New Day Reflects On Early Comparisons to the Nation Of Domination

Speaking on the premiere episode of their new podcast, Feel the Power, New Day members Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Big E discussed how their group was compared to ‘90s stable the Nation of Domination when they first formed.

Reflecting on how they came together, Kingston confessed there was a sense of disgruntlement amongst them. He noted, however, that “the difference between us and The Nation was that we weren’t promoting any kind of racial anything.”

Woods added, “I can understand like shades of it because our shade is brown and so people were like, ‘Oh man, it’s The Nation of Domination.’ I was like, ‘You never called The Wyatts The Godwins and that’s like the same thing.’”

“And then I think when people started trying to like label it, we took it upon ourselves to be like, ‘No. You don’t get to tell us what it is. We’re going to make it into whatever we want it to be, you know and kind of like took ownership of it that way,” Kingston added.

Woods then explained how the initial idea of the three of them coming together had its origins back when Big E was in developmental. He shared how their idea was a group called PLAN, which stood for the People’s Liberation Of American Nationalism. Back then, the stable would have consisted of Woods, Big E, Byron Saxton and Abe Washington.

“The New Day is kind of an evolved thought of that, but it was essentially people who were not happy with their position in the company and wanted more from themselves and from their job and so that’s when I talked to E about it and we kind of shot a bunch of different things and pre-tapes and kicking back and forth ideas and that’s when it really hit me like ‘none of this is really clicking. None of it is really working.’ I was like, ‘I think we need a third person for this to actually work.’ He was like, ‘Who?’ I was like, ‘I think we need to get Kofi.’”

Kofi would agree to join the two Superstars. He reflected on how he was unhappy at the time and wanted to redirect his career and help Woods and Big E establish themselves on the WWE roster.