50 Greatest WWE Raw Moments Ever
24. The New Day Turn Heel (December 2nd, 2024)
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods' dramatic turn on Big E at the end of 2024 would be way, way higher on this list had WWE not criminally mishandled the follow-through, but few could have foreseen this particular moment feeling so empty at the end.
A double misdirect, the company had built up to New Day's ten year toast in December by highlighting the growing dissension between Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods following a host of on-screen losses. The feeling that the group were closer to the end than the beginning wasn't exactly cause for celebration, but the party was already in place and the two seemed content to put a brave face on things and smell some of the roses their run had helped grow. Then, right as it appeared as though they'd use the night to call time on the beloved act, Big E joined them, not to announce that he was returning from a career-ending neck injury but to offer his services as a manager to get them back on track.
Fans loved this. Fans loved them. The seeming inevitability of the split was a cloud hanging over a good time the crowd wanted to have. The response from Woods and Kofi brought all of this earned good-will to a legitimately shocking and heartbreaking end when they both turned on Big E for "leaving" them during his injury recovery - or lack thereof. They made unfair comparisons to their own injury layoffs, but delivered the lines with such conviction that E's heart looked like it hurt worse than his neck.
It was gutsy and bold, and again was unjustly betrayed by a complete lack of investment after the fact.