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Austin Creed And Kofi Were Reportedly Offered 75% Pay Cut By WWE

Screenshot 20260903 174755 Chrome

WWE reportedly offered Austin Creed and Kofi a 75% pay cut.

Earlier this year, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston departed WWE at the expiry of their contracts, a move that shocked many fans. It was reported that this followed a potential pay cut during contract negotiations. Following their AEW debut at All In: London this past Sunday, the team now known as The New Level have began taking numerous interviews where they have discussed this offer. Earlier this week, Creed and Kofi explained that the pay cut was more than 50% though didn’t give an exact number for the reduction. Now, another report suggests it could’ve been more towards 75%

Speaking on the Grilling JR podcast, Conrad Thompson spoke on the speculation amongst his sources that gave a more concrete number for the cut.

“There was lots of rumor and innuendo at the time that they were taking a 50% pay cut. The rumor and innuendo that I’ve heard is it was actually a 75% pay cut, and some of that was confirmed on an interview with Ariel Helwani. Now they didn’t say 75, but that’s the number I’ve heard bandied around.”

-Conrad Thompson

During their time in WWE, The New Day captured a cumulative 12 tag team championships, with different pairings of Woods, Kingston, and Big E finding success from 2015 to 2026. Together, following the unfortunate retirement of their stablemate, Austin Creed and Kofi won the World Tag Team Titles and became NXT Tag Team Champions. Plus, it’s worth noting that Kofi is a former WWE Champion.

After signing with AEW, The New Level made an instant impact by winning the World Trios Championships alongside Swerve Strickland this past Sunday. On last night’s Dynamite, the team notched their first defence, defeating The Rascalz to retain the gold.

For more AEW news, you can click here.

As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Austin Creed and Kofi’s WWE exits as soon as we hear more.

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