Smark Out Moment

Welcome to the second edition of RETAIN/REPACKAGE/RELEASE, where we present a list of three wrestlers and you must choose one of them to stay exactly the same as they are right now, one of them to change their character up quite a bit, and the other one to be fired from the company. It is similar to Call the Spot on the Card but with only three people and with the prospect of having to figure out a way to alter someone's current gimmick.



RETAIN: Xavier Woods

With more behind-the-scenes footage and programs like UpUpDownDown, it's become apparent that The New Day is more of Xavier Woods' baby than anybody else's. Naturally, all three of them fit the mold and have similar characteristics which translate to the gimmick, as they're great friends, but I can't help but think this crew wouldn't be the same without Woods. Just look at what he was doing beforehand when he was trying to get "over 9000" over with the crowd, mentioning Power Rangers, and so on. He started off very quickly attempting to bring his pop culture references into WWE, yet it didn't click until The New Day became babyfaces.

As such, this gimmick fits Woods the most. If anybody were to carry it over into a singles career, he should be the one who retains it, as it would come more naturally to him. As funny as it is when Big E gets all weird and as great as it is that Kofi Kingston has had more life in him than ever before, they wouldn't be able to retain the same enthusiasm on their own.

If you're keeping one the same as they are right now, Woods is the way to go.

REPACKAGE: Kofi Kingston

Here's the thing —the more we've seen of Kofi Kingston, the more I think he has a darker side he hasn't let out yet. On UpUpDownDown, Kingston is SUPER competitive and a major shit-talker. Even when The New Day were heels, he wasn't exactly bringing that edge forward, and I think Kofi has it in him to really go full on asshole. That's not to say that he himself is a bad person, as I highly doubt that's the case. More so, I think he knows how to pretend to be a real son of a bitch in the face of competition. Heel Xavier Woods is good for comedy more so than seriousness, and I've seen the more stoic side of Big E and that's nothing to really go back to, but with Kofi, it's a different story.

Remember when out of nowhere, Kingston went from a smiley happy-go-lucky guy to someone who was pissed off and smashing Randy Orton's car up? Everyone suddenly sat up in their chairs and said "Oh, hey now, what's this?" Not much more was done with that, but if they tap into that side of him and let him portray a character of being fed up, tired with the bullshit, and not caring if he gets under anyone's skin, it could go over like gangbusters.

Just watch how the tournaments go with Gamer Gauntlet. Kofi will be filled with energy (baaabyyyy) and psyched up before it starts and if he wins, he immediately goes into schooling the loser in how they should have done X, Y and Z. If he loses but is still in the running, he'll change that tune by saying he's teaching someone by losing and trying to give them some hope that he'll dash. But if he then loses completely, Kofi gets quiet and hates to eat his words, reluctantly doing so. Of course, I don't think he's actually that pissed, which makes me believe he's a good actor in giving that vibe off, and if that was incorporated into a wrestling character on television, we can have some fun with it. Maybe Kofi gets a good move off in a match and then gets too cocky, takes a near-fall and starts acting like he's just playing up for the crowd, but when he loses, the smile drains from his face and he doesn't want to do any interviews because it's bullshit that he lost. Then, obviously, he'd attack the babyface to prove a point with something like "He might have won, but who's the one walking out on their own two feet? Huh? Who's walking out and who is laying in the ring? That's what I thought." That kind of attitude could be very entertaining to see from Kingston if we're going to repackage him with a new gimmick.

RELEASE: Big E

Boy is it tough to release someone here, as I like all three, but Big E has to bite the bullet. As mentioned above, we've seen him be stoic as a heel with Dolph Ziggler, he's been a generic babyface after that run, and he's been a goofy babyface like he is now (which is definitely the best of the three). Since I want to keep Xavier the same and repackage Kofi, Big E's the one that I don't think has as much range to do something else different. I can't justify giving him one of those spots above the other two, which sucks, as that means the only option left is "released" and he doesn't deserve that, either. None of them should be dropped, but that's the name of the game and what makes it difficult—3 options ain't enough, man, I need 5. Then again, that would just be Call the Spot on the Card, wouldn't it?