Xavier Woods

Xavier Woods is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE on Monday Night RAW as a member of The New Day. His real name is Austin Watson and he makes appearances outside the ring under the name Austin Creed. He is a 12-time Tag Team Champion, King of the Ring, and a WWE Tag Team Triple Crown match. Besides wrestling, he also runs the YouTube channel UpUpDownDown since 2015.

Early Life

Austin Watson was born on September 4, 1986, in Columbus, Georgia, United States. He graduated from either Sprayberry High School or Pebblebrook High School in 2004. He then studied psychology and philosophy at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. During his time at Furman University, he started training for professional wrestling and began wrestling part-time in the Ultimate Christian Wrestling Promotion.

Xavier Woods Wrestling Career

Beginning Years (2005-2007)

Xavier Woods made his pro-wrestling debut in Rob Adonis’ Ultimate Christian Wrestling Promotion in 2005. He also worked in the promotion World Wrestling Council (WWC) and developed his Austin Creed gimmick. WWC is owned and founded by wrestling legend Carlos Colon Sr, the father of Carlito.

He also worked in NWA allied promotions and was voted the most popular NWA wrestler in 2006. Woods applied for a job at Deep South Wrestling that year, which was a developmental territory for WWE at the time. He also met Kofi Kingston for the first time that night, the man with whom he went on to win multiple tag team championships. DSW signed a contract with him but WWE cut ties with DSW soon thereafter. He also became the DSW World Heavyweight Championship and was the last wrestler to hold the title before the promotion was shut down.

TNA Wrestling and NJPW (2007-2010)

Austin Creed made his first appearance at TNA Bound for Glory 2007 and teamed with Ron Killings (R-Truth). He wrestled in TNA under the name Rasheed Lucius Creed or Consequences Creed. His team alongside Killings was known as Truth and Consequences. He officially signed a contract with TNA in October 2007.

During his first year at TNA, Creed performed alongside the likes of Sonjay Dutt, Jimmy Wave, Shark Boy, Kaz, Peter Williams, and more. In October 2008, he became a founding member of The Frontline, a faction of young wrestlers formed to rival The Main Event Mafia. The other names on The Frontline were Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Jay Lethal, Petey Williams, Eric Young, The Motor City Machineguns, and ODB. Jay Lethal chose Creed as his Tag Team partner and cashed in his Feast or Fired briefcase. The duo became the TNA World Tag Team Champions in January 2009. Their team went on to be known as Lethal Consequences.

He spent around three years in TNA before being released by the promotion on March 29, 2010. In less than a week from his TNA departure, he was signed on New Japan Pro Wrestling and they announced his arrival on April 4 under the name Consequences Creed. He spent a few months in NJPW and shared ring with the likes of Kushida, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomasso Ciampa and more.

WWE (2010-Present)

Following a short stint with NJPW, Austin Watson joined WWE in July 2010. His signing with Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), the developmental territory of WWE, was pretty much the same as his signing with DSW. He showed up unannounced on FCW Office to apply for the job and was eventually hired. Interestingly, his future tag team partner, Kofi Kingston happened to be at DSW and FCW at the same time when Xavier Woods showed up.

WWE offered him a full time contract which Watson turned down as he had only six months left for graduation. The promotion allowed him to work part time for six months part time before he had to sign a full time deal. He made his debut on FCW under his real name, Austin Watson and was soon added to FCW Roster on the official website under the name Xavier Woods. He teamed up with Wes Brisco in the majority of his FCW career including winning the Florida Tag Team Championship.

Woods also made a few appearances on NXT after FCW was discontinued and the former took the role of WWE’s Developmental territory. He was called to the main roster in November 2013.

Xavier Woods made his main roster debut on the November 18, 2013 episode of Monday Night RAW. He teamed up with his former TNA tag-team partner R-Truth to defeat Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal. He teamed up with R-Truth about until July of next year. At that time, Big E and Kofi Kingston were working together as a tag team. However, they were on a losing streak and could do nothing about it. After another loss at RAW on July 21, they were addressed by Xavier Woods who said they the three of them needed to bring change, and offered to make a faction.

While the three of them joined forces, the three went seperate ways for a few months with no explanation. In November 2014, WWE announced the trio would be returning as The New Day. While they started off as babyfaces, The New Day would soon turn heel due to fans’ reaction. On April 20, 2015, they became the Number 1 Contender for the WWE Tag Team Championship, which they won for the first time at Extreme Rules after beating Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. While Kingston and Big E had been the two winning partners, Woods is also considered the champion under the Freebird rule. They lost the title to Prime Time Players (Titus O’Neil and Darren Wood) at Money in the Bank before winning it back on SummerSlam. They went on to defeat the likes of The Dudley Boyz, The Lucha Dragons, The Usos, The League of Nations, The Vaudevillains, Enzo Amore and Big Cass, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Cesaro and Sheamus and other teams in their reign.

The New Day became the longest reigning Tag Team Champions and held the gold for a then-record 483 days. They lost the gold to Cesaro and Sheamus at Roadblock: End of Line and failed to reclaim it in a rematch. Woods, alongside Kingston and Big E, then hosted the WrestleMania 33. The New Day were drafted to SmackDown in April 2017 and defeated The Usos at Battleground to become the new SmackDown Tag Team Champions. They lost it back to The Usos at SummerSlam before winning it in September of that year and losing it again at Hell in a Cell. This was one of the many times where The Usos and The New Day had an epic feud.

Xavier Woods then competed in the tournament for the vacant US Championship where he lost to Jinder Mahal in the semi-finals. At WrestleMania 34, they competed against The Usos and The Bludgeon Brothers in a triple threat match but lost. They won a tournament to face The Bludgeon Brothers at SummerSlam for the titles and won via DQ. Two days later, they defeated them once again, this time winning the gold. They lost the title to Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus on SmackDown 1000).

2019 saw the great rise of Kofi Kingston. However, he could have a title opportunity only if his friends Big E and Xavier Woods could do the impossible. They had to defeat Gallows & Anderson, Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura, The Bar, The Usos, and Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan in a Gauntlet match. Big E and Woods did just that allowing Kingston to compete at WrestleMania 35 and win the WWE Championship. Woods suffered a legitimate injury in October and was out of action for a whole year.

He returned on the October 9 episode of SmackDown, and teamed with Kingston to defeat Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura, grabbing their 7th SmackDown Tag Team Championship. They were drafted to RAW while Big E was drafted to SmackDown. The New Day then switched titles with The Street Profits, marking the beginning of Woods’ third RAW Tag Team Title reign. They lost the belt to Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin in December before winning it back in March and losing it again at WrestleMania 37, this time to AJ Styles and Omos.

Xavier Woods then partook in the King of the Ring 2021 tournament. He defeated Ricochet, Jinder Mahal, and finally, Finn Balor at Crown Jewel to be crowned the King. Woods and Kingston were then drafted to Friday Night SmackDown. Kingston organized a coronation to crown Woods as the King. His ring name was changed to King Woods, which he used until an injury sidelined him in January 2022. He returned as Xavier Woods in March 2022 and lost to Sheamus and Ridge Holland at WrestleMania 38.

Kingston and Woods partook in sporadic matches throughout the rest of the year and faced Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) at NXT Deadline on December 10 for their NXT Tag Team Championship. They won the match and the title for the first time in their career. With the victory, Woods and Kingston also became a WWE Tag Team Triple Crown Champion. They lost the title to Gallus at NXT Vengeance Day in February 2023 in a Fatal Four Way match also including Pretty Deadly and The Chase University. Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston were drafted to Monday Night RAW in WWE Draft in May 2023.

Xavier Woods Awards and Achievements

Xavier Woods Net Worth

As per various sources, Xavier Woods is worth around $5 Million in 2023. Further, he draws an annual salary of around $500,000 from his work in WWE. Besides wrestling, Woods also earns from social media and runs a channel named UpUpDownDown where fellow wrestlers and WWE personalities compete in games.

Xavier Woods Personal Life

Xavier Woods (real name Austin Watson) has been married to Jess Watson since 2015. The two had a son in 2017.