Big E Opens Up on Why The New Day’s Original Babyface Run Fell Flat — And What Changed Everything

The New Day is one of the most celebrated factions in WWE history, but getting there wasn’t easy. Big E has been reflecting on the group’s difficult early days, revealing that suffocating creative oversight nearly derailed the trio before they ever found their footing.

Speaking with Sam Roberts, the former WWE Champion described a debut period where almost every element of the act was dictated from above, leaving Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, and himself with almost no room to breathe as performers.

“There was so much micromanagement,” Big E said. “To the point where certain producers would come out like, on your entrance, you need to clap here, skip here, move in this way.”

That level of precision direction, he explained, was the enemy of authentic performance. “It’s just very hard to be free as a performer when you’re worried about all of the notes and all those little beats that you need to hit.”

The group’s babyface presentation never quite clicked with audiences as a result, but the heel turn changed everything. Stripped of the rigid instructions and given genuine creative input, The New Day’s natural chemistry finally had room to surface — and the crowd responded accordingly.

“Thankfully, by the time we turned heel, a lot of those reins were finally taken off, and we just got to do us,” Big E said. “As soon as we got to be more creative and have more of a voice in the process, things just took off for us.”

What followed is well-documented: record-breaking tag title reigns, merchandise that moved like few acts in the company’s modern era, and a longevity that most WWE factions never come close to matching. Big E’s candid account serves as a compelling reminder of how much creative autonomy can matter — and how close one of WWE’s signature acts came to never becoming what it eventually did.