Xavier Woods Breaks Silence After WWE Run Ends Abruptly
Xavier Woods, along with his New Day buddy Kofi Kingston, parted ways with WWE on May 2, 2026.
TKO reportedly asked Woods and Kofi Kingston to restructure their contracts and accept a new deal with less pay. They declined the offer and chose to walk away from the company.
Almost three months after Woods left WWE, he has finally broken the silence about his abrupt WWE departure.
Xavier Woods Enjoying His Free Time After WWE Departure
Xavier Woods (aka Austin Creed) was recently interviewed by Giant Bomb alongside the new AEW World Champion, Kenny Omega. During the interview, he jokingly discussed having a lot of free time since his departure from WWE.
Woods: “I mean, a few things are different now.”
Omega: “Yeah? What could happen during a measly six-month window that I would care about? Nothing monumental, that’s for sure!”
Woods: “Well, umm… So I’ve had some free time recently.”
Omega: “So you finally grew a spine and asked for that vacation you’ve been talking about for years? Well, dagnabbit, Creed, congrats!”
Woods: “Yeah, about that… you could say I pushed for a pretty permanent vacation…”
Omega: “WAIT! Permanently?! YOU MEAN YOU…”
Woods: “Yup! Taking a full ass break for the first time in 22 years. It’s been great getting to relax. It’s summer, kids are out of school, have been going on hella vacations, and are enjoying just existing and sleeping well.”
After parting ways with WWE, both Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods have dropped their WWE names. It is rumored that the WWE veteran might join All Elite Wrestling once their standard 90-day WWE non-compete clauses expire in early August 2026.
In May, Fightful Select reported that big names in AEW are pushing for Tony Khan to sign Kingston and Woods.
Every AEW source that @FightfulSelect has spoken to about Kofi and Austin Creed are pushing for AEW to sign them, including some big names.”