Felix Upton on October 22, 2021
Xavier Woods fulfilled a life-long dream on October 21st, 2021 at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia. He toppled Finn Balor and became the 22nd King of the Ring. This was something he wanted even more than a singles title.
Following his big win, Woods was overcome with emotion. He cut a passionate interview backstage at Crown Jewel where he expressed the idea that becoming King of the Ring was all he ever wanted out of a singles run.
While speaking to the New York Post, Xavier Woods dove into how much it meant for him to get an opportunity to even wrestle for the King of the Ring crown. He also admitted that getting snubbed in the 2019 edition of the tournament hit very close to home for him.
“Being in the tournament off the rip, I felt incredible. So every time I advanced that feeling grew and I think that people felt that with me because when someone is genuine and they tell you how they really feel it’s really hard to not roll with that because you can relate in some shape or form.”
“I really think social media gave me that opportunity. Doing things like (the show) “Up, Up, Down, Down” gave me that opportunity. Being in a gaming space and not a wrestling space gave me that opportunity. There are a bunch of gaming nerds who I relate with and we’re relating on a different level. When I make those kinds of friends and those kind of fans in the gaming space, they go “Oh you wrestle?” and they start watching wrestling and they go, “What’s King of the Ring?” And then through my social media I’m able to explain that to them so they can understand it, even if they don’t watch the product yet. When they see that I’m in a match and I’m excited and I’m ready to go and this is the most important thing in my career, they tune in because we have that connection. It’s not something that you gain from seeing someone on TV. It’s a personal connection with meeting with them, from conversing with them on Twitter, Instagram, whatever it is. So when these things happen, I think that people really feel it. And that, to me, is the new version of pro wrestling. Everything doesn’t have to be done on screen on the show.”
“I think that me winning this crown is an extremely good example of that. While in promos every once in a while would drop hints of the King of the Ring. I think 85 percent of what I did was on social media, or ‘Up, UP, Down, Down’ or in the gaming space. To see the effects of it, it tells me that what I’ve been doing, being weird and not being the traditional type of guy, not just falling into whatever mold I was given but being myself first and foremost and having people tell me, no you should be tougher, you could be angrier, you should do this, you should do that. I absolutely refused because that stuff sucks to me. I don’t want to do that. It doesn’t suck in general. For some people that’s fantastic. I don’t want that. I want to use different tools in my tool box to build the same house and show people you don’t have to follow the same path. You can carve a new path for yourself. Just because somebody tells you it’s not gonna work or they don’t believe in it doesn’t mean you can’t do it and this is a prime example.”
Tons of people were incredibly happy for Xavier Woods, especially Kofi Kingston who was not there. Kofi did record his reaction to Woods’ big win and he uploaded it on social media for all to see.
We’ll have to see what Xavier Woods does as King of the Ring, but his reign will start on SmackDown this week. All Hail King Woods.
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October 22, 2021 11:24 am
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