Fresh off their big AEW debut at All In London on Sunday, the New Level’s Kofi and Austin Creed were the first guests on The Ariel Helwani Show today (Tues., Sept. 1).
You probably don’t need me to tell you that the New Level duo used to be The New Day in WWE, but that they left the company back in May. Reports indicated, and the men formerly known as Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods didn’t deny, they exited after turning down new contracts that offered substantially less money than the deals WWE was
asking the decorated tag team to restructure. Rumors indicated at least one other WWE veteran accepted a 50% pay cut.
In the interview, the New Level repeatedly say money was a thing, but it wasn’t the most important thing. From Kofi:
“We just thought 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 we have as performers and wrestlers. What we can give back to the younger people and do in entertainment. Being able to go out there and garner a reaction as good guys or bad guys, no matter the situation. We took a lot of great pride in being Swiss army knives. Whatever the situation was, we would make it great and make it entertaining. Compensation was definitely a big part, for sure, but more so, we wanted to work.”
Creed says the phone call he got from WWE management about the pay cut was the first time he said to Kofi, “Hey, we gotta go, right? This doesn’t work for us”, it was more about the fact they’d been sitting in catering for months. “This isn’t what we want to be doing. To Kofi’s point, we want to work. We want to be able to have these matches and fulfill these goals and dreams.”
Asked by Helwani if the reports they were asked to take a 50% pay cut and wind down their careers while focusing on community and public relations work, Kofi replied:
“I don’t know exactly what’s out there. I will say, it was more than 50 percent, which a lot of people don’t know.”
In weighing the offer, Kofi decided the most important thing was setting an example that he wasn’t afraid to face uncertainty, or the unknown of working outside WWE for the first time since very early in his career:
“This is so like arrogant to say, but I’m just going to say it. Like, I don’t mean it in a cocky way, but when you have the career that we’ve had collectively as a group, you feel like, you know what I mean, you would not have to be in a position where you’d have to go and bet on yourselves again. But here we were. We found our selves in that exact position. And as a father, if we didn’t try to do this, if we didn’t follow our hearts, how could I go back and tell my kids to go follow their dreams? To believe in themselves, to block out what people are saying about you or how they feel about you and believe in yourself. Like, if we didn’t do that, I would feel like such a hypocrite.”
They would go on to discuss their excitement about starting fresh in AEW, but Helwani asked if the pair received any word of thanks from WWE officials as they were leaving. Creed replied, “nope”.
You can watch The New Level’s entire appearance on today’s Ariel Helwani Show here.
