Kofi & Austin Creed Open Up On WWE Departure, Say Pay Cut Offered Was More Than 50%

WWE

Kofi & Austin Creed have opened up on their WWE departures, confirmed the company wanted them to take a more than 50% paycut.

Back in May, it was confirmed that Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods of the New Day had departed WWE.

Since their departure, it was reported that Kofi and Woods were asked to take pay cuts from the company with them rejecting the offers, leading to their departure.

At AEW All In, Kofi and Austin Creed debuted in AEW as the New Level, with them teaming with Swerve Strickland to win the AEW World Trios Championship.

Kofi Opens Up On WWE Departure

Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Kofi and Creed opened up on their WWE departures, confirming that the compensation was a big part, but they also wanted to be part of AEW’s tag team division.

Kofi said:

“We just thought that the terms that they wanted us to perform under were not fair based on what we brought to the table, based on what we’re worth, based on the knowledge and prowess that we have as performers, as wrestlers, what we can give back to the younger people, what we do from a point of entertainment, being able to go out there and garner a reaction whether as good guys or bad guys.

“So the terms of which, compensation was definitely a big part, but more so we wanted to work. We wanted to go out there and showcase our skills and showcase our talents. We love going out there and messing with fans and threatening to ground kids and really garner reactions to people and send them home with incredible memories they’ll never forget. We really take a lot of pride in being able to give the people their money’s worth and what they came for, so we wanted to work.

“When it came to tag team wrestling, it really wasn’t a priority so to speak, so we look across the pond and see the Bucks, FTR, Cope and Christian, Private Party, the Dogs, all these teams going out there having bangers, and just sitting there thinking ‘what if we could be involved with that?’

“You watch AEW pay-per-views and I’m jumping out of my seat as a fan again, so Woods and I were thinking what if we could be a part of that, what if we could add ourselves into that mix as one of if not the greatest tag team in the history of this industry, and be a part of something special they’ve built here in AEW.

“That was really the determining factor where it’s like ‘hey, lets go. Lets go do what we love to do, feel passionate about our craft and being able to give in a way that is significant, that matters’. To be able to go out and have bangers every single night, that’s what this is supposed to be.

“You’re not supposed to go to work and be frustrated with whatever’s going on, you wanna be able to have time to have matches that are incredible and entertaining. That’s what the goal was and four months later, here we are.

“Manifesting and believing in yourself, that’s the major message. This is so arrogant to say, I don’t mean it in a cocky way, but when you’ve had the career we’ve had, you feel like you wouldn’t have to be in a position where you have to bet on yourselves again.

“But here we were, we found ourselves in that exact position, and as a father, if we didn’t try and do this, and follow our heart, how can I tell my kids to follow their dreams, to believe in themselves?”

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WWE Wanted New Day To Take A More Than 50% Pay Cut

When asked by Helwani if the reports of them being offered a 50% pay cut was true, Kofi confirmed that it wasn’t, and it was actually more than 50%.

He said:

“I don’t know exactly what’s out there. I will say it was more than 50%.”

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Austin Creed Recalls WWE Calling Him To Offer Him A Pay Cut

Austin Creed would then recall where he was when he found out about the news, and how he didn’t think it would be a negative conversation.

He said:

“I’m at my kid’s football game and my phone rings and it’s a 203 number. I’m like ‘that’s weird, I’ve not seen a 203 that I don’t have in a long time’.

“Then maybe like 15 minutes later my brain goes ‘hmm, it’s very close to after Mania, usually there’s releases. We’re not getting released.’ We’ve been helping out, pulling our weight, so that was a flicker of a thought in my mind that it was a negative conversation.

“Then I end up getting a call from Kofi. He’s like ‘they just called me, they said this this and this’. I was like ‘how is that the conversation?’ It doesn’t make sense to me because of what we’ve been able to do, how much we have left to provide.

“So called them back, end up calling Kofi, and that was the first time we had the conversation like ‘hey, we gotta go right?’ This doesn’t work for us, this isn’t what we want to be doing. We want to work, we want to have these matches and fulfil these goals and dreams.

“When we made that decision, I was excited of course for myself, but knowing Kofi’s never really been on the indies, he was in WWE for 20 years. I was on the indies, I was in TNA, so I’d been in these other places. So it was when we get to wrestle again, I’d get to experience these things again, and to see Kofi get the chance to do all those things for the first time.”

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• austin creed
• New Level
• AEW
• wwe
• New Day
• kofi kingston
• Xavier Woods
• kofi

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