Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods are leaning fully into life on the wrong side of the crowd — and they’re not just accepting the boos, they’re savoring them.
During a recent appearance on the “Cheap Heat” podcast with Pete Rosenberg, the New Day duo made it clear that the negative reactions aren’t bothering them. If anything, the current atmosphere is exactly the kind of emotional response they want to pull out of an audience — and they’re confident they can shut down anyone who shows up trying to cheer them.
Early in the conversation, Kingston and Woods immediately set the tone, cutting off Rosenberg’s introduction and insisting they weren’t just “one of” the most decorated tag teams ever — they were the standard. “We’re objectively the greatest of all time,” Woods said.
From there, the discussion shifted to the idea that their current edge isn’t some random adjustment — it’s a version of them they’ve wanted to explore for a long time. Woods explained it in a way that sounded more like a philosophy lesson than a wrestling promo.
“If you squeeze an orange, what comes out? Orange juice. ’Cause that’s what’s inside it,” Woods said, suggesting this character shift is about letting something real out instead of forcing a performance. “Now I get to let out years, decades of all that that’s been inside.”
That “real” energy is also why the boos don’t sting. Kingston acknowledged that fans sometimes react without understanding what performers have to do to deliver what they’re seeing, but he also emphasized that wrestling is supposed to move people emotionally — and boos are still movement.
“We’re supposed to move people emotionally, good, bad, indifferent,” Kingston said, before drawing a hard line against the reaction nobody wants. “Not indifferent because that would be not moving… you don’t want indifference.”
Woods took it even further, describing the satisfaction of hearing a crowd turn on them. In his view, the louder the negative reaction, the more successful the performance. At one point, he painted an intentionally over-the-top picture of the type of crowd response that makes him feel like they’re doing their job.
“There’s no better feeling on the planet than a child that upset that they are weeping… because of your work,” Woods said.
But maybe the clearest sign that this version of New Day isn’t here to play nice was what Woods said about fans who show up ready to cheer them anyway.
“If you’re cheering… by the time we come out, by the time we get up to you, you’re not cheering anymore,” Woods promised, adding, “I fully believe we are very good at what it is that we do.”
In other words: fans can try to be cute, ironic, or contrarian — but Kingston and Woods believe they’ll flip the room no matter what. They’re aiming for real heat, and they’re not interested in being treated like lovable nostalgia acts.
For Kingston and Woods, the boos aren’t a problem to solve. They’re the point.
