Big E helped Kofi Kingston and Austin Creed land their new AEW entrance song
Ariel Helwani quickly previews today's lineup before being joined by The New Level to talk about their recent AEW debut. Kofi and Austin Creed reveal behind-the-scenes details about AEW negotiations, their first time interacting with the rest of the roster, reports of WWE asking them to take a pay cut and the decision to part ways, their continued relationship with Big E, the positive vibes around AEW right now, and more.
Video Transcript
Can I just ask, the name, when does it come to you guys?
New Level, the music, the chant is perfect- Yeah it all fits.
I mean, it, it really does fit like a, like a perfect glove.
When does it hit you guys that this is the new, you know, the new vision for the, the team?
Well, so Austin had the vision, a- and this is probably, like, maybe a month and a half into, the, the unemployment phase.
Huh.
And he's like, "Hey, next time we come out, I've been listening to A$AP Ferg.
I wanna come out to New Level."
And, and you know, sometimes, like, you throw things out in the universe that are just, like, so far off, and it's like, "Ah, that would be great, man," but you don't actually think that it's gonna happen.
But then again, like I was saying with the manifestation, we're talking about it, you know, we're going back and forth with names.
We have a couple, you know, that are okay, you know?
And then, when Austin, he, he had brought up N- New Level again, he's like, "Yeah, I'm listening to New Level right now."
I'm like, I go, "Hey, wait a minute.
Is that the name?"
"Is that the one?"
And then, Austin's, wife is in the background, was like, "Yeah, I like it."
I was like, "Yeah."
And then you start, like, visualizing it and you know, we knew at that point, like, that was it.
And it just, the, the thing about it was that it's so, it's multi-entendre.
You know we like a good double or triple entendre- Sure out there.
Sure.
You know?
So the New Level, for us, is obviously being gamers, going to AEW, this is, like, the new level to try and conquer, you know?
We, are the greatest tag team in the history of, well, planet Earth.
We are bringing a new level of tag team wrestling to AEW, you know what I'm saying?
There's just so many, it's so, it's so multifaceted.
And it just, like, it just felt right.
And like you said, you know, it all was very, very synergistic.
And now with regard to, like, how we, we got the, the actual music was really, really crazy.
Because when we were starting to negotiate the contracts, this is something that Austin says, like, "Yeah, just ask them if we can get, New Level as a, as a, as a, as an entrance song."
And they're like, "Oh yeah, I think we can, yeah, Tony said he think he c- he thinks he can do that, he thinks he can make that work."
And we're like, "What?"
Okay.
So now it's real.
So now we gotta figure out, like, how do we make this happen?
So, I think they had contacted Sony, but they were having some trouble, like, getting, getting in touch with them.
So, we put in some calls.
Oh.
As a matter of fact, we called E, because E is Mr. Hip Hop and Mr. Rap, you know?
So we figured he might have a connection, he knows several people in the rap industry.
And, it's like, "Hey, who should we talk to to try and see if we can, if we can get this music?"
And, he didn't know A$AP Ferg, he had never met him.
But he was like, you know, "Ask Kaz," who used to be a writer with WWE.
Yep.
And now he does everything under the sun, you know, big New York Knicks fan, congratulations, blah, blah.
Uh-huh.
But, and then he said to, talk to Peter Rosenberg as well.
So we contacted Kaz, and then we contacted Rosenberg, and we were talking to him for a little bit, explained the whole situation to him.
He's like, "All right, I'm gonna make some calls.
He knows Ferg."
He's like, "I'm gonna call Ferg, I'll call his manager."
And literally within, like, 20 minutes, he's like, "Yep, they're down.
They're gonna talk to the right people," you know?
And he linked up Ferg's manager with AEW, and then we made it happen literally even less than 24 hours- Wow before we debuted.
So again, everything just kinda, like, happening the way it should.
It's, it's a miracle.
What started off as, like, a little thought that, that Austin had on the treadmill listening to music on his workout ended up coming to reality because he put that into the universe, you know?
Wow, wow.
I love that.
So it was, yeah.
And it's amazing, really.
It's, it's unbelievable.
