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The first episode of The New Day's " Feel the Power" podcast is now online. After a few attempts at introducing the show, the guys introduce themselves. Big E laments losing his last name. This leads into Kofi Kingston discussing at one point he was close on becoming King of the Ring and due to his other initials having an unfortunate new acronym. Xavier Woods introduces the producer of the program and thank the audience for tuning in.
Kofi begins by telling the origins of the group by talking about his time at the happy-go-lucky Jamaican character who did great moves but wasn't very fulfilled. He talks about doing the Jamaican character to get noticed in WWE doing it during promo class and it kind of stuck. Kingston talks about being approached by E and Xavier about joining the group at a point where he was not happy with his direction. Big E jokingly talks about coming from outside the business and being a bigger dude talking about his horrible Full Sail debut, discussing his early days in NXT as the initial building blocks of the black and gold. He talks about his initial Intercontinental title run not setting the world on fire. He talks about Wade Barrett "burying him" in the ring jokingly and talks about wrestling Brodus Clay to no real fanfare. Xavier Woods then discusses his origins in WWE mentioning getting the leftover gimmick of Brodus Clay and not having that much left to do with it. He talks about then being associated with R-Truth being used to get heat. Xavier mentions how angry this made him and then leads into the initial pitch of The New Day is a modern-day Nation of Domination style group. The guys discuss how the guys never intended to have any racial overtones with the gimmick they were just disgruntled. Big E, Xavier and Kofi discuss whether fans' perceptions of them being that kind of group are not more racist.
They also discuss Byron Saxton and Abraham Washington possibly being members of the group initially. They talk about the initial promos and how Big E was told juggle and dance and then that creative had nothing for him because he was boring. They discuss who was behind the scenes, believing in the idea and the resistance of the overall gimmick. E talks about their friendship with one writer being the door to understanding how to create a process works breaking down the levels of writers, pitch ideas and understanding feedback.
Xavier Woods, Big E, and Kofi Kingston discuss pitching to Vince and learning that it was better to have a visual element to go along with the idea. Woods discusses learning from Dusty Rhodes that it's better to have a trailer to go along with an idea like a movie than just a pitch so they can see the vision. The guys discuss all the iterations and the stereotypes they wanted to stay away from. And how it led to Vince seeing them as more of a gospel gimmick. And how they thought it was never going to work. They talk about hearing their initial music and being mortified. And how they wanted the music to sound like the musical Stomp. The group discusses how Vince danced when playing the music originally and you never saw him ever dance like that. Woods discusses how many behind-the-scenes were trying to teach them how to clap and do other mannerisms during their entrance and how it was so micromanaged. Big E how everything really came together doing live events week after week solidifying everything together. E discusses the influence of Michael Hayes in making them an on-screen trio after many struggles. The guys talk about how the WWE app opened up opportunities for Xavier Woods and the group.
Next week, the guys will reveal the full list of names that the office came up with for the group such as BEAs and the Million Man Ministry.
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