Video games, professional wrestling and the power of positivity. Those words currently describe the bit of time I had playing Wrestlequest so far (Check out Love Wrestling’s interview with the person behind the game, Zack Manko).
Usually, those two words don’t mix well with “positivity”. Why? Well, just look at the site formerly known as Twitter. However, a certain individual made all three words work because he’s legit that damn good who’s sorely needed in this space.
Those 3 words are also the consequence of the decade-plus showcase of the most vigorous, charismatic and dare I say, influential wrestler of the modern era, Xavier Woods aka Austin Creed aka Rasheed Lucius Creed aka the man who got his face kicked by black snow aka King Woods aka Xavier Woods. Creed is like the actor Cillian Murphy in that you think he’s been doing this for a decade but in reality, he’s been doing this a bit longer, debuting a year earlier than his New Day member, Kofi Kingston.
Austin made his first appearance in wrestling at NWA which is something impressive to say if it was the year 1981 (like 1980s NWA, the present-day version includes a handful of cocaine. Talk about the wrong kind of nostalgia, am I right?).
Creed’s first big pitstop in wrestling was at the promotion that just got their name back (TNA! TNA! TNA!) where among other things, he teamed up with Ron Killings dubbing the duo as “Truth and Consequences” (Oh, so that’s where the name of Mike Knox and R Truth’s tag team came from in Smackdown Vs RAW 2011) as well as being in the X-Division championship picture.
In other words, he was basically in the tag team division then the mid-card. With that sentence, you’re probably asking, “Are you sure you’re describing the year 2008 or 2023?”
Fun fact, he also wrestled for New Japan once again in a tag team setting but this time, he aligned himself with Kota Ibushi at the first-ever super juniors tournament.
Now thinking about it, a solo run for Creed at NJPW would’ve been TOO SWEET (Get it? New Japan? Bullet Club?). But, c’mon. Let’s be for real. Who doesn’t want to see Austin Creed vs Will Ospeary at the Tokyo Dome? I certainly do.
Austin (now Xavier Woods) would then finally join WWE and by far, the most notable thing he did before forming one of the greatest factions of all time, was beefing with Tyrus which I can’t blame him honestly.
Let’s talk about The New Day shall we? As I mentioned earlier, The New Day is one of the best factions of not only in the 2010s but also arguably of all time for the simple reason being that they weren’t the typical team where they first formed then tension/envy (the word envy, not the radio host that commitment real estate fraud) happened then break up.
Their bond along with the desire of all their friends to succeed makes them really stand out amongst the pack. They represent the phrase, “if you succeed then we succeed” so well.
Their motto has taught me that you don’t have to be envious of your friend’s success. Instead, celebrate those accomplishments with them because you were there by being a part of their journey. Remember, It’s not completion, it’s cohesion.
That infinite fuel of motivation has led to multiple tag team champions, 2 WWE championships (one from Kofi Kingston and the other from Big E but both equally robbed too fast from Brock Lesnar) and a King Of The Ring win from Woods himself, codifying their chapter in the book titled “Greatest of all time”.
Also, The New Day vs The Usos. That line says it all. Since we’re talking about best matches, here are some of his greatest solo encounters:
- Xavier Woods vs Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship at the April 2023 episode of Smackdown.
- Xavier Woods vs Ricochet. King Of The Ring First Round-Match 12 Oct, 2021 episode of RAW.
- Xavier Woods vs AJ Styles. 2016 episode of Smackdown.
- Xavier Woods vs John Cena. US Championship Open Challenge. 12 Sep, 2015 episode of RAW. 1
Woods also created “UpUpDownDown” and as a result, made gaming in the macho of the machoest locker room more accepting than ever before thanks to Shelton Benjamin paving the way for guys like Woods to game backstage in the 2000s. On and all, Xavier Woods is by far one of Best performers in the business right now that hasn’t ever once made me go, “this guy really sucks, man.”
I’m going to end this piece with a quote from him in a recent interview with The Superstar Crossover podcast because it really represents him well (from SportsKeeda):
“In my head, I feel like in order to climb that mountain and become world champion, one day I need a U.S. Championship run, I need an Intercontinental Championship run… but that doesn’t mean that I need to break away from Kofi or E at all because what we do is we tell stories as a family.Friendship is the most important thing on this planet to me. That’s the only way we survive, that’s how we have societies and communities, that’s how we grow as a human race so that’s our focus is telling those stories in wrestling.”
