Xavier Woods

Woods made his WWE debut on the October 31, 2012 episode of *NXT* with a loss to Leo Kruger. While picking up wins on NXT over the likes of El Local and Jake Carter, Woods began using the gimmick of a fanboy of 1990's popular culture. He stopped using this gimmick once he was called up to WWE's main roster.

On the November 18, 2013 episode of *Raw*, Woods made his main roster debut as he teamed with R-Truth to defeat 3MB (Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal). The following week on *Raw*, Woods defeated Heath Slater in his singles debut match while being accompanied by R-Truth and The Funkadactyls (Naomi and Cameron). On the November 29 episode of *SmackDown*, Woods began a feud with Brodus Clay after Clay took offense to Woods using his entrance music and The Funkdactyls as his valets. Later that night, Woods suffered his first loss when he and R-Truth lost to Tons of Funk (Clay and Tensai). On the December 2 episode of *Raw*, Woods and R-Truth defeated Tons of Funk in a rematch. On the December 9 episode of *Raw*, Woods lost to Clay. On the December 11 episode of *Main Event*, Woods and R-Truth defeated Tons of Funk to end the feud.

On the January 8, 2014 episode of *Main Event*, Woods and Truth faced The Real Americans (Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger) in a losing effort. At WrestleMania XXX, Woods competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal in a losing effort. Woods and R-Truth began a feud with Alexander Rusev and were defeated by him in singles encounters. After a loss in a 2-on-1 handicap match to Rusev at Extreme Rules, Woods and Truth quietly separated.

Woods failed to win a 20-man United States Championship battle royal in May, a WWE World Heavyweight Championship ladder match qualifying battle royal in June and a 19-man battle royal for the vacant Intercontinental Championship at Battleground.

On the July 21, 2014 episode of *Raw*, after Big E and Kofi Kingston suffered another loss as a team in a recent string of defeats, Woods came down to address them. He went on to state that they could not "get ahead by kissing babies and shaking hands" and that now is "their time" and offered to form a stable. The duo accepted Woods' offer, and on the next day's *Main Event*, Woods managed Big E and Kingston to a decisive victory over Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil. On the July 29 episode of *Main Event*, Woods filled a commentary role while he and his group observed a match wrestled by the WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos. New Day then temporarily separated as on the August 8 episode of *SmackDown*, both Big E and Kingston reverted to wrestling singles matches with no sign or mention of the other two members of the group. Woods also joined the broadcast team alongside Rich Brennan on August 28, 2014 episode of *Superstars*. Despite being disbanded on WWE television, Big E, Kingston and Woods continued their alliance at house shows. On the September 26 episode of *SmackDown*, Woods competed in an Intercontinental Championship #1 contender battle royal, which was won by Cesaro.

On the November 3 episode of *Raw*, WWE began airing vignettes for Woods, Big E, and Kingston, as face characters, with the stable billed as "The New Day". The New Day made their in-ring debut on the November 28 episode of *SmackDown* in a winning effort against Titus O'Neil, Heath Slater and Curtis Axel. At WrestleMania 31, Woods competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal where he was eliminated by eventual winner, the Big Show. On April 6, 2015, episode of *Raw*, New Day started developing heel traits as they would start interfering with the others' matches to help each other gain unfair competitive advantages. Woods especially would trash-talk with their opponents and the crowd during matches. At Extreme Rules, Big E and Kingston defeated Tyson Kidd and Cesaro to win the WWE Tag Team Championship after a distraction from Woods. Woods was then given a share of the title and the trio defended the titles under the Freebird Rule. Kingston and Big E retained their titles in rematches on both *SmackDown* and at Payback, with Woods interfering in both matches. At Elimination Chamber, The New Day retained the title in the first ever tag team Elimination Chamber match, where all three members were allowed to compete. At Money in the Bank, Woods and Big E lost the titles to The Prime Time Players (Titus O'Neil and Darren Young). Big E and Kingston would also lose in their championship rematch at Battleground. New Day would win the titles for a second time after they defeated the Prime Time Players, Los Matadores, and the Lucha Dragons in a tag team fatal 4-way match at SummerSlam. The next night on *Raw*, after Big E and Kingston defeated the Lucha Dragons, they were attacked by the returning Dudley Boyz, which ended with Woods being put through a table with a 3D. On the September 14 episode of *Raw*, New Day defeated the Prime Time Players in a title match, setting up a defense against the Dudley Boyz at Night of Champions, which New Day lost by disqualification but retained the title. On the September 28 episode of *Raw*, Woods answered John Cena's United States Championship Open Challenge, where Cena retained by disqualification after Kingston and Big E attacked him. The Dudley Boyz appeared afterwards to save Cena; this led to an impromptu six-man tag team match between The New Day against Cena and The Dudley Boyz, where The New Day were victorious after Kingston pinned D-Von. At Madison Square Garden, The New Day lost another title match by disqualification but Woods was put through a table with a 3D again. At Hell In A Cell, The New Day retained the titles after Kingston pinned Bubba Ray. New Day would then defend the title at TLC in a Triple-Threat Ladder match against The Usos and The Lucha Dragons, retaining the titles.

They had another successful title defense against The Usos at Royal Rumble. At Fastlane, New Day turned into fan favorites as the crowd was starting to get behind them and they started a feud League of Nations. New Day retained the titles at Roadblock after defeating League of Nations' Sheamus and King Barrett. but lost against them at WrestleMania 32 in a non-title match. The New Day then retained their tag team championships at Extreme Rules against The Vaudevillains and at Money in the Bank against The Vaudevillains, Enzo and Cass, and Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows in a fatal four-way tag team match. On July 19, at the 2016 WWE draft, Woods, along with his fellow New Day teammates, was drafted to *Raw*. Three days later, on July 22, Woods, along with Kingston and Big E, became the longest reigning WWE Tag Team Champions in history, breaking the record of 331 days previously set by Paul London and Brian Kendrick. After *SmackDown* established the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships after the brand split, the titles held by the New Day were renamed the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships. At WWE Clash of Champions, The New Day defeated Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. On the September 26 edition of *Raw*, due to Woods using their trombone to assault Karl Anderson, Gallows and Anderson received a rematch but were defeated again. 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 on 20 November but they were the first team eliminated although Team Raw still went on to win the match. On the November 21 episode of Raw, The New Day successfully retained their titles against Team Raw's sole survivors, Cesaro and Sheamus. The following week, they defeated The Club for another successful title defense. At Roadblock: End of the Line, New Day lost the Raw Tag Team Champions to Cesaro and Sheamus ending their record-breaking championship reign at 483 days. The New Day were unsuccessful in regaining the titles during a later rematch. The New Day would then go on to host WrestleMania 33.

The night after WrestleMania 33, The New Day were defeated by the debuting Revival, after which The Revival would attack Kingston. The New Day also lost the following week, and have since been drafted to *SmackDown* during the 2017 WWE Superstar Shake-up. They started a feud with The Usos, facing them for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Money in the Bank, which they won by count-out, meaning The New Day won the match but not the titles. In a rematch the following month at Battleground, Woods made the pin for The New Day to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. At SummerSlam on August 20, The New Day lost the titles back to The Usos. Later in August, Woods suffered a knee injury and had to be helped to the backstage area. In keeping with his comedic role, Woods still appeared with the rest of the group, but now sporting a brace around his leg. On September 12 at the episode promoted as *Sin City SmackDown*, Kingston and Big E represented New Day and defeated The Usos to win back the championship for their second reign in a "Sin City Street Fight", but lost them again to The Usos at Hell in a Cell. At Survivor Series, The New Day faced Raw's tag team The Shield, but were defeated. The New Day failed to regain the titles from The Usos at Clash of Champions in a fatal-4-way tag team match also involving the team of Rusev and Aiden English, and Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin.

On the December 26 edition of *SmackDown Live*, general manager Daniel Bryan revealed an 8-man tournament for the vacant United States Championship including Woods and Aiden English. Woods would defeat English, however, he would lose in the semi-finals to Jinder Mahal. Woods entered the 2018 Royal Rumble match at number 12 but failed to win the match after being eliminated by Mahal.

At Fastlane, The New Day faced The Usos for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships, but went to a no contest after inference from The Bludgeon Brothers. Two weeks later, it was confirmed that at WrestleMania 34, The New Day would face the Usos and the Bludgeon Brothers in a triple threat tag team match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. The New Day failed to capture the titles at the event, which were won by The Bludgeon Brothers. On the April 11 episode of *SmackDown*, The New Day were defeated by The Usos in a match to determine which team would challenge The Bludgeon Brothers at the Greatest Royal Rumble event. The New Day were then defeated by SAnitY in a six-man tables match on the Extreme Rules pre-show. The New Day competed in a tag team title tournament, defeating SAnitY in the first round, while Cesaro and Sheamus defeated the Usos. The New Day then defeated Cesaro and Sheamus the following week on *SmackDown* to earn the right to face The Bludgeon Brothers at SummerSlam, where they won the match by disqualification, meaning the Bludgeon Brothers retained their titles. Two days later on *SmackDown*, however, The New Day defeated The Bludgeon Brothers in a No Disqualification match to capture the titles for a third time. Woods and Big E then represented the New Day when they unsuccessfully defended their tag titles against The Bar on *SmackDown 1000*.

Woods entered the 2019 Royal Rumble but was eliminated by Drew McIntyre. In the lead-up to WrestleMania 35, Woods's New Day teammate Kofi Kingston was attempting to earn a shot at the WWE Championship and after many attempts, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon granted him the title shot after Woods and Big E defeated Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev, The Bar, The Usos, and Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan in a tag-team gauntlet match. Following WrestleMania, Woods later earned another SmackDown tag team title opportunity at Extreme Rules. At the event, Woods and Big E defeated Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan and Heavy Machinery to win the titles. At Clash of Champions in September, Woods and Big E lost the titles to the Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson).

During a WWE live event on October 21, Woods suffered a legitimate achilles injury and it was reported that the injury would sideline him for six months to a year.

On the October 9, 2020 episode of *SmackDown*, Woods returned from injury, where he teamed with Kingston to defeat Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura, winning their seventh SmackDown Tag Team Championship. After the match, as part of the 2020 draft, Kingston and Woods were drafted to the *Raw* brand, splitting them from Big E, who remained on the *SmackDown* brand. On the following *Raw*, Woods and Kingston would swap their SmackDown Tag Team Titles for The Street Profits' Raw Tag Team Championships, as The Street Profits were drafted to *SmackDown*, thus making Woods and Kingston the new Raw Tag Team Champions. On December 20, at TLC, Kingston and Woods lost the Raw Tag Team Championships to The Hurt Business (Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin). Woods and Kingston would win back the titles from Alexander and Benjamin on March 15, 2021, during *Raw*, marking Woods' fourth reign with the titles, and overall eleventh Tag Team Champonship reign for the New Day. They would hold the championship until WrestleMania 37, where they lost the titles to AJ Styles and Omos.

As a part of the 2021 Draft, Woods, along with Kingston, was drafted to the *SmackDown* brand. In October, Woods entered the King of the Ring tournament, where he defeated Ricochet in the first round and Jinder Mahal in the semifinals. At Crown Jewel, Woods defeated Finn Bálor in the final to win the tournament; his first individual accolade in WWE. On the following episode of *SmackDown*, with the team now officially members of the *SmackDown* brand, The New Day held a coronation for Woods. Kingston introduced Woods and adorned him with a cape, crown, and scepter, and Woods' ring name was changed to **King Woods**. On the January 14, 2022 edition of *SmackDown*, Woods was suffered a torn plantaris, rendering him unable to compete for multiple weeks. On the March 25 edition of *SmackDown*, Woods made his return, reverting back to **Xavier Woods** and defeating Ridge Holland in a match. Kingston and Woods then challenged Sheamus and Holland to a match at WrestleMania, which they would lose in mere minutes.

On December 10, at NXT Deadline, Woods and Kingston defeated Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) to win NXT Tag Team Championship for the first time, as well as becoming the third WWE Tag Team Triple Crown winners. They would lose the titles at NXT Stand and Deliver in April to Gallus (Wolfgang and Mark Coffey). As part of the 2023 WWE Draft, Woods, along with teammate Kingston, was drafted to the *Raw* brand.