WWE Offered New Level/New Day More Than 50% Pay Cuts

The pay cut that WWE asked The New Day to accept was over 50 per cent, Kofi has revealed.

Speaking on the Ariel Helwani Show with New Level tag team partner Austin Creed, Kofi stated: "I will say it was more than 50 per cent, which a lot of people don't know. It was more. But even so, like the compensation is a big part of it for sure, but again, the bigger part of it is being able to go out and live your dream in the way that you want to live it out and be appreciated for it. We took it all under consideration and we knew this was the only path to take."

The New Day, however, noted to CBS Sports that the pay cut coming with reduced roles for the tag team bothered them much more, while Kofi noted the duo didn't receive an explanation from WWE about why they were being asked to accept a reduced salary.

"Bring a solution, right? Like I tell my kids all the time, 'Don't tell me what you don't want to eat. Don't tell me that you don't want to eat this. Tell me what you want to eat. Bring something to the table. Let's get to the solution.' So that's really our mentality, figuring out what is next, because what's next is coming regardless of the reason. We were never given that explanation, but we weren't really looking for it. We didn't really care to find out. We didn't cry. It doesn't really matter at the end of the day," Kofi said.

After Austin Creed and Kofi talked through what they were going to do after their respective calls from WWE, The New Day asked for their releases, a request which was granted by WWE, with it emerging in early May that Kofi and Austin Creed were on their way out of the company. Creed noted on the Ariel Helwani Show they did not receive a "thank you" call or text message from WWE higher-ups upon exiting the company.

The New Day have since become The New Level, with Kofi and Austin Creed making their All Elite Wrestling debuts at All In on Sunday, August 30. The New Level captured the AEW World Trios Championships on their first night in the promotion and they were involved in a five-team face-off following the AEW World Tag Team Title match that also featured The Young Bucks, Cope and Cage, FTR, and Motor City Machine Guns.

WWE approached a number of talents in the aftermath of WrestleMania 42 about accepting pay cuts, with the company being tasked with cutting millions of dollars in payroll by TKO. Those asked to accept pay cuts were talents previously pushed at the top level but had fallen down the card and several wrestlers did accept the pay cuts to remain with WWE.

The New Day were asked to accept pay cuts just months after they had put pen to paper on new deals with WWE, with Kofi under contract until 2030.

There was heavy criticism aimed at WWE over asking wrestlers to take pay cuts as it came amidst big pay rises for TKO executives and WWE President Nick Khan.