Big E ‘bummed’ Kofi’s Royal Rumble save missed, ‘never coasting’ after WWE title reign

In an exclusive interview with FanSided, Big E spoke about tag team partner Kofi Kingston’s near save in the 2022 Men’s Royal Rumble match and what is next for The New Day.

Every year when the Royal Rumble match arrives, WWE fans expect to see New Day member Kofi Kingston find a new, unique way to save himself from both feet touching the floor to avoid elimination in the Men’s Royal Rumble match. After a variety of saves over the years, Kingston’s luck ran out in the 2022 match, as both of his feet touched the floor as he tried to catch himself on the ringside barricade to the outside after being thrown from the ring by Kevin Owens.

I spoke with former WWE Champion Big E, who joined FanSided on behalf of Special Olympics during Super Bowl week, and asked him what his thoughts were when he saw his New Day tag team partner miss out on his save in the Men’s Royal Rumble match.

“I was bummed for him because it was so close too. It was so close,” said Big E. “When I watched it live, I couldn’t tell if both feet had hit. But anyways, they ran it back in slow motion, and he was eliminated. He has been doing this for so long. These near misses, these saves on eliminations.

“Kofi is someone who has just been the consummate performer and human being and man. If you have kids who are a fan of Kofi, he’s the right guy to be a fan of. So I’ll always root for him, in all aspects in life, and I was just disappointed that he was a fraction of an inch away from clearing that.

“The cool thing for me is oftentimes when I’m not involved in the saves, I don’t even really want to hear what he’s thinking or what the plan is. I just want to see it unfold live. So I don’t even really know where that was going and I still never asked him ‘what was the plan to get back in?’

“It was disappointing, but he’s a legend. A living legend.”

This year, Kingston was the 24th entrant in the match, with Big E entering at No. 26. Unfortunately, Kingston was eliminated before Big E’s number was called to enter the Royal Rumble.

Kingston’s variety of saves in the Royal Rumble match was highlight-worthy. Some examples include Kingston walking on his hands in 2012 and landing on Big E’s shoulders in 2016. It was just in 2022 when the Royal Rumble magic ran out.

You can take a look at most of Kingston’s saves at this link.

Big E on ‘never coasting’ after WWE Championship reign

In addition to the Royal Rumble, I asked Big E about what is next for The New Day, as they have accomplished a lot during their careers. From Big E and Kingston winning the WWE Championship for the first time in their careers, to Xavier Woods winning the 2021 King of the Ring tournament, to multiple Tag Team Championship reigns.

“It wasn’t that long ago, what, like a month and change ago that I was WWE Champion,” said Big E. “So now we’re pivoting a little bit and I think we’re gonna kind of reassess and see what it is that we want to go after. That is the beautiful thing, we kind of have done it all, but you know, Woods is still yet to be a world champion and I’m sure that there would be something that I think to have all three members become world champion would be incredible.

“But for us, our real focus is we want to make sure that we’re never coasting. We never just wan to just mail it in. We always want to do the very best we can with what we’re given and that will always be the goal. We’ll figure that out and hopefully, try to find something that we haven’t done before.

Big E is coming off of a stellar 2021 year. He started off the year as Intercontinental Champion and won the Money in the Bank briefcase in July to earn a world title match of his choosing at any time in the next year. On the Sept. 13 edition of Monday Night Raw, Big E cashed in his briefcase and defeated Bobby Lashley to win the WWE Championship for the first time in his career. Not only that but he main-evented Survivor Series in a one-on-one, Champion vs. Champion match against Roman Reigns.

At the Day 1 event on New Year’s Day, Big E lost the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar in a five-way match also including Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens and Lashley. Since the loss, Big E has moved to SmackDown, where he is teaming up with Kingston.

WrestleMania 38 is on Apr. 2-3, and who knows what plans are in store for Big E, Kingston and Woods. Whatever those plans are, they are going to do what they always do — give it 100-percent.