The New Day

On the July 21, 2014 episode of *Raw*, after Big E and Kofi Kingston, who had started pairing up in tag team matches earlier the same month, suffered another loss in what had been ongoing losing streaks for both, Xavier Woods came down to address the two and he declared that they could not "get ahead by kissing babies and shaking hands", and that it would be "their time to shine". The duo then joined Woods and on the following day on *Main Event*, Woods managed Big E and Kingston to a decisive victory over Slater-Gator (Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil). However, the group disappeared from television soon after; they continued to make appearances together at house shows in two-on-two tag team matches, regularly switching the two competing members while the third one acted as manager.

From the November 3 episode of *Raw*, WWE began airing vignettes for Big E, Kingston and Woods, with the stable now being billed as **The New Day**, displaying a heroic black gospel gimmick. The New Day made their in-ring debut on the November 28 episode of *SmackDown* in a winning effort against Curtis Axel, Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil. On the December 1 episode of *Raw*, Kingston and Woods competed in a tag team turmoil match to determine the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship, eliminating Gold and Stardust, before being eliminated by Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. At the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pre-show on December 14, Big E and Kingston defeated Gold and Stardust.

On the January 5, 2015 episode of *Raw*, while Big E was on his way to a victory against Adam Rose, the team of Kidd and Cesaro, masquerading as Rosebuds, interfered by laying out Woods on the outside and performing their finisher on Big E in the ring. At the Royal Rumble, The New Day's winning streak came to an end when Tyson Kidd and Cesaro defeated Big E and Kingston. A fatal four-way match for the WWE Tag Team Championship took place on the WrestleMania 31 pre-show on March 29, including The New Day, but they failed to win the championship.

On the March 30 episode of *Raw*, they were involved in an eight-man tag team match alongside The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) against Kidd, Cesaro and The Ascension. During the match, the live audience responded negatively to The New Day with loud "New Day sucks!" chants which carried over into the following weeks. When asked about the crowd's disapproval of them in a backstage interview on the April 6 episode of *Raw*, The New Day claimed that they were hurt and responded in a more aggressive tone, yet maintained their upbeat nature. During their following match against The Lucha Dragons, Kingston attempted a cheap shot from the outside, even though he was not actually involved in the bout, turning all three men into heels in the process. On the April 20 episode of *Raw*, The New Day defeated The Lucha Dragons via countout to become the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship after Woods held onto Sin Cara's feet to prevent him from re-entering the ring.

At Extreme Rules on April 26, The New Day defeated Kidd and Cesaro to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship; Big E and Kingston were the participants in the match, but WWE also recognized Woods as champion under the Freebird Rule, in which any two members of a stable could compete for the titles. At Payback on May 17, Big E and Kingston defeated Kidd and Cesaro in a two-out-of-three falls match to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship after Woods pinned Cesaro, despite not being a legal participant in the match. At Elimination Chamber on May 31, all three New Day members competed in the first-ever tag team Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, where they lastly eliminated The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil) to retain their titles. However, at Money in the Bank on June 14, Big E and Woods lost the championships to The Prime Time Players. Big E and Kingston then lost their rematch at Battleground on July 19. The New Day would regain the championship after they defeated Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando), The Lucha Dragons and The Prime Time Players in a fatal four-way match at SummerSlam on August 23. Despite being heels, the trio received heavy positive reactions from audiences who began to chant "New Day rocks!". The following night on *Raw*, they were attacked by the returning Dudley Boyz, with Woods being put through a table. This started a feud between the two teams, setting up a title match at Night of Champions on September 20, where Big E and Kingston lost by disqualification, though, by rule, they retained their titles. They lost via disqualification to retain their championships again in a rematch against The Dudley Boyz at WWE Live from Madison Square Garden, but defeated them via pinfall at Hell in a Cell on October 25 to retain the titles, thus ending their feud. The New Day led their own team at Survivor Series including Sheamus and King Barrett, but left the match prematurely to tend to Big E after his elimination, leading to their team's eventual loss. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 13, they retained the WWE Tag Team Championship against The Lucha Dragons and The Usos (Jimmy and Jey Uso) in a triple threat ladder match. The New Day then successfully defended their titles against The Lucha Dragons on the special December 22 episode of *Super SmackDown Live!*, and against The Usos on January 24, 2016 at the Royal Rumble event.

At Fastlane on February 21, The New Day began mocking The League of Nations (Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Rusev and King Barrett), calling them the "League of Booty". They then continued to mock The League of Nations in various segments and skits while simultaneously feuding with other teams and turning into fan favorites in the process. The New Day then retained their titles at Roadblock against Sheamus and Barrett on March 12, and the following night on *Raw* against Del Rio and Rusev, but were attacked by the entire League of Nations afterwards. This led to a non-title six-man tag team match between the two stables at WrestleMania 32 on April 3, where The New Day lost, but Big E and Kingston retained their championships once again against Sheamus and Barrett the following night on *Raw*. At Payback on May 1, the final match of the tournament to determine the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship between Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady and The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) ended in a no contest after Amore suffered a legitimate concussion during the match. As a result, The New Day faced The Vaudevillains for the WWE Tag Team Championship at Extreme Rules on May 22, where they successfully retained their championships after Kingston interfered. On the May 30 episode of *Raw*, The New Day defeated The Vaudevillains in a non-title match via disqualification after they were attacked by Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, sparking a feud between them. At Money in the Bank on June 19, The New Day defeated Gallows and Anderson, The Vaudevillains and Enzo and Cass in a fatal-four-way match to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships. On the June 20 episode of *Raw*, The New Day confronted the returning Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman) and interrupted Wyatt's promo, thus starting a feud between the two teams that would lead to a non-title six-man tag team match at Battleground on July 24, where they would lose.

During the 2016 WWE draft, The New Day were drafted to the *Raw* brand, making the WWE Tag Team Championship exclusive to the brand. In parallel to a lengthy feud with Gallows and Anderson over the titles, The New Day became the longest reigning WWE Tag Team Champions in the title's history, breaking the old record of 331 days previously set by Paul London and Brian Kendrick and, after the creation of the SmackDown Tag Team Championship for the *SmackDown* brand, became the last people to have held their championship as the sole tag team title in WWE and the first to hold it under its new name of Raw Tag Team Championship. The New Day would continue to successfully retain their championships against Gallows and Anderson in the following months, such as SummerSlam on August 21, Clash of Champions on September 25, and the following night on *Raw*, ending their feud in the process.

After their feud with Gallows and Anderson, The New Day began feuding with Cesaro and Sheamus and at Hell in a Cell on October 30, The New Day were defeated by Cesaro and Sheamus via disqualification, but they retained the titles as a result. On the October 31 episode of *Raw*, The New Day revealed that they were made captain of Team *Raw* for the 10-on-10 Survivor Series tag team elimination match at Survivor Series. At the event on November 20, they made the first elimination, but were then eliminated themselves by The Usos. However, Team *Raw* still won the match thanks to Cesaro and Sheamus. On the two following *Raw* episodes, The New Day successfully retained their titles against Cesaro and Sheamus and then Gallows and Anderson, respectively.

On the December 12 episode of *Raw*, after successfully defending their titles in two successive triple threat tag team matches – first against Cesaro and Sheamus and Gallows and Anderson, and then against the team of Chris Jericho and WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens, and the team of Seth Rollins and United States Champion Roman Reigns – The New Day broke Demolition's 28-year-old record to have the longest single-run with any tag team championship in WWE history. At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, The New Day's reign ended at 483 days after they lost the championships to Cesaro and Sheamus. On the December 26 episode of *Raw*, The New Day received a rematch, but failed to reclaim the championships.

The New Day would go on to host WrestleMania 33, and the following night on *Raw*, lost to the debuting team The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder). After the match, Kingston was attacked by The Revival, resulting in a legitimate ankle injury.

On April 11, 2017, The New Day were moved to the *SmackDown* brand as part of Superstar Shake-up; however, they did not appear for several weeks due to Kingston's ankle injury. After appearing on *Talking Smack* on May 23, the trio fully returned on May 30, setting their sights on The Usos' SmackDown Tag Team Championship. In the two teams' first encounter at Money in the Bank, Big E and Kingston won the match by countout, but not the title. In a rematch at Battleground, Kingston and Woods captured the titles; this marked the first time that Woods took an active part in winning a championship and his first championship-winning pinfall in WWE. They lost the title back to The Usos on the SummerSlam 2017 pre-show, regained it on the September 12 episode of *SmackDown Live* in a Sin City Street Fight, and lost it again in a Hell in a Cell match at the pay-per-view of the same name.

In the build-up to Survivor Series, The New Day helped the rest of the *SmackDown* roster attack the *Raw* roster. They also engaged in a rivalry with The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins) of the *Raw* brand, and on the November 6 episode of *Raw*, The New Day alone invaded *Raw* for the second time, ultimately costing Rollins and Ambrose the Raw Tag Team Championship to Cesaro and Sheamus. At Survivor Series, however, The New Day lost to The Shield in an interbrand six-man tag team match. At Fastlane, The New Day faced The Usos for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, but the match ended in a no contest after interference from The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan). At WrestleMania 34, all three teams competed in a triple threat tag team match for the titles, which The Bludgeon Brothers won.

After failing to win the titles at SummerSlam, when they defeated the champions by disqualification, The New Day defeated The Bludgeon Brothers in a no disqualification match two days later on *SmackDown* to capture the titles for a third time. They held the titles until October 16, 2018, when they were defeated by Cesaro and Sheamus on *SmackDown 1000* after Big Show attacked Kingston outside the ring. They would fail to regain the titles at the Crown Jewel event. Two weeks later, they made up part of Team *SmackDown* in a 5-on-5 tag-team elimination match at Survivor Series, in which they defeated Team *Raw*. At TLC, The New Day would again fail to win the championship from The Bar, in a triple-threat tag team match also involving The Usos. On the January 1, 2019 episode of *SmackDown Live*, the entire New Day announced their entry into the men's Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble event on January 27; all three were unsuccessful.

On the February 12 episode of *SmackDown Live*, one member of The New Day was scheduled to replace Mustafa Ali in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match at the namesake pay-per-view after Ali suffered an injury, and Kingston was selected as his replacement. Kingston then participated in a gauntlet match to determine the last entrant in the Chamber match, where he started off with WWE Champion Daniel Bryan. Kingston lasted over an hour all while eliminating Bryan, Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe, before being eliminated by AJ Styles. At the pay-per-view, Kingston was the third entrant in the match, and went on to eliminate Randy Orton and make it to the final two, before being eliminated by Daniel Bryan. After pinning Daniel Bryan in a six-man tag team match, Kingston was granted a WWE Championship match at Fastlane, but was replaced during his contract signing by a returning Kevin Owens per the order of Mr. McMahon. On March 10 at Fastlane, Kingston was apparently added into the title match by McMahon, but after entering the ring, it was instead announced that he would face The Bar in a handicap match, which Kingston subsequently lost. On the *SmackDown Live* following Fastlane, Kingston was faced with yet another challenge set forth by McMahon. This time, to face Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35, Kingston would have to defeat Sheamus, Cesaro, Rowan, Samoa Joe, and Randy Orton one after the other in a gauntlet match the following week. Kingston would succeed in the gauntlet match before McMahon told him that he had one more opponent in Daniel Bryan, to whom he would ultimately lose. On the March 26 episode of *SmackDown*, McMahon announced that Big E and Xavier Woods of The New Day would compete in a tag team gauntlet match, and if they defeated every team, Kingston would go on to WrestleMania to face Bryan for the WWE Championship. Big E and Woods would go on to defeat Gallows and Anderson, Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev, The Bar, The Usos (who forfeited), and the team of Daniel Bryan and Rowan. Mr. McMahon would confirm at the end of the show that Kingston would indeed face Bryan at WrestleMania for the title.

At WrestleMania, Kingston won the match to become the WWE Champion for the first time in his career. In doing so, he became the first African-born WWE Champion. On the April 16 episode of *SmackDown*, Kevin Owens became an honorary member of the stable in the absence of an injured Big E. Kingston, Owens and Woods won their first match together as a team the same night in a six-man tag team match against Cesaro, Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura. The following week, Kingston faced Nakamura in a non-title match where Kingston won via disqualification after Rusev interfered. After the match, Owens attacked both Kingston and Woods thus, disbanding him from the group. The following week, Kingston then challenged Owens to a match at Money in the Bank with his title on the line where Kofi emerged as victorious. At Extreme Rules, Kingston retained the WWE Championship against Samoa Joe, while Big E and Woods won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship by defeating former champions Daniel Bryan and Rowan, and Heavy Machinery (Otis and Tucker), making The New Day record-tying four-time SmackDown Tag Team Champions (technically also making Kingston a double champion during this time due to the Freebird Rule). They lost the titles to The Revival at Clash of Champions, and Kingston lost the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar during *SmackDown's 20th Anniversary* on October 4.

On the November 8 episode of *SmackDown*, The New Day (represented by Big E and Kingston, as Woods was inactive due to injury) regained the SmackDown Tag Team Championship from The Revival, becoming record five-time champions. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Big E and Kingston successfully defended the titles against The Revival in a ladder match. At Super ShowDown on February 27, 2020, The New Day lost the titles to John Morrison and The Miz, ending their reign at 111 days. At WrestleMania 36, Kingston, who represented The New Day, failed to win the titles back from Morrison, who represented himself and Miz, in a triple threat ladder match, also involving Jimmy Uso, who represented The Usos. A rematch took place on the April 17 episode of *SmackDown*, where Big E, who represented The New Day, won the titles back from Miz, who represented himself and Morrison, in a triple threat match, also involving Jey Uso, who represented The Usos, making The New Day six-time SmackDown Tag Team Champions. At The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, The New Day would lose the championships to Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura in a tables match after Cesaro and Nakamura put Kingston through two tables. On the July 24 episode of *SmackDown*, Kingston revealed that he would be out of action for six weeks due to a back injury and gave Big E the blessing to go on a solo run. Big E would then embark on his singles run as he entered a feud with Sheamus, defeating him at Payback and on the October 9 episode of *SmackDown* in a Falls Count Anywhere match.

On the October 9 episode of *SmackDown*, both Kingston and Woods returned from injury and defeated Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura, winning their seventh SmackDown Tag Team Championship; immediately after the match, the trio were given the announcement that Kingston and Woods were being drafted to *Raw* as part of the 2020 Draft, while Big E remained on *SmackDown*, splitting the group across brands for the first time; it also marked the first time that members of The New Day would hold tag titles without all three members being champions, as Big E was not considered champion.

Upon Kingston and Woods' *Raw* debut on the October 12 episode of *Raw*, WWE official Adam Pearce had them trade titles with Raw Tag Team Champions The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford), who had just been drafted to *SmackDown*, in order to keep both championships on their respective brands. This made Kingston and Woods three-time Raw Tag Team Champions, marking their first time holding the title without Big E, and their first time winning it since their record 483-day reign in 2015–2016. The New Day had their final match as a trio on the October 16 episode of *SmackDown*, defeating Cesaro, Nakamura, and Sheamus. The New Day appeared one further time as a trio at Survivor Series on November 22. At the event, the trio made their entrance and after a brief in-ring promo, Big E departed backstage while Kingston and Woods faced SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits in a non-title brand supremacy match. New Day lost the match but showed mutual respect to The Street Profits. On December 20, at TLC, Kingston and Woods lost the Raw Tag Team Championship to The Hurt Business (Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin). They regained the championship on the March 15 episode of *Raw*, tying Cesaro and Sheamus for the most reigns as a team at four, while indiviudally, Kingston tied Seth Rollins for the most reigns at six. They were then scheduled to defend the titles against AJ Styles and Omos at WrestleMania 37, in which they lost, ending their reign at 26 days.

On September 13, 2021 during *Raw*, Big E cashed in his Money in the Bank contract (which he had won in July) on WWE Champion Bobby Lashley, who had just successfully retained his title against Randy Orton, to win the WWE Championship for the first time, resulting in Big E being transferred to *Raw* full time and reuniting New Day as a trio for the first time since 2020. At Extreme Rules, The New Day would defeat the team of Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles and Omos.

As a part of the 2021 Draft, Big E was drafted to the *Raw* brand while Kingston and Woods were drafted to the *SmackDown* brand, thus splitting them again. In October, Woods and Kingston both entered the King of the Ring tournament, though Kingston was eliminated in the first round. At Crown Jewel, Woods defeated Finn Bálor in the final to win the tournament; his first individual accolade in WWE. With that victory, his ring name was shortly changed to King Woods.

On the January 14, 2022 edition of *SmackDown*, Kingston announced that Woods was injured and out of action. On January 28, Big E was traded to the *SmackDown* brand and reunited with Kingston. In March, the New Day feuded with the team of Sheamus and Ridge Holland. A match between the teams on the March 11 episode of *SmackDown* saw Holland giving an overhead belly-to-belly suplex to Big E at ringside, resulting in Big E landing on the top of his head and suffering a broken neck. Big E had an onscreen reunion with Kingston and Woods on May 20.

In December, Kingston and Woods also began appearing on WWE's developmental brand, *NXT*, and challenged for the NXT Tag Team Championships. At NXT Deadline on December 10, they defeated Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) to win the titles and became the third WWE Tag Team Triple Crown champions. At NXT Vengeance Day on February 4, 2023, however, The New Day lost the championships to Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) in a fatal four-way tag team match, also involving Pretty Deadly and Chase University (Andre Chase and Duke Hudson), ending their reign at 56 days.

As part of the 2023 WWE Draft, The New Day were drafted to the *Raw* brand.