Kofi & Austin Creed on WWE’s Pay Cut Offer To Them Was Actually Over 50%

As noted before, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston departed from WWE this past May following a mutual decision from both sides over New Day not accepting a new restructured deal offer to stay in the company. Kofi and Austin Creed made their official debut for AEW at this past Sunday’s AEW All In 2026. Kofi and Creed revealed their new tag team name of The New Level and teamed up with Swerve Strickland to win the AEW World Trios Championship in a Trios Roulette Royale match at the event.

A recent episode of The Ariel Helwani Show featured The New Level’s Kofi and Creed as the guests. One of the topics discussed included Kofi and Creed’s thoughts about the reports and rumors of WWE had offered them 50% pay cuts for a potential new deal to stay and how the actual pay cut was over 50% instead.

Kofi – “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.”

Austin Creed – “That was the first time that we had the conversation. We realized like, ‘Hey, we gotta go, right?’ This doesn’t work for us. 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 also gave his thoughts about while compensation was “definitely a big part,” of why they chose to leave WWE, the biggest reason was that they want to work and showcase their skills and how the thought of joining the AEW tag team division immediately brought them excitement so they knew this was the right move. Kofi also stated that they felt like tag team wrestling wasn’t really a priority in WWE.

Kofi also gave his thoughts about how he did not feel that the offer from WWE was fair but he is not bitter nor does he hold any ill-will towards the company.

“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. We found our selves 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.”

Creed also gave his thoughts about how him and Kofi did not receive a “thank you” call or text from WWE higher-ups upon their departure.

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com