WWE

WWE Reportedly Offered The New Day a Pay Cut Even Steeper Than 50%

Conrad Thompson says WWE offered The New Day a 75% pay cut before their departure.

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WWE Reportedly Offered The New Day a Pay Cut Even Steeper Than 50%

WWE reportedly offered Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods a 75% pay cut before their departure from the company, a figure steeper than originally reported.

Speaking on Grilling JR, Conrad Thompson noted hearing backstage that WWE’s contract proposal to The New Day included a 75% salary reduction, though he stressed that the figure remains an unconfirmed rumor:

“More than 90 days ago, when we found out that New Day was no more in WWE. And there was lots of rumor and innuendo at the time that they were taking a 50% pay cut.

“The rumor and innuendo that I’ve heard is it was actually a 75% pay cut.

“Some of that was confirmed on an interview with Ariel Helwani. Now, they didn’t say 75, but that’s the number I’ve heard bandied around. So, there’s your headline out of today’s episode.

“So, 75% is the number, and I think we all hate to hear that. I don’t know that everybody has this on their radar, but as a reminder, Kofi Kingston is the most decorated tag team wrestler in WWE history, more tag team title reigns than anybody. And New Day have more title reigns than anybody. They’re second all-time on the longest reign, only behind the Usos, thanks to Roman Reigns and The Bloodline.

“But still, they’ve done everything they could as a tag team in WWE. If this was a different generation, it was time to go to another territory, wasn’t it?”

Kingston partially corroborated the report in a September 1 interview on The Ariel Helwani Show. While the former WWE Champion did not reveal the exact figure, he acknowledged that the proposed reduction was higher than 50%:

“I will say, it was more than 50%. It was more. The compensation is a big part of it, for sure, but the bigger part is being able to go out and live your dream in a way you want to live it out and be appreciated for it. We took it all into consideration and we knew this was the only path to take.”

Having rejected the restructured offers, Kingston and Woods, who now competes as Austin Creed, officially parted ways with WWE in May. PWInsider reported at the time that the company had approached them to renegotiate their deals.

Beyond the financial dispute, Kingston and Creed noted that they wanted to wrestle more regularly, with the creative direction of WWE’s tag team division also factoring into their decision to move on.

The New Level officially arrived in AEW at All In: London on August 30.