WWE Reportedly Trying to Re-Sign Xavier Woods as Others Take Pay Cuts

WWE has reportedly not given up on retaining Xavier Woods in some capacity.

The multi-time tag team champion and former King of the Ring winner requested and was granted his release from the company this past weekend. This came after both he and Kofi Kingston were asked to renegotiate their recent five-year contract extensions for less money.

Both New Day members all but publicly confirmed the reporting on their situation Monday afternoon when they simultaneously released statements on social media. Kofi spoke about "knowing your worth," while Woods thanked everyone who gave him the courage to walk away from WWE as Austin Creed — the ring name he used prior to signing with the company over 16 years ago.

For the past 16 years, WWE has been my home. It’s where I grew up, found myself, failed, learned, and got to live out things the younger version of me could only dream about.

When I first walked into FCW, I just wanted a chance to prove I belonged and to bring something… pic.twitter.com/jm0K78bh1C
— Austin Creed (@AustinCreedWins) May 4, 2026

But will he walk away? There is heavy speculation that both Kofi and Austin will be heading to rival AEW once their 90-day wait period is over. Several members of the locker room have already been pushing for the company to bring them in, according to reports.

Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer, however, says both men winding up in All Elite Wrestling is not a foregone conclusion.

"I do believe that WWE is trying to retain Woods with, as it was referred to repeatedly, 'the Tyler Breeze deal.' Which is basically he gets paid money to do stuff for the video game. I don't know if he will accept that offer. I don't know what's going on in his head... but there are things being done where WWE is trying to retain him for other things."

WWE reportedly asking numerous talents to take pay cuts

The New Day are apparently not the only two members of the WWE locker room that have been asked to renegotiate their contracts over the past few months. Both Bryan Alvarez and the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer have heard of a few others.

"I've been told there were several people who were asked to take pay cuts and they took them. I don't know how many. I don't know who. Obviously the New Day was asked and they did not want to renegotiate and so they have gotten their release," Alvarez said on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio.

Meltzer claims there is one star in particular who would have received more money to jump ship to All Elite Wrestling, but chose to accept a big pay cut to stay in WWE instead.

"The reason you would be asked to renegotiate is because the contract you signed was when they perceived you as being far more valuable than they perceive you as being now... In the case of [this] person, it's someone who would fit into that category, and the reason was not that he's not good or not that he's not great, but that they creatively didn't take advantage of what they had," Meltzer said.

It was noted that this unidentified star was still making very good money in WWE, but nowhere near the level of the top TKO and WWE executives. Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics reported on Monday that Ari Emanuel, Mark Shapiro and Nick Khan made more than $134 million between the three of them in 2025.

Meanwhile, there have been rumblings over the past few days that more talent releases and contract renegotiation requests could be coming in the near future. We'll keep you updated here on The Takedown on SI.

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