Eric Bischoff believes that New Day becoming New Level is “the cheap way out”
As seen during the 2026 AEW All In PPV event, former WWE stars Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods debuted as The New Level with the names Kofi and “Awesome” Austin Creed. While speaking on his podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff reacted to the name change. Here was the exchange with Bischoff and his co-host Conrad Thompson…
Thompson: “They were New Day there. They’re New Level here. Do you like leaning into that because it’s familiar, or would you rather see them try something completely different?”
Bischoff: “I would rather try something completely different. I know why they’re doing it, and there’s an argument for that. There’s probably some logic to it that you can’t totally dismiss, but it’s like a hangover that won’t go away.
I think breaking clean from a previous character and establishing a new character, in this case, characters with New Level, is a smarter long-term approach than hanging on to the past, which is what they’re doing. They’re trying to draft off of the equity that the former New Day had in WWE, which I understand. I’m not criticizing it. I completely understand it from a business perspective.
I prefer not to have to do that. So, given a choice, if I think I have the option of creating something really new and unique and powerful, or effective at least, I would opt to do that before I would take the easy way out, the cheap way out, and try to come up with something that’s a derivative. People don’t like derivatives. They like authenticity. They like originals.
When you have to be a derivative, it suggests that you don’t know how to become unique.”
Thompson: “That’s interesting because, and I know before I even look at the comments, a lot of people are going to cite WCW examples of guys who came over and had a very similar-sounding name. But respectfully, most of those, if we’re honest, didn’t really work out to be all that great, like IRS or, you know, when the Big Boss Man comes over and he’s The Guardian, or Earthquake comes over and he’s Avalanche or whatever.”
Bischoff: “When I’m when I say these things, some of it is based on experience. Some of it is actually based on the fact that I f*cked that sh*t up. Right. And I learned from it.
You would think other people would learn from it too, and learn from what other people do and have success with or don’t have success with. So, yeah, I’ve done it and I’ve learned the hard way. It doesn’t work. There’s a better way.”