New Day vs. Gold & Stardust: Winner and Reaction from 2014 WWE TLC

In its first pay-per-view match since debuting as a stable, The New Day was victorious Sunday night against Goldust and Stardust on the TLC Kickoff Show.

WrestlingINC.com had the news:

Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston and Big E were long rumored to have been forming a trio, but it took quite some time for WWE to integrate them into its programming. They finally appeared on SmackDown a couple weeks ago and were almost immediately targeted by the Dust Brothers.

Gold and Stardust cut several promos about their disdain for The New Day, and Goldust vowed to halt the progress of the upbeat triumvirate:

Both teams had an opportunity to become No. 1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championships on a recent edition of Raw, but they essentially ruined each other's chances. After The New Day eliminated Gold and Stardust, the latter duo gained some measure of retribution by causing The New Day's elimination with a distraction.

After that incident, Woods made it clear that The New Day intended to get back at its galactic rivals:

That is precisely what Woods, Kingston and Big E did, as they scored a victory that could very well propel them toward tag title contention.

Although it remains to be seen what The New Day gimmick truly entails, the one constant over the past few weeks has been positivity. According to Courtney Devores of The Charlotte Observer, one of Woods' main goals is to use The New Day as a means of influencing young WWE viewers.

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One thing my sister said to me when we watched wrestling was that there was nobody that looks like us. There were some influential African-American sports entertainers, but that's why I feel like it is my job and it's Kofi's job and Big E's job to be that for young African-American kids watching now. It's important being able not to just tell people, but to lead by example especially in times of social media.

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There is no question that The New Day is a kid-friendly stable, but the true challenge for Woods, Kofi and Big E will be getting over with WWE's older demographic.

WWE's hardcore fans generally don't embrace gimmicks that are considered to be too over the top; however, The New Day could buck that trend due to the fact that all three members are extremely talented individuals.

The New Day may not be the ideal in its current state, but it certainly feels like a step in the right direction since none of the three Superstars involved were being given an opportunity to shine on their own.

With WWE's tag team division suffering from a lack of both quantity and quality, The New Day has an opportunity to steal the spotlight moving forward.

Gold and Stardust should continue to be at the forefront of the division despite their loss as well, but WWE did the right thing at TLC by furthering its build of a new and exciting act.

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