WWE star Big E. commented on joining the group and feeling like it was his last shot to make it in WWE, Mike Notarile getting them featured on WWE TV, and more, during the latest edition of The New Day’s “Feel the Power” podcast. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On why Notarile was so important for them: “Mike was a writer for WWE. He was fighting the good fight for many a talent. I would say for many an under-utilized talent. You were often the go-to for guys trying to reboot themselves, or get off the ground. And I think you started working with Woodsy in 2014? And this was — maybe even earlier. But, anyways, we got together as a collective around 2014, and you were our entry in. You were the man who knocked down those doors, that got us into those creative, or at least got our ideas into those creative rooms. You were the one who told us, ‘It’s crazy how many people, how many talents don’t understand the creative process. They don’t know what goes on in the meetings. They don’t hear the feedback that they could probably benefit from.’ And you really schooled us. You put your boys on game. You put us up on game, and you taught us, and you where there. It was so collaborative. And that’s why you truly are the fourth member of The New Day because we don’t ever get on TV without you. Not only did you allow us to understand the creative process, but you were in there truly fighting for us. You were in the meetings fighting for us. You were coming back to us. You were talking to us about what we needed to fix, what we needed to tweak, what we needed to do. You were there collaboratively with our promos. You were extremely instrumental. And there is 100% chance that New Day never makes TV without you.”
On feeling like The New Day was his last chance in WWE: “I think it also to, for us it came from like a place of desperation, at least for me. Like I felt — and we’ve talked about this many times, I felt like if this doesn’t go well then I’m gone or I’m sent back down to NXT. It just feels like, ‘This is it. This is the last big pitch.’ So it felt like, ‘All right, I have to be, all my chips have to be in on this. I have to give you my trust. I have to listen.’ Because you knew so much more than I did at the time, especially about how things work, or the best way to put this thing together.”
On how the pieces came together with the four of them: “And I think instantly it all just felt right when it just — when Woods first came to me. And then we worked with you. And with Kofi it felt like, ‘Okay, these are the four men that should be working on this together.’ And it just felt like all the pieces were where they needed to be. I didn’t know what incarnation, or how long the group would last. Like, getting six months of a faction would have been great. If you told me, ‘Hey, you’ll be on TV for 6 months,’ I would have been like ‘I’m sold.’ And the fact that we are six years in and still going [is amazing].”
(h/t 411mania)