Ranking The New Day's Top 10 Greatest WWE Moments and Matches

After an incredibly decorated dozen years as The New Day, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods are reportedly done in WWE.

Bodyslam.net's Cory Hays and Fightful Select were the first to break the news of Kingston and Woods "mutually agreeing to part ways" with the company. Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Radio added that the duo were asked to restructure their deals by TKO and opted to exit instead.

With Big E having retired from in-ring competition due to injury in 2022, Kingston and Woods' departure marks the ends of a historic run for the super successful stable in WWE that included countless championships in both the singles and tag team ranks.

They made the most of a gimmick that should have been a death sentence for them, resulting in the trio being among the best parts of one of WWE's worst periods creatively between 2015 and 2019.

Often, their wacky, entertaining segments were more memorable than the matchups they were having back then, though they did manage to put together an impressive body of work inside the squared circle as well.

These are The New Day's top 10 greatest WWE moments and matches, ranked.

10. The Dawning of a New Day (Raw, July 21, 2014)

Although Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods formally debuted as a trio on the Nov. 28, 2014 edition of SmackDown, their first actual appearance together was far more impactful.

The three talented individuals had been toiling in the undercard for the first half of the year, basically on the brink of getting released. Big E and Kingston were fresh off a tag team loss to RybAxel when Woods approached them while wearing a suit and glasses with a proposition to join forces.

They had all been babyfaces up to that point, but Woods' serious approach indicated that a heel turn for them was on the horizon. It immediately got fans excited and sparked rumors of a new Nation of Domination-esque faction.

However, they were their own unique unit, and this moment laid the groundwork for what would turn into something much bigger and better than anyone imagined.

9. Completing the Triple Crown (NXT Deadline, Dec. 10, 2022)

Big E's neck injury effectively ending his in-ring career halted any momentum The New Day had in 2022.

Big E was fresh off his run as WWE champion and ready to reunite with Kingston and Woods when it happened on the March 11 edition of SmackDown.

Kingston and Woods failed in feuds with The Viking Raiders and The Usos before resurfacing in NXT at the end of the year. Not only had New Day never teamed together in NXT, Kingston had barely ever appeared on the brand prior to that point outside of two matches against Rusev in 2013.

After doing all they could on Raw and SmackDown, they took their talents to Tuesday nights to set their sights on the NXT Tag Team Championship and made enemies out of reigning champs Pretty Deadly.

At Deadline, they emerged victorious in an enjoyable outing with the dynamic duo to clinch the gold, becoming the third team in WWE history to hold the Raw, SmackDown and NXT tag team titles.

Their stint on NXT didn't last long, but it was a breath of fresh air for Kingston and Woods and allowed them to work with a fresh set of opponents before dropping the belts to Gallus at Vengeance Day 2023.

8. Big E Wins the Big One (Raw, Sept. 13, 2021)

Although The New Day as a whole weren't as heavily involved in Big E's road to WWE Championship glory in 2021 as they were with Kofi Kingston's two years prior, their celebration together alone earns this moment a spot on the list.

Various injuries caused New Day to miss time as a team throughout 2020, and that fall, they were officially separated for the first time with Big E staying on SmackDown and Kingston and Woods reporting to Raw.

It ended up being the best thing that could have happened to Big E, who went on to truly break out as a singles star by regaining the Intercontinental Championship and later becoming Mr. Money in the Bank. The vision was clear, but it was more a matter of when and not if he'd cash in successfully.

Sure enough, Big E capitalized on a downed Bobby Lashley on the Sept. 13, 2021 edition of Raw and traded in his opportunistic contract for the prestigious prize. The crowd roared in approval as Big E paraded around the ring with his newly-won hardware, surrounded by his New Day brethren.

It was a wonderful culmination of a near-decade-long journey for Big E. His career was cut short less than six months later, but he was at least able to enjoy that time on top where he belonged.

7. First Tag Team Title Win (Extreme Rules, April 26, 2015)

The New Day were nearly dead on arrival when they re-debuted in late 2014 with a preacher gimmick, the total opposite of what was teased when Woods originally approached Kingston and Big E that summer.

It was so over-the-top that fans assumed it was meant to be a ruse and the endgame was for them to turn heel. Months went by and it became clear that management (specifically Vince McMahon) thought their happy-go-lucky shtick would get over with the audience.

Instead, they were rejected by the fans almost immediately.

It forced the trio to turn heel at Extreme Rules when they knocked off Tyson Kidd and Cesaro for their first WWE Tag Team Championship, doing so in nefarious fashion. Wisely, they didn't change much about their characters since that was what fans found obnoxious in the first place—and it generated serious heat for them.

That series of matches with Kidd and Cesaro also showed what Woods, Big E and Kingston could do in the ring when the focus was on their wrestling rather than how atrocious their act looked as babyfaces.

6. A New Day State of Mind (SummerSlam, Aug. 23, 2015)

The New Day's first reign as WWE Tag Team champions was fairly uneventful. After successfully defending against Tyson Kidd and Cesaro at Payback, they swiftly lost the belts to The Prime Time Players at Money in the Bank less than two months later.

It would have been understandable if New Day's shtick still wasn't working, but it was. In fact, they quickly started to hit their stride as characters and come into their own as heels, something that was especially impressive for Kingston considering he had never before been a heel in WWE.

Fans made it known that they wanted New Day back at the top of the tag team division, leading to them regaining the gold in a Fatal 4-Way at SummerSlam that August. The match itself was enjoyable and was made better the Brooklyn crowd's rabid support of New Day.

If it wasn't already obvious they were the fan favorites, New Day performing their rendition of Jay Z's "Empire State of Mind" beforehand to thunderous applause sealed the deal.

5. Highway to Hell with The Usos (Hell in a Cell, Oct. 8, 2017)

Without question, The Usos will go down as The New Day's greatest rivals in WWE. Their chemistry was simply unmatched.

They've had more matches than anyone could count across Raw, SmackDown and premium live events and have traded the tag titles back and forth on a number of occasions. Of the many matchups they've had together, the best of the bunch was easily their Hell in a Cell clash from the eponymous event in 2017.

Every encounter of theirs during that iteration of their long-running rivalry was better than the last, but this one in particular was another level of special. In addition to it deserving the stipulation, the match felt personal (a rarity for HIAC matches at that point) as they brutally took the fight to each other and utilized every weapon they could find.

They even incorporated some innovative spots, most notably New Day tying up one of The Usos with kendo sticks in the corner of the cage. The Usos ultimately emerged with the gold in their grasp, but respect was earned all around.

While WWE's PG presentation meant there was no blood, this was otherwise the perfect payoff to the program.

4. Breaking Demolition's All-Time Tag Title Record (Raw, Dec. 12, 2016)

Coming off their WWE Tag Team Championship win at SummerSlam 2015, The New Day were one of WWE's hottest acts, not only in the tag team ranks but rather in the entire company.

It would have been booking malpractice to take the titles off them at any point, even though there were a handful of tandems building momentum around that time. Over the next year, they set back challenges from the likes of The Dudley Boyz, Lucha Dragons, The Usos, League of Nations, The Good Brothers and more.

Back then, it was almost unheard of for anyone to hold a championship for anywhere close to a year, so after New Day surpassed the one-year mark as champs in August 2016, the only thing left for them to do was break Demolition's record for longest reign.

That meant holding the gold until mid-December, and WWE surely made them work for it. They had to retain their titles in not one but two Triple Threat tag team matches on the Dec. 12 episode of Raw, and against all odds, they did just that.

They were finally beaten for the belts by The Bar days later at Roadblock: End of the Line, and The Usos would go on to smash their record in 2022, but New Day cemented their spot in history with that reign and elevated the tag team division to new heights.

3. Running the Gauntlet (SmackDown, March 26, 2019)

Kofi Kingston's 11-year odyssey to the WWE Championship, affectionately dubbed by fans as KofiMania, is remembered so fondly because it was completely organic.

Kingston was never at any point penciled in to challenge for the WWE title at WrestleMania 35 until he went the distance in a Gauntlet match on SmackDown right before Elimination Chamber and proved to the higher-ups that he fully had the support of the audience.

The highlight of the build to his bout with Daniel Bryan at 'Mania came on the March 26, 2019 edition of SmackDown when Woods and Big E agreed to go through a Gauntlet match in order to earn Kingston an opportunity at the prestigious prize.

New Day's first few matches in the Gauntlet accomplished what they needed to with the group narrowly winning each one. When it came time for The Usos to step up to face New Day, however, the crowd was anxious to see what would happen.

Instead of waging war, The Usos opted to forfeit, giving Kingston their endorsement in his pursuit of the WWE title. The respect the two teams shared only added to the already amazing story.

Woods and Big E then defeating Bryan and Erick Rowan to close out the Gauntlet and punch Kingston's ticket to WrestleMania was the icing on the cake.

2. Turning Heel in Epic Fashion (Raw, Dec. 2, 2024)

By 2024, The New Day had been firmly established as a novelty act. Their roles on Raw and SmackDown had been drastically curtailed, and although they could always generate a crowd reaction, they hadn't been remotely interesting since Big E retired.

His absence was factored into their lack of luck on television with Woods and Kingston bickering over a string of losses in the second half of the year, the implication being that Big E was the glue that held the group together.

Without him, they were directionless and lost, and it was evident that some sort of serious change was needed.

It looked like they were headed for a split or perhaps a reunion with Big E returning as their manager. Although the former WWE champion did resurface on Raw for New Day's grand 10-year anniversary, Kingston and Woods proceeded to put their own differences aside to shun him out of the stable.

The delivery of the promos was phenomenal and left fans both stunned and intrigued to see what would happen next. However, WWE and Triple H botched the aftermath and the duo never really recovered, but the heel turn itself was an all-time Raw moment.

1. The Culmination of KofiMania (WrestleMania 35, April 7, 2019)

The closest Kofi Kingston came to main event stardom while a singles star was in late 2009, a push that was eventually derailed by Randy Orton. He was exclusively relegated to the midcard after that and was only ever utilized as a tag team player for the first five years of The New Day.

As previously mentioned, Kingston's longevity and ability to turn anything he was involved in into something entertaining never went unnoticed by fans. New Day as a unit were so beloved by 2019 that the world was ready for Kingston to finally claim a world championship.

Daniel Bryan was such a fantastic foil for him at the time, especially given his own underdog story from five years earlier. Their WrestleMania match was filled with emotion and had the crowd hanging on every nearfall.

There were no guarantees Kingston would actually walk away with the title, but WWE did the right thing by giving him his moment and the crowd rejoiced. It made him only the second African-American star in history behind The Rock to hold the WWE Championship, and it couldn't have happened to a more deserving person.

Brock Lesnar squashing Kingston in eight seconds for the title was the wrong call (to say the least), but that came after what was a well-booked, six-month run for Kingston. He and the rest of New Day were both an inspiration and a revelation during an otherwise abysmal period for WWE, and the legacy they leave behind will be forever felt.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.