Austin Creed has identified the match he views as the most important in The New Day’s history, and his answer centers on the moment the group helped Kofi Kingston reach the WWE Championship match that became one of WrestleMania 35’s signature stories.
Speaking alongside Kingston in a new interview, Creed was asked to reflect on the team’s past while also looking toward its current run in All Elite Wrestling. For Creed, the defining standard of importance is not simply a matter of a match’s profile, a championship result, or its place in the team’s long list of accomplishments. It is the tangible opportunity that victory created for Kingston.
“I think with my definition [of important],” Creed said, “the most important match that we’ve had as a team was when me and [Big] E won that match to get Kofi a title shot.”
The comment points back to the road to WrestleMania 35, when Creed and Big E competed with the goal of securing Kingston’s WWE Championship opportunity. That match carried a purpose beyond The New Day’s own immediate position: it was about getting their teammate into a title match. Creed’s recollection puts the emphasis on the group’s collective role in creating that opening for Kingston rather than treating it as solely an individual milestone.
For more background on this topic, read Mick Foley Praises Tony Khan’s AEW Leadership Style and the Value of Competition.
That distinction has long been central to how the partnership involving Creed, Kingston, and Big E has been perceived. While each performer has had individual ambitions and accomplishments, their identity as a unit was frequently rooted in acting for one another’s benefit. Creed’s choice of that particular WrestleMania 35 lead-in match underlines the value he places on a win that advanced Kingston’s path rather than one that only enhanced his own standing or that of the team’s championship record.
The past and present are now intersecting in a new environment. As of the interview, it has been nearly a month since Creed and Kingston arrived in AEW as The New Level. They are currently aligned with Swerve Strickland and hold the AEW World Trios Championship. The alliance has immediately positioned the former New Day teammates in a division where their priority is not easing into a new roster, but meeting as many teams as possible at once.
A fast start in AEW’s trios division
Creed explained that Strickland framed the opportunity in direct, practical terms. The prospect of joining the trios field meant a chance to share the ring with numerous tag teams right away, including at Wembley. Rather than approaching AEW as a gradual transition, Creed said the group saw the situation as a way to test itself across the depth of the company’s roster from the beginning.
“[Swerve Strickland] goes, ‘Look, if we jump in this trios, you get a chance to wrestle, what, six, seven other tag teams right from the jump at Wembley,’” Creed said. “So logically, well, of course we want to put hands on everybody as quick as we can.”
That philosophy has informed The New Level’s early championship reign with Strickland. Creed noted that winning the Trios Titles already required them to defeat a collection of credible and highly regarded tag teams. But the title victory is not being presented as an endpoint. Instead, he described it as the beginning of a broader effort to gain repetitions against the AEW roster and establish their standing through continued competition.
“And now by winning those titles, we beat a bunch of other very credible, very good tag teams that AEW has to offer,” Creed continued. “And so it’s about making sure that we are getting the reps with all of these people on the roster, and having the most dangerous man in all of AEW at our side while we’re doing that, with Prince Nana as well.”
Creed’s remarks make clear that the group sees its partnership with Strickland as more than a convenient route into the trios title picture. His description of Strickland as AEW’s most dangerous man emphasizes the security and edge that comes with the alliance, while the mention of Prince Nana recognizes the full presence surrounding the champions. For Creed and Kingston, the arrangement combines their established chemistry as a tandem with an opportunity to operate alongside one of AEW’s most formidable figures.
Championship defense set for WrestleDream
The champions will have another major chance to prove that approach on October 17 at AEW WrestleDream. Creed, Kingston, and Strickland are scheduled to defend the AEW World Trios Championship against Hangman Adam Page, Bandido, and Brody King. The bout will be contested under two-out-of-three falls rules, adding another layer of endurance, adaptability, and team coordination to an already significant title defense.
The challengers present a notably different mix of styles and personalities. Page, Bandido, and King bring together three prominent competitors with distinct strengths, which makes the match an important early examination for a championship trio still in the opening stretch of its run. Two-out-of-three falls competition also creates a format in which one decisive sequence may not settle the outcome. A team must secure two falls, meaning momentum can swing sharply after an initial loss or victory.
For The New Level and Strickland, the WrestleDream match fits directly into the objective Creed outlined. A defense against Page, Bandido, and King is another opportunity to get meaningful ring time against top-level opposition while carrying the responsibility of the championships. It also represents a chance for the champions to demonstrate that their quick ascent was not simply a successful first impression, but the start of a sustained run within AEW’s trios landscape.
Creed’s reflection on WrestleMania 35 offers a useful lens for what comes next. He did not select a match based merely on the prestige of its setting. He selected it because it gave Kingston a chance to pursue something larger. In AEW, Creed and Kingston are now part of a new group whose early direction is similarly based on opportunity: the opportunity to face many teams, prove themselves against the roster, and make the most of their place alongside Strickland and Nana.
There is also a clear continuity in Creed’s outlook. The names, promotion, championship structure, and partners have changed, but the underlying value remains familiar. Creed has emphasized a team-first moment from his history with Kingston and Big E as The New Day. Now, with Kingston and Strickland as AEW Trios Champions, he is focused on a collective effort to accumulate experience and wins against the competition in front of them.
The October 17 defense will be a prominent measure of that effort. If Creed, Kingston, and Strickland retain against Page, Bandido, and King, they will add another substantial result to a reign that has begun with an aggressive plan to engage AEW’s tag-team depth. If they fall short, their stated desire to wrestle as many people as possible ensures that the group’s wider mission will remain unchanged.
For now, Creed’s comments connect a treasured accomplishment from The New Day era to the ambitions of The New Level’s AEW chapter. The WrestleMania 35 qualifier remains, in his view, the team’s most important match because it helped open the door for Kingston’s WWE Championship opportunity. The current chapter is still being written, but Creed, Kingston, and Strickland have made their immediate aim plain: defend the Trios Titles, meet every credible team they can, and make their impact quickly.
Darryl Polo
Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.