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Xavier Woods Comments On What’s Next After Smackdown Loss

By John Canton • Published 22nd April 2023
xavier woods wwe smackdown leg drop

Xavier Woods suffered a tough defeat on Smackdown and during some post-match comments, he reflected on what comes next.

One of the two title matches that took place on the April 21st edition of Smackdown saw Xavier Woods challenge GUNTHER for the Intercontinental Title. It was the first time in Woods’ career that he had a singles match for the coveted Intercontinental Title.

While Xavier Woods has had tremendous success as a WWE Tag Team Champion as part of The New Day (with Kofi Kingston & Big E) and as a former King of the Ring, Woods has not held singles gold in WWE yet.

The match was not an easy task for Woods since GUNTHER has been a dominant Intercontinental Champion that has held the title for over 300 days going back to last June.

It was an even matchup most of the way. GUNTHER did use his power and devastating chops to wear Woods down a bit, but Woods kept on coming back. Woods nearly got the win with a top rope leg drop and also a Crucifix Bomb pin attempt. However, GUNTHER trapped Woods with a rear naked choke (sleeper) with body scissors on the mat leading to Woods passing out. The IC Title reign of GUNTHER continues.

After his match, Xavier Woods was interviewed by WWE’s Kayla Braxton and he reacted to the loss.

“Kayla, I mean, this was my shot. I haven’t had a shot at the Intercontinental Championships since I’ve been here. I got here in 2010, it’s 2023. I had one shot at going through, I had one shot to become champion, and I failed. And I didn’t do it, I have no Kofi here, I have no E here, we’re all about the power of positivity, but it’s not always easy, Kayla.”

“I don’t know what to do next besides move forward. What is moving forward? I have no idea. But shots like this for me, specifically guys like me, come once in a career, apparently. So, I don’t know if I’ll ever get a shot at that again. So, yes, Gunther won, yes, Gunther is Intercontinental Champion, I am not. So, we go to work.”

It appears as though Xavier Woods and his New Day buddies Big E & Kofi Kingston may not be done with Imperium any time soon because WWE is apparently planning on doing some tag team matches between the groups and it could lead to a Big E singles feud with GUNTHER as well.