The New Day Turn Heel On WWE Raw - Big E Update
WWE Raw saw The New Day turn heel and leave Big E behind.
With a split having been teased for several months, last night's WWE Raw saw a notable change in The New Day.
While fans had been expecting Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston to split - with Woods primed for a heel turn - last night saw Xavier and Kofi as aligned and focused as ever, only with a fresh new attitude. As part of that fresh new attitude, the two have seemingly left Big E in their rear-view mirror.
As part of The New Day's 10-year celebration, Big E made his way out to join his long-time partners, but that's where things took a major turn. Rather than one of them turning on the other, Woods and Kingston both berated E, lambasting the former WWE Champion for being injured, for having a "desk job", for meeting a new girlfriend, and for not following in the footsteps of Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, and Edge in returning to the ring after a serious neck injury.
After running down Big E for several minutes and telling him to get out of their ring, Xavier and Kofi shook hands, signalling that The New Day was moving forward as a heel group and without E as part of that group. Where Woods and Kingston go from here remains to be seen, but one has to think it won't be too long before this iteration of The New Day has gold in its sights, with Judgment Day's Finn Balor and JD McDonagh the current WWE World Tag Team Champions on the Raw brand.
Big E's WWE Future
As alluded to, Big E suffered an unfortunate broken neck in a March 2022 SmackDown match pitting him and Kofi Kingston against Sheamus and Ridge Holland. Since then, questions have persisted about whether Big E would ever wrestle again. For his part, the 38-year-old has noted how he's healthy and enjoying his day-to-day life, but that an in-ring return is a totally different matter.
In a report from Fightful Select, all three of Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods signed five-year WWE deals back in 2019. While there's no news of Kofi and Woods' contract status, those Fightful spoke to within WWE believe that injury time has not been added to Big E's existing deal. As is often the case with WWE, a talent will have time tacked onto their contract for any notable spells on the sidelines, but that appears not to be the case here. It's unknown whether Big E has signed a new WWE deal to keep him with the company into 2025 and beyond, although he has been utilised heavily in a non-wrestling role, being a regular part of PLE panels and digital content.
As for why WWE would not add time and trigger an extension of sorts to Big E's deal, that's because the contract signed in 2019 was obviously as an in-ring talent, which is vastly different to a deal one would have for Big E's current role. Of course, there's always the possibility that Big E may return to the ring somewhere down the line, but for now it appears he'll continue to be used in that non-wrestling capacity.