Xavier Woods On Winning King Of The Ring: “This Is The Only Singles Accolade I’ve Ever Cared About”
The King has spoken.
On October 21, at WWE Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Xavier Woods achieved a lifelong dream and won the King of the Ring tournament. His path to the crown took him through Ricochet, Jinder Mahal, and, finally, Finn Balor.
Woods’ first moments as King were captured backstage, where he had this to say:
“I haven’t been nervous in years because I’ve been doing this for so long. Nothing’s really new, you know. So, I’ve been nervous all day. I was nervous all match. Normally, I’m nervous and then music hits and I go through the curtain and it’s fine, everything goes away and I’m in the zone. I’ve never felt anything like this. I couldn’t hear anything. I couldn’t feel anything. It was like I was in a wind tunnel and the only thing that mattered was Finn. I don’t know, it’s just this weird new feeling. Which is weird because I’m 17 years in and I have a new feeling and that’s really cool. Almost 20 years in wrestling; since I was 17. This is the only real thing — this and tag team stuff. Love tag team wrestling. This is the only singles accolade that I’ve ever cared about. Titles are cool. Even that white leather IC title is so dope, but I only care about this. Like you know that you can do something, and you know that it’s possible but there’s something in your head that says, ‘This will never happen. This is a pipe dream. You’ve done well enough. Be happy with what you have.’ So, I don’t know, I guess I never actually really believed that would actually ever happen for me.”
EXCLUSIVE: What a magical moment for @AustinCreedWins at #WWECrownJewel!
The NEW #KingoftheRing reflects on having a childhood dream come true. pic.twitter.com/KAzjbOe0hY
— WWE (@WWE) October 21, 2021
Xavier Woods is the 22nd King of the Ring in WWE history and the first black King of the Ring since Booker T 15 years ago.
You can see reactions from around the wrestling world to Woods’ victory here.
If you missed anything from Crown Jewel, check out our live coverage and post-show review.
