WWE's Big E Says He Pitched Further Involvement In New Day Heel Turn Storyline

It was a turn no one saw coming when Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods left Big E in the dust to pursue their heelish tendencies on the December 2, 2024 edition of "WWE Raw." Despite how eager all three members of The New Day were about this change in development, the follow-up then, up until Kingston and Woods' releases, weren't utilized as well as they would have liked. In an interview with Chris Van Vliet on "Insight," Big E describes a pitch he thought could have added another sizzling chapter in this saga.

"Imagine Kofi does a save where he ends up on the barricade. There's some dude with his hat low because they were taking shots at my fiancée at the time too, so I love the idea, maybe our hats are real low at the time, Kofi lands on the barricade. We tilt our heads up, take our hats off, and then maybe there's a swipe of the foot, and we cost him the Rumble, he goes out, something like that," the former WWE Champion said.

Although creative didn't turn down the idea initially, it just wasn't in the cards at that time, according to Big E. Thus, the momentum was lost.

"I was told, 'Hey, that's something we can get to later,' and I'm not a save it guy," he noted. "Oftentimes, people like, oh, let's save that idea for later, but things with creative and direction move so much, we have a great idea, let's capitalize on it now. But ultimately those were the two who were going to carry it. Creative had ideas. My role is now as a broadcaster for the PLEs, so ultimately, I just thought let's try to make this break-up the best we can, and the rest is in their hands. So unfortunately, the follow-up of that turn didn't go the way we wanted, but we were proud of the initial heel turn."

In March of 2022, Big E suffered a career-ending neck injury. Though there are those who think Big E could recover from this, he said he is just fine staying on the sidelines and contributing to WWE in other ways. As he told Vliet in the same interview, putting the work in to get back in the ring is just "not a gamble worth taking."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.