey, you still come out with a big smile on your face, you still come out clapping. We never really got to do anything with some real, you could argue KofiMania had emotional weight, but nothing like this.

So, the idea of doing something with some real gravitas, or something that actually hit people in the chest, was exciting. So, I had some feedback, and I thought the idea of, please forgive me audience, but I thought the idea of throwing out this hook of I could return, I could help you remember who you are, I could come here, I’m not cleared yet, but I’ll be your manager, I’ll be here with you weekly, we’ll bring back that old New Day that people remember and love, we’ll get our juice back. I love the idea of throwing out a hook that got people up, and then having those two take it away, and just that moment of, and for me too. With the article, I was reliving a lot of my pain, a lot of my struggle, and I just wanted to stay in that feeling, as someone who is trying to do more acting and learning more about actors’ process, I wanted it to feel real and genuine.”

On the Segment Feeling Real:

“Thank you. That’s what I wanted. So I tried to stay in, I tried to keep those feelings in mind and thinking about my angst, and carry that with me to that performance later that night, we were in Everett, Washington. I had so many people reach out and talked about, look, I know this is entertainment, I know it’s a show, but man, it’s heartbreaking. I had so many people, people who know that what we do is a work, who were like, ‘Is this real? Are you guys actually talking? I know it’s a show, but is this real behind the scenes?’ But I love that we were able to really hook people. I think, unfortunately, you know, those guys were getting booed out of the building for the first several weeks. It’s the follow-up that, unfortunately, I don’t think went as well as we all would have liked. I even pitched an idea. I love 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 love the idea, 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 of the foot, and we cost him the Rumble, he goes out, something like that. But 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 like, oh, let’s save that idea for later, but things with creative and direction move so much, we have a great idea, let’s capitalize on it now. But ultimately those were the two who were going to carry it. Creative had ideas. My role is now as a broadcaster for the PLEs, so ultimately I just thought let’s try to make this break-up 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.”