It's not every day that a superstar like Xavier Woods can achieve tremendous success in a promotion like WWE, where only larger-than-life wrestlers get most of the opportunities. But the founder of The New Day went on to become one of the most decorated superstars in WWE history.
With a career spanning over 17 years, Xavier Woods has worked his way through various promotions before finding his break in WWE. Since forming The New Day with Big E and Kofi Kingston, Woods has become an inevitable part of WWE, and his accolades as a tag team wrestler would one day lead to him achieving tremendous singles success like his New Day brothers. With that said, let's take a look at Xavier Woods' pro wrestling career through pictures taken over the years.
9 Training & Debut
While studying psychology and philosophy at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, Xavier Woods began training for a career in professional wrestling in 2005. He started performing part-time for promotions like Ultimate Christian Wrestling and World Wrestling Council before making his official in-ring debut at an NWA Anarchy event in June 2006.
He continued to perform for the NWA Anarchy promotion and held their tag team championship alongside Hayden Young for an impressive 266 days. He also made a couple of appearances for Full Impact Pro before finding a job with Deep South Wrestling, where he met his future tag team partner Kofi Kingston.
He also competed for Deep South Wrestling and held their world championship for 91 days between July and December 2007. However, he couldn't transition into WWE as the promotion cut its ties with DSW as their developmental territory by the time Woods signed with the latter.
8 TNA Debut
Xavier Woods made his debut for TNA at the 2007 Bound for Glory PPV, where he competed under the name Rasheed Lucius Creed as Ron Killings' partner in a tag team title match against AJ Styles and Tomko.
He signed with TNA in October 2007 and got renamed Consequences Creed. He competed in the company's X-Division and had multiple opportunities at the X Division Championship but couldn't get his hands on the title. He couldn't get his hands on the big prize in the X Division, but he would soon go on to win his first gold in TNA in the tag team division.
7 Lethal Consequences & NJPW Stint
Xavier Woods aligned with Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Jay Lethal, Petey Williams, Eric Young, ODB, and The Motor City Machineguns to form The Frontline faction in a feud against The Main Event Mafia.
The alliance led to Woods forming a team with Jay Lethal, with whom he would go on to defeat Beer Money Inc. to win the TNA World Tag Team Championships. However, they held the title for only 26 days as they lost it in their first defense in a three-way tag team match back to Beer Money Inc. at Genesis 2009. The tag team ended after Woods got released from his TNA contract on March 29, 2010.
Woods would then make his way to New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he competed in the Super J Tag Tournament. He teamed up with Kota Ibushi in a losing effort in the first round against Gedo and Kushida.
6 WWE Developmental
Xavier Woods then walked in unannounced at FCW to apply for a job as a wrestler and met Kofi Kingston once again as he met him in DSW. WWE offered him a full-time contract, but since Woods had six months left to finish college, he competed part-time for FCW and received a full-time contract once he graduated.
He made his FCW debut in July 2010 and competed there until 2012, and also won the Florida Tag Team Championship with Wes Brisco in the process. After WWE rebranded FCW into NXT, Woods competed for the black and gold brand until making his official main roster debut in 2013.
5 Main Roster Debut & Teaming With R-Truth
Xavier Woods got called up to the main roster in November 2013 and made his debut on the November 18, 2013, episode of Raw and teamed up with R-Truth to defeat 3MB.
He defeated Heath Slater in his first singles match on the main roster and continued to team up with R-Truth. Woods and Truth then feuded with Tons of Funk, which culminated in an episode of Main Event where Woods and Truth defeated Tensai and Brodus Clay.
Woods then competed in the Andre The Giant memorial battle royal at WrestleMania 30. Truth and Woods then started a rivalry against the newcomer Rusev but quietly disbanded after losing to The Bulgarian Brute in a handicap match at Extreme Rules 2014.
4 The New Day
After Big E and Kofi Kingston started to suffer back-to-back losses as a tag team by mid-2014, Xavier Woods confronted them on the July 21, 2014, episode of Raw and convinced them to turn against the fans and join forces with him to form The New Day, turning heel in the process.
Together, The New Day captured their first gold when they defeated Tyson Kidd and Cesaro at Extreme Rules 2015 to win the WWE Tag Team Championships. The reign lasted only 49 days as they dropped the title to The Prime Time Players at the 2015 Money in the Bank PPV.
3 Longest Reigning Tag Team Champion
The New Day recaptured the WWE Tag Team Championships at SummerSlam 2015, but this time they would hold a death grip on the titles as they went on to break Demolition's 28-year-old record to become the longest-reigning tag team champions in WWE history.
They defended the titles against the likes of The Dudley Boyz, The Usos, AJ Styles & Chris Jericho, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins, and Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho before finally dropping them to Sheamus and Cesaro at Roadblock 2016, ending their reign at 483-days.
2 KofiMania & Various Tag Team Title Reigns
The New Day continued to dominate the tag team division by adding more gold to their collection. But by end-2018, Xavier Woods and Big E had to keep their aspirations aside to aid their brother Kofi Kingston in his journey to winning the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35.
Following the storyline, The New Day had several tag team championship reigns between July 2019 to April 2021, and Woods has eleven tag team titles to his name in his WWE as of this writing.
1 King Of The Ring, Injury & Return
After Kofi Kingston and Big E had their stints with the WWE Championship, Xavier Woods had to do something for his singles career to keep up with his New Day brothers, and the 2021 King of the Ring tournament came as the perfect opportunity. Woods entered the tournament and defeated Ricochet in the first round, and Jinder Mahal in the semi-finals before defeating Finn Balor in the finals at Crown Jewel 2021 to become the King of the Ring.
However, his momentum came to a halt after he got diagnosed with a torn plantaris, which took him out of action for a while. He returned to in-ring competition on the March 25, 2022, episode of SmackDown and defeated Ridge Holland in a singles match. Woods now continues to perform with Kofi Kingston in the tag team division and is waiting for the opportunity to get back into the title picture again.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErKeoqqSowaa%2BjZympmenrLJuxMCvoJ6qXay8sLDSZpqaqpWav27AzqWbZqGeYr2pu9OoqmasmKe8trPHZquhnV2usqK%2B0mg%3D