The New Day Must Remain Intact Through Feud with Wyatt Family

As the WWE draft and Battleground pay-per-view loom large, there has been plenty of speculation as to what will become of the tag team division, most notably The New Day. Despite being the reigning WWE tag team champions, nothing is stopping them from being sent to separate shows come July 19, effectively ending their nearly two-year partnership.

New Day teased the possibility of splitting up shortly after the news of the impending brand extension broke in late May. And from what we've seen so far in the feud with The Wyatt Family, a breakup of WWE's most entertaining act right now could be on the horizon.

Since their highly anticipated return to programming one night removed from Money in the Bank, Bray Wyatt and his followers Braun Strowman and Erick Rowan have had their set their sights on the WWE Tag Team Championship. Moreover, they have gotten into the head of Xavier Woods, who has shown signs of trepidation in recent weeks.

On the July 4 edition of Raw, Woods finally reached his breaking point and scolded stablemates Kofi Kingston and Big E for not taking The Wyatt Family more seriously than they have been. He then proceeded to walk out without the rest of New Day, leading many fans to believe he could be on the verge of joining the bearded clan.

Regardless of whether that was meant to be a swerve or if plans do call for Woods to follow the buzzards before long, it is imperative that New Day remains intact through the feud with The Wyatt Family and beyond.

Credit: WWE.com

As Bleacher Report's Alfred Konuwa discussed in an article earlier this week, this program should prove to be beneficial for both stables, especially for New Day as it looks to create a deeper connection with its fans.

In the two years it has been a cohesive unit, New Day hasn't strayed outside of its comedy comfort zone. Other than adding an extra aggressive edge to their characters for a time late last year, Big E, Kingston and Woods have largely relied on their amusing antics to get over with the audience.

That said, they are capable of being much more than mere comic relief. And while we have seen Woods showcase his serious side since the start of the feud with the Wyatts, it should not prompt him to part ways with the rest of New Day.

The former Consequences Creed doesn't wrestle as often as Big E and Kingston do, but when he does, he turns heads with his in-ring ability. During his match with AJ Styles on the June 16 SmackDown, he proved he could hang with the best of them inside the squared circle with an eye-opening performance.

Woods, Big E and Kingston will no doubt be big stars coming out of the group that preaches the power of positivity. But with New Day's popularity having yet to peak, splitting the team up at this point in time would be criminal.

Above all else, New Day's merchandise is still selling well (as Big E confirmed in April via Twitter) and flying off the shelves at live events. Having attended several shows in the past year including Raw, SmackDown, TLC and Extreme Rules, I can say firsthand that no one's merch sells out faster than theirs.

The New Day has held the WWE Tag Team Championship since SummerSlam 2015 and is en route to breaking Paul London and Brian Kendrick's 2007 record as the longest-reigning WWE tag team champs in company history. No tandem is more deserving of achieving the honor, so long as New Day maintains its possession of the twin titles until Battleground.

From The Dudley Boyz to The Usos to The Vaudevillians, New Day has defeated every team that has stepped up to challenge it over the last year. But that doesn't necessarily mean Big E, Kingston and Woods have accomplished everything attainable as a trio, though they have already played both sides of the coin as faces and as heels.

WWE needed main event-level stars when it made the impromptu decision to break up The Shield in 2014, but now that the roster is more stacked than it has been in years, the company shouldn't follow that same formula with New Day. The group remains at the top of its game and should ride the wave of momentum until fans are sick of seeing it.

The recent run-ins with The Wyatt Family have piqued the interest of many, and their eventual clash over the belts should be a blast. The development of everyone involved in the angle should be commended, so long as the ultimate payoff isn't Woods breaking off on his own and serving as the catalyst for New Day's demise.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is a digital journalism major at Endicott College. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.

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