Xavier Woods Reflects On NXT Run, Being Around The Young Energy

In December 2022, New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston) headed to NXT for the first time as a duo. Even though Woods came up through the NXT system, he had graduated to the main roster before the NXT Black & Gold brand was established. 

Woods & Kingston made an immediate impact upon their venture to Florida, winning the NXT Tag Team Championships from Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) at NXT Deadline 2022. 

Speaking to Review STL, Woods reflected on his NXT experience. 

“It was unreal. I haven’t personally had the chance to work with Shawn (Michaels) on that level before. I was gone from NXT, I was the first graduate from NXT. Shawn hadn’t come in yet, so I never had that kind of back and forth with him. The first time that I worked with him was WrestleMania (32) when him, (Mick) Foley, and Steve Austin came to the ring and did some stuff with us. That’s the first time I did something with Shawn. Anyway, going to NXT was great because, obviously, there is a bunch of incredible talent there. I’ve been wanting to work with Pretty Deadly for a very long time. I think they’re very talented. They know who they are, which is one of the hardest things to figure out in pro wrestling. Getting to work with them was great. Also getting to work with so many other teams down there and seeing so many people flourishing and doing well. With our stuff being so ‘go, go, go,’ you don’t always get to stop and see what everyone else is doing. You’re so focused and have the blinders on. Taking a second and being able to see, ‘Oh, the new crop of talent, they’re good. They’re very good.’ Being able to hang out with them and be around that energy again is revitalizing. I feel like I used to be the young guy in the locker room, and I’m definitely not anymore. It’s cool to go around and be around them again,” said Woods. 

When asked if they gave advice to anyone or if anyone came to them for advice, Woods replied, “We talked to everybody as much as we could. Everybody was super nice and super receptive of everything. At the same time, NXT is such an interesting beast because you have a situation where you’re in the same place every week, so you have people who know you, people who adore you and are coming in every week to see you do what you do. You have a chance to hone things in a way you wouldn’t be able to hone them otherwise. It’s TV studio wrestling. It’s different than bouncing around to different places. It’s cool to see what works for them and what they like to do, and what doesn’t work for them, what they don’t like to do. It’s cool to go there and that setting, and see what we like to do and what works and what doesn’t. Getting to mix and match our stuff with some of their stuff to make a new gumbo was really cool. We’ve been on the main roster for so long and we’ve had the chance to have so many great matches with so many great teams and great interactions. It’s cool to be in a position where we can go and, not give back because it’s not charity, but to go and actually have a hands on experience with the next generation.”

New Day would lose the NXT Tag Team Titles at NXT Vengeance Day 2023 to Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) in a fatal four-way tag team match that also involved Pretty Deadly and Chase University (Andre Chase and Duke Hudson). 

New Day are once again regulars on WWE SmackDown. 

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