How WWE WrestleMania 35 Validated Every Step In Xavier Woods' Wrestling Journey

At WrestleMania 35, Kofi Kingston defeated Daniel Bryan to become WWE Champion for the first — and so far only — time of his nearly 17-year career. Almost immediately, he was mobbed in the ring by his New Day brethren, Big E and Xavier Woods. Appearing on "Insight," Woods not only spoke about what that moment meant for him personally but also if he knew beforehand whether or not Kingston was going to win.

"I didn't know it was gonna happen," Woods confessed. "I said 'Do not tell me.' Because if the outcome is told to me, and then it changes mid-match, I don't know what I'm gonna do."

In fact, Woods went so far as to request not to be told a single detail regarding the match itself aside from what he and Big E were required to do near the end of it. "I was like, 'I assume,' but...," he continued. "So all of that was just like so real because it was something that — I don't know, it made it all real ... We've created something that is worth what we believe it's worth. Now everyone sees what it's worth."

That isn't to take away from anything New Day accomplished before or afterward, of course. After all, they're 12-time tag team champions. They've been together for nearly a decade. Yet none of them had been a World Champion until Kingston became one in 2019. Big E would follow suit in 2021 after cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Bobby Lashley.

"At that point and that moment, it made every decision that I've made in my life to get to WWE, to get to Kofi and E, to get to that WrestleMania moment, it made every single one correct," Woods added. "Because you never know. You never know if you're making the right choice."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Insight" with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.