The New Day Reveal Their Favorite Wrestlers Of All Time

Recently on The New Day: Feel The Power, WWE Superstars Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods shared their thoughts on a number of professional wrestling topics. Among many other things, The New Day talked about their favorite professional wrestlers when they were growing up. Woods talked about his so-called "offseason" and explained the WWE travel schedule. Also, Woods and Kingston revealed that The New Day are really throwing pancakes at fans, not to fans.

During the podcast, it was revealed that Woods considers his ongoing stint on the WWE's injured list his "offseason" and that he has not been away from the squared circle for this long since he started wrestling at the age of 17.

"It's great! I'm 33 [years old] now. I've been wrestling since I was 17. All throughout college, I didn't join fraternities or go to parties. I was wrestling five days a week and I've been doing that for this amount of time. So this is the first time I've ever been off for more than like three months. So legit, as soon as it happened, I was like, 'that's it – I'm going to be awhile. I'm just going to eat.' I'm starting to get a gut." Woods added, "I feel great, but now I've got to start training again."

Also during the show, Woods explained WWE's travel schedule.  

"We don't have buses," Woods said. "We drive. Overseas we have buses and they get hotels, but for domestic, everybody lives in different places. We fly to that first city where we have the show that night. And then, you jump in a rental car with whoever you want and you drive around. We call it a 'loop'. Yep, then we'll go home for a day or two. And then, back on the road and it's like that year round." Woods continued, "holidays we're on double because everybody is off and they need some entertainment, so while they are home with their families, we leave our families to go entertain them. And it just doesn't stop. Ever."

As for favorite professional wrestlers growing up, Kingston named WWE Hall Of Famers 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, 'The Heartbreak Kid' Shawn Michaels, and Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat.

"For me, it was Austin, but even before that, it was Shawn Michaels." Kofi said, "Shawn Michaels, Ricky Steamboat, do you know what I mean? But just the spectacle of it all. The fireworks, the pyro, the athletic aspect to it too, so? the storylines, of course. Yeah."

Woods shared that 2 Cold Scorpio was his favorite professional wrestler when he was young.

"Mine, so I was in touch with this guy called 2 Cold Scorpio," Woods shared. "He kind of did dancing stuff, but then in ECW, he was doing the same thing, but he was just a badass. He was like 240, 250 [lbs.] and doing moonsaults. He would do a moonsault legdrop. Yes, at that big! He was so big! He was my guy because he was the first guy I saw that was able to put dancing and fun stuff in a wrestling match and that literally is what I have been chasing with them, so I'm happy. I'm good."

Big E, who recently named Goldberg as his dream opponent, talked about his Goldberg fandom during the podcast.

"I grew up in Florida, the south, so WCW was a little bit bigger," Big E explained. "So we've been asked this a few times, so we're kind of used to it. The way I do it, the one, the only, Goldberg! Yeah, man. Football was king when I was a kid. And I played football as a little kid and I played in college. And Goldberg played for the [Atlanta] Falcons. He just had that mystique, that massive, carved from stone? the way he came out. I don't know why he had that much security! But he had it! The way he came out, that mystique, the little sparkler fireworks. He would be in the ring sometimes for 20 seconds, but he just had that aura, that presence. And seeing people lose their minds for it? That was my guy."

Woods claimed that he saw Goldberg beat 'Hollywood' Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in person.

"I grew up in Atlanta, so I was at the show when he beat Hogan for the title," Woods recalled. "And so I remember that Thursday, WCW Thunder, they came out and they said? because they had already announced that he'd be wrestling, but then like, 'it'll be Goldberg versus Hogan for the title on Monday!' And we were like [gasps], 'we have tickets!' The place was sold out in the [Georgia] Dome and when [Goldberg] beat [Hogan], it was like I had never heard a sound like that in my life. I saw grown men weeping and hugging each other, throwing food in the air, food and drinks, everybody's soaking wet, screaming! My God, that was a good time."

Amusingly, Woods stated that The New Day do not throw pancakes to people in the audience. Rather, the trio throw pancakes at people in the crowd.

"People don't realize we're not throwing pancakes to them," Woods acknowledged. "We are throwing pancakes at them. And it's funny because during commercial breaks, the arena will go dark and they might show something on the tron and we'll find people who aren't paying attention and hit them with pancakes and the crowd kind of gets into it. And then, when they see us hit somebody, they all cheer and the person's texting like, 'what the?'"

Kingston said he once hit an Indiana Pacer who was preoccupied on his mobile phone. 

"I forget where it was – I think it was Indianapolis [Indiana] and we had a whole bunch of Pacers in the front row. And I went to go throw one. The dude had his cell phone in his hand. It hit his cell phone and knocked it out of his hand." Kingston noted, "pinpoint accuracy, man."

Click here to listen to the podcast or listen to the show via the embedded player below. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit The New Day: Feel The Power with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.