By: Clinton McCain (The Average Sports Guy)

Whenever Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods start clapping fans respond. The intention is to start a New Day Rocks chant. It hardly ever works out that way but the fans are chanting. Replacing Rocks with Sucks is not a bad thing at all because in the world of Sports Entertainment any response is a good response. Fans genuinely dislike these guys and real heat is hard to come by in the days of the IWC and kayfabe being destroyed. The fact that these three men who weren’t regularly even featured on WWE programming prior to forming this faction have become a bright spot for WWE is amazing. Let’s take a few moments to discuss each wrestler prior to The New Day.

Kofi Kingston is definitely the PG of the group. He burst onto the scene during the days of the revitalized ECW. He is regarded as one of the most talented high flyers in WWE current or historically. Why has The New Day been the pinnacle of his career you might ask. Well he was saddled with a gimmick that really was not made to put him in the Elite group of Upper Tier Superstars. He also came along at a time when the Mid Card was being used as fodder for top guys and he doesn’t fit The Vince McMahon Mold of a serious WWE World Championship Contender. He has had a few mini pushes but was never given more opportunities than to present wow moments in ladder matches and Royal Rumbles. Ask yourself when have you ever thought of Kofi Kingston as a serious contender for the WWE World Championship?

Next we will look at Big E Langston. He is the man from this group that this writer thinks has the most potential. He is a NXT guy who had a really interesting gimmick there. He demanded that his matches end with a five count instead of the customary three count as he was that much more superior than his opponents. He came to the main roster as the heavy for Dolph Ziggler while Ziggler was dating AJ Lee and did great in that role. He was an evil monster who was hard to stop and once you got a Big Ending you were left staring at the lights at least 3 seconds. But once WWE decided to make Ziggler a Face there was no purpose for him to have his heavy and Big E began to struggle for TV time. He was eventually turned face band regulated to sporadic appearances and dumped into the overcrowded and underused Mid Card. Unlike Kofi this is a guy who fits the bill of a Vinnie Mac WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He is powerful, muscular, large athletic and a great talker. Oftentimes in WWE that still isn’t enough. So far this has been the case with Big E.

Lastly let’s look at Xavier Woods a guy that was fun loving and more comic relief before The New Day. He cut his teeth in TNA before going to NXT and working his way up to the main roster. He debuted as a Tag Team partner for R-Truth and went on to replace Broadus Clay and team with the Functadactyls for a little while. He was featured on The ESPN E:60 about NXT and WWE. He is a high flyer who seems to max out as a Tag or United States Champion. He does have the gift of gab and can sell a beatdown like few other guys in WWE. Like his fellow stable mates he was stuck in the Mid Card muck and hardly seen on TV.

Then we saw vignettes about them preaching positivity and being joyous. They were supposed to be Faces and they were not getting over. The crowd booed them even though they were playing the hand they were dealt, but then something unusual happened. WWE Creative actually got it right and allowed The New Day to start to show heelish tendencies and do a slow burn heel turn. This was great as they were already heels to the crowd and this gave all 3 men a chance to be themselves. Imagine the pure genius of letting three guys who crowds can’t stand who are great talkers be themselves and pander to the WWE Universe. Add in WWE Tag Team Championship Gold and Freebird rules and you have yourself the most entertaining act of 2015. All these men needed was the opportunity to showcase their abilities and a gimmick they could make their own.

Now whether you cheer or jeer them you care. That’s the important thing about being a successful WWE Faction the fans must care. The fans do want to see The New Day even if it’s to tell them they suck or hope they lose their titles, but they want to see them. Being relevant and being in the right gimmick at the right time has launched many WWE careers even back when it was the WWF and this could springboard the members to success even after the Faction has run it’s course. We all give WWE grief for not getting guys over but here is a case where they got it right. I as well as all of you should appreciate this as it doesn’t happen much.