The New Day Were At Their Best As Heels In WWE
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One of the most popular acts in WWE in recent years has been The New Day. Featuring the extremely well-liked trio of Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods, the faction brought life to WWE's tag team division since their formation in 2014 and also played a key role in both Kofi Kingston and Big E's rise to main event status, albeit briefly for both men. While fans may love the group as the fan-favorite babyfaces that they have been for most of their run together, The New Day's run as heels in WWE remains unmatched as the best presentation for the entire group. Following a number of tag team championship reigns, including their record-setting 483 day-long reign, the trio would become stuck as eternal babyfaces in the company, with much of their recent work feeling tired and stale when compared to what made them popular in the first place.
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The Group Originally Debuted As Babyfaces, But Were Hated By Fans
Debuting as a unit in the latter half of 2014, Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods would come together to form a brand new faction in WWE, as all three men were struggling to stand on their own as singles acts at the time. Originally aiming to be presented as a more serious, Nation of Domination inspired group, the trio would eventually be saddled with preacher gimmicks. A series of vignettes would air on TV showing each of them either preaching or singing with a choir backing them before they would arrive on the scene, attempting to bring their own positivity to the WWE Universe.
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Coming as a shock to nobody, this gimmick would feel extremely dated upon arrival and would fail to get the group over as babyfaces, as was intended. Within the first several weeks of their debut, fans would turn on The New Day, booing them. This would grow over the months, until it reached a breaking point with audiences actively chanting "New Day sucks" at the group during matches. In April 2015, The New Day would finally turn heel, winning their first WWE Tag Team Championships and holding the belts for a record-setting 483 days.
Eventually The New Day Got Over As Heels
While the trio were originally met with genuine disdain from the WWE Universe, that hatred toward The New Day would eventually turn into fans backing the group as heels. During their time as the top baddies in the WWE Tag Team Division, not only would New Day thrill in their tag team matches, really shining as the stars that they had always been, they would also become wildly more comfortable on the mic as they would get to run down their opponents and the audience in creative ways.
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It may not have been Vince McMahon's original plan for the group, but Kofi, Big E, and Xavier would manage to find major success as a unit thanks to their run as a heel tag team within the company. As heels, The New Day would not only become more interesting themselves, but they would also add intrigue to each of their opponents during feuds while delivering must-see in-ring segments and promos on the regular.
The New Day Were So Great As Heels That The Fans Began To Cheer Them
Despite fans growing to love The New Day, forcing the hand of WWE to turn the group into fully-blown babyfaces, the trio would never reach the levels of peak entertainment that they delivered during their heel run. There would be glimpses, with the rise of Kofimania in 2019, though that was more centered around Kofi Kingston than the group itself, and Big E's eventual world title win, though he was on a separate brand from Xavier and Kofi. Following their turn back into good guys, New Day would slowly lose the spark that made them great in the first place, opting to deliver cringey comedy or just feeling stale altogether.
The group has still had great moments since entering their never-ending run as babyfaces in WWE, but nothing has come close to their peak during 2015 and 2016. With Xavier and Kofi currently floundering on SmackDown in the tag division, a shocking heel turn could certainly create renewed interest in the company's longest tenured faction.
