WWE released New Day members Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston in a shocking move last month with reports emerging soon thereafter that the company had asked both of them to take pay cuts. Both declined and subsequently asked for their releases and were granted them.
Dave Meltzer had another update on the situation in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter. According to his report, TKO offered Kingston and Woods a new deal that would have effectively seen them wind down their in-ring careers by doing some matches and working more in a promotional capacity. It would have been spanned across the remainder of their current contract, believed to be four years remaining, at a reduced pay.
The duo instead decided that they didn't want to either phase out of in-ring wrestling, accept less money and quite possibly both, so they decided to leave the promotion. It is believed one significant point of contention was that Woods and Kingston only signed their new contracts last year and were now asked to see through that entire duration and get compensated much less than they signed for.
