WWE’s Big E was part of a joyous moment at WrestleMania 35 when he and Xavier Woods celebrated Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship win. Unfortunately his celebration had to be cut short, as the powerhouse of The New Day announced days later that he had suffered a torn meniscus. He was promptly pulled from television, but in a new interview with Comicbook.com on Monday he stated he won’t be gone for long.
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“Right now, actually, everything’s going well,” E said. “It was a fairly simple procedure. I had my both my ACLs repaired in college and I broke my patella, so those were all nine-month ordeals, if not longer. I think right now, the game plan is six to eight weeks and I’m hoping that we can be a little bit more aggressive than that as well.”
E’s injury once again stoked speculation online that The New Day might be heading towards a breakup. Kingston and Woods’ decision to induct Kevin Owens into the group as the honorary member “Big O” on the following episode of SmackDown Live ramped up said speculation even further. But while E played along with being unsure about Owens on social media, he explained in the interview why the three never want to break up even though tag team and faction splits are so common in wrestling.
“It’s something that people wanted the last five years, but I think the big thing for us is that we’ve learned to stay the course,” he said. “There have been times where it’s frustrating, there have been times where it felt like, ‘Oh, we’re not really doing much as a team right now.’ But, we’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing. Let’s find ways to reinvent ourselves or ask people about gimmicks, or whatever it is. It’s just being so short-sighted saying ‘Oh, you should turn on Kofi,’ or ‘Woods should turn on Kofi,’ or ‘I should turn on Woods,’ or whatever combination of who should turn on who.”
He walked through what would most likely happen if a split took place, comparing it to how WWE broke up Rusev Day in 2018.
“Okay, knowing WWE and knowing objectively of our creative, here’s what’s going to happen,” he said. “We’ll turn on one another, and then you’ll have one probably pretty cool, pretty exciting interaction, one moment. Then, what do you think is going to happen to us in three months?
“You have so many groups like Rusev Day. You have Aiden [English] turns on Rusev,” he continued. “Shocking moment, you get that moment of shock. But then they do for a couple of weeks on TV that weird [‘One Night in Milwaukee’] thing with Lana. We have a very full roster, but a guy like Aiden, who is very talented, is now no longer doing anything with Rusev. Rusev Day chants, as hot as Rusev was, that’s died down because of that [split]. Now, you have two guys who are less hot when they were several months before the breakup. That’s kind of how it’s always been unless your guys were made men, like The Shield, where they’re always going to be looked out for. … The trajectory of our careers isn’t going to be better breaking up.”
E wrapped up by talking about Kingston’s moment at WrestleMania 35, and how it was made all the more special by the years of history the trio had together leading up to the match.
“I’m not saying that Kofi doesn’t get a world title reign without The New Day, but you don’t get that same moment of brotherhood, that same story of two guys who are able to go through the gauntlet and get their brother his title match,” he said. “All of the things we’ve been able to do the last couple of years, that is unique and special, you don’t get any of those moments. We listen to people that say “Actually, you should turn heel,’ or ‘It’s my time, I should really make this time about me.’ That’s not something that even remotely interests us.”
Since forming in 2014, the trio have become five-time WWE Tag Team Champions. Their second reign of 483 days from August 2015 to December 2016 currently stands as the longest tag title reign in company history.
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