There have been some shocking WWE departures following WrestleMania 42 and the wrestling was surprised to find out today that Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods are done with the company.
Fightful Select and Bodyslam are reporting that the release was mutually are agreed upon, and the expectation is there will be a 90 day period before Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods become free agents.
It’s also being reported that The New Day were asked to restructure their recently signed deals, and they rejected the request then asked for their release.
It’s being said that the release was met with shock among WWE wrestlers as many figured The New Day were WWE lifers, especially Kofi. It was also noted that in numerous cases the belief is no one is a WWE lifer anymore.
Kofi Kingston will be able to use the Kofi portion of his name due to the fact that it’s his first name, but The New Day name is owned by WWE, so they will not be able to use it outside of the company. Xavier Woods will not be able to use his name, but he will be able to use Austin Creed which he has worked hard to establish outside of WWE.
Those who spoke on the subject noted that TKO has been tasked with shedding millions from the WWE payroll which has led to the mass releases recently.
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were making well into the seven figures with WWE. The expectation is there will be interest outside of WWE with people in AEW already pushing for them to join the company.
Kingston and Woods signed new deals in 2025 which were expected to keep them with the company until 2030. According to the report they had pretty much decided on their departure by last Monday.