Kofi Kingston has revealed that WWE’s proposed pay cut for himself and Xavier Woods was even bigger than previously reported.

Kingston, now simply known as Kofi, and Woods, now using Austin Creed, made their AEW debuts at All In 2026 and have now opened up about what ultimately led to their WWE exits.

Reports had suggested the pair were offered new WWE contracts worth around 50 percent less than their previous deals. According to Kofi, the actual reduction was even greater.

“I don’t know exactly what’s out there. I will say, it was more than 50 percent, which a lot of people don’t know,” Kingston said during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show.

Creed recalled receiving the phone call informing him about the proposed deal. He was not expecting bad news and said the situation simply did not make sense.

After speaking with Kofi, the pair quickly realised their WWE run had reached its end.

“That was the first time that we had the conversation. We realized like, ‘Hey, we gotta go, right?’ This doesn’t work for us,” Woods said. “This isn’t what we want to be doing. To Kofi’s point, we want to work. We want to be able to have these matches and fulfill these goals and dreams.”

Kofi admitted money was “definitely a big part” of their decision, but stressed that their desire to wrestle regularly and showcase what they could still do was even more important.

The opportunity to enter AEW’s tag team division immediately excited them. In WWE, they felt tag team wrestling was no longer being treated as enough of a priority.

After everything The New Day achieved during their lengthy WWE careers, Kofi admitted he never expected to find himself having to prove his worth all over again.

“This is so like arrogant to say, but I’m just going to say it. Like, I don’t mean it in a cocky way, but when you have the career that we’ve had collectively as a group, you feel like, you know what I mean, you would not have to be in a position where you’d have to go and bet on yourselves again. But here we were,” Kingston said.

“We found ourselves in that exact position. And as a father, if we didn’t try to do this, if we didn’t follow our hearts, how could I go back and tell my kids to go follow their dreams? To believe in themselves, to block out what people are saying about you or how they feel about you and believe in yourself. Like, if we didn’t do that, I would feel like such a hypocrite.”

Despite being disappointed with WWE’s offer, Kofi made clear that he holds no bitterness towards the company. Instead, he is focused on what comes next.

Creed also revealed that he did not receive a “thank you” phone call or text message from WWE higher-ups following his departure.

The former New Day partners are now known as The New Level in AEW, and they wasted little time making an impact.

Kofi and Creed teamed with Swerve Strickland at All In 2026 to capture the AEW Trios Championships. Their first title defence will come against The Rascalz on Wednesday’s Dynamite.

The pair also addressed the future of their longtime friend and New Day brother Big E.

They confirmed that Big E remains under a completely separate WWE contract and his situation was not connected to their departures.

Big E has moved into broadcasting following the broken neck he suffered in 2022, appearing regularly on WWE PLE pre-shows and post-shows.

While their careers have now taken them down different roads, Kofi and Creed stressed that their relationship with Big E has not changed.

They remain brothers, regardless of which company name appears on their contracts.