The New Level have confirmed that they were asked to take a pay cut in WWE, adding that it was more than the rumoured 50%.
Austin Creed and Kofi appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show to give their first interview following their AEW debut at All In the previous week. When speaking about the WWE exit, the topic of the 50% pay cut was brought up.
Kofi responded that although he had not read the reports, he did confirm that it was more than 50%, adding that this was a major factor in their decision to exit WWE:
“I will say, it was more than 50%. It was more. The compensation is a big part of it, for sure, but the bigger part is being able to go out and live your dream in a way you want to live it out and be appreciated for it. We took it all into consideration and we knew this was the only path to take.”
News broke back in March that the former New Day members had departed the company. Fans were shocked at first by the announcement, believing that the former Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were lifers in the company. However, the pay cut reports then began to surface, which also reportedly led to other acts choosing to leave and explore their options elsewhere.
How The New Level Found Out About WWE Offer
Creed and Kofi were then asked how they were informed about the news. Creed first stated that he was at his kids’ football game and got the call from a Stamford number. Creed did not expect a WWE release call, but was shocked at what the conversation was about:
“I’m at my kids’ football game, and my phone rings, a 213 number. ‘How do I not have this number?’ A few minutes later, I’m like, ‘It’s close to after Mania, usually there are releases. We’re not getting released. We’ve been helping out and pulling our weight.’ That was a flicker of a thought in my mind that it would be a negative conversation. I get a call from Kofi and he’s like, ‘They called me, they said this and this.’ ‘How is that the conversation?’ It doesn’t make sense to me because of what we’ve been able to do, what we bring to the table, how much we have left to provide for the landscape of pro wrestling.
I call them back, I call Kofi, and that was the first time we have the conversation and realised, ‘We have to go. This doesn’t work for us. This isn’t what we want to be doing.’ We want to work. We want to be able to have these matches and fulfil these goals and dreams. When we made that decision, we knew Kofi had never really been on the independents. He’s been in WWE for 20 years. I was on the independents and TNA. Feeling like when we want to wrestle again, we’re going to be able to do some cool things.”
Kofi then added his recollection of getting the call. Kofi was at his son’s birthday party, noting that he couldn’t show his true feelings that day after getting the call:
“When I got the call, it was my son’s birthday. We were celebrating at the RetroCade, and I’m like, ‘Why is he calling now?’ I pick it up, he says what he says and is offering the terms and the renegotiation and all that. I hung up, and the most bizarre feeling was like the world had been flipped upside down, getting a call that you never thought you would have or make a decision with, but it’s my son’s day. I can’t emotionally let myself go or fall apart or be pissed off or worried because it’s his day.”
“When I called Austin, it was almost immediately that we knew. We have a hive mind where if I’m thinking one thing, he’s thinking it, E is thinking it. We’re always on the same hive mind. We knew that we couldn’t stay, but you want to do your due diligence and weigh your options. Am I okay financially? Is my family going to be okay? What do I have to do to be okay? The next couple of days were spent talking with the financial advisor to make sure things were fine. Once we realised the freedom we had, it became very exciting, very quickly.”
Featured image: WWE
