Xavier Woods

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Xavier Woods
File:Xavier Woods In March 2015.jpg
Woods in March 2015
Birth name Austin Watson[1]
Born (1986-09-04) September 4, 1986 (age 38)
Columbus, Georgia, United States[1]
Residence Atlanta, Georgia, United States[2]
Alma mater Furman University
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Austin Creed[1]
Austin Watson[3]
Consequences Creed[1]
Rasheed Lucius Creed[1]
Xavier Woods[4]
Billed height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[4]
Billed weight 205 lb (93 kg)[4]
Billed from Angel Grove, California[5]
Atlanta, Georgia[4]
Marietta, Georgia
Trained by Brodie Ray Chase[1]
Rob Adonis[1]
Debut June 2005[1]

Austin Watson[1] (born September 4, 1986) is an American professional wrestler, and YouTube personality, who is currently signed to WWE under the ring name Xavier Woods. He is part of The New Day, along with Big E and Kofi Kingston, the current WWE Tag Team Champions in their second reign. Watson previously worked for TNA as Consequences Creed, where he was a one time World Tag Team Champion with Jay Lethal as Lethal Consequences. Watson has also worked for NWA Anarchy and other independent promotions under the ring name Austin Creed.

Watson runs a YouTube channel dedicated to gaming titled UpUpDownDown as Austin Creed.[6]

Early life

Watson was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1986 and graduated from Sprayberry High School in 2004. That same year, he began studying psychology and philosophy at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

Professional wrestling career

Early years and NWA Anarchy (2005–2007)

File:Austin Creed.jpg
Watson as Austin Creed

While attending Furman University, Watson began training for a career in professional wrestling and, in 2005, began wrestling part-time with Rob Adonis' Ultimate Christian Wrestling promotion. While in the Greenville, South Carolina-based World Wrestling Council, he developed his Austin Creed gimmick, which is based heavily on the character Apollo Creed from the Rocky series.[7]

During his time in NWA Anarchy, Creed was part of a tag team called Awesome Attraction with Hayden Young. The pair had one of the longest title reigns in the promotion's history after defeating Justice Served (Jason Justice and Mike Free) in Cornelia, Georgia on April 7, 2007.[8] In 2006, Creed won NWA's Most Popular Wrestler, voted for by the NWA fans.

On July 12, 2007, Creed defeated Murder-One to become the first DSW Heavyweight Champion following the promotion's split from World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).[7]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)

X Division (2007–2008)

File:Consequences Creed in London Sep 2008.jpg
Creed in action in September 2008

Creed appeared at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Bound For Glory pay-per-view event, teaming with Ron Killings as the replacement for Adam "Pacman" Jones. Creed wrestled under the name Rasheed Lucius "Consequences" Creed.[9] His union with Ron Killings was dubbed Truth and Consequences, which was a combination of Killings' nickname "The Truth" and Creed's nickname "Consequences" as well as a play on words on the game show of the same name.

On October 21, 2007, it was reported that Creed had signed a contract with TNA.[7] The signing was reported when Creed appeared on the radio show Trash Talking Radio on October 23 with Tommy Cairo and Sabian.[10] His signing was also confirmed later at a NWA Anarchy show where Creed was presented with the contract by TNA Booking Director Bill Behrens.[11] Following Bound For Glory, Creed was not seen on TNA television for months after Killings asked for and was later granted his release from the company.

On February 10, 2008, Creed wrestled in a dark match before Against All Odds. He teamed with Sonjay Dutt defeating The Rock 'n Rave Infection. On the March 13 episode of Impact!, a promo video with the words "prepare to face the consequences" showed Creed training and announced that he would make his return at the Lockdown pay-per-view on April 13. The following week, the return date was changed to April 10. On the April 10 episode of Impact!, Creed made his in-ring return and defeated Jimmy Rave of The Rock 'n Rave Infection, thus qualifying for the Xscape match at Lockdown.[12] During the match, Creed eliminated Shark Boy, but was later eliminated by Curry Man.[13] Creed later wrestled in the first ever TerrorDome match at Sacrifice, which was won by Kaz.[14]

At Hard Justice, Creed faced Petey Williams for the X Division Championship, but lost after interference from Sheik Abdul Bashir. On the September 4, 2008 episode of Impact!, he won a number one contenders match against Bashir for the right to face Williams again at No Surrender for the X Division Title.[15] However, the match was later changed to a triple threat after Bashir repeatedly attacked Creed and ultimately, Bashir won the match and the X Division title.[16]

Lethal Consequences (2008–2010)

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Main article: Lethal Consequences
File:Consequences Creed at Slammiversary, The Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan - 20090621.jpg
Creed at Slammiversary 2009

On the October 30, 2008 episode of Impact!, Creed, along with Samoa Joe, A.J. Styles, Jay Lethal, Petey Williams, Eric Young, ODB and The Motor City Machineguns formed a faction of younger wrestlers, known as The Frontline, to oppose The Main Event Mafia.[17]

On January 8, 2009, fellow Frontline member Lethal chose Creed to cash in his Feast or Fired briefcase with, and the pair won the World Tag Team Championship from the champions Beer Money, Inc. (Robert Roode and James Storm). Creed and Lethal went on to be named Lethal Consequences, a combination of their respective names.[18] Beer Money, Inc. regained their titles in a three-way match just three days later at Genesis. For the next few months, Creed and Lethal teamed with the Motor City Machineguns to try and unmask Suicide. On the October 1, 2009 episode of Impact!, Creed and Lethal were part of a 5-man ladder match for a future X Division Title match. During the match, Amazing Red, who ended up winning the match, performed a hurricanrana driver, which caused Creed to projectile vomit after his head hit the mat.[19]

Watson was released from TNA on March 29, 2010.[20]

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2010)

On April 4, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced Watson, under his Consequences Creed ring name, as a participant in the first Super J Tag Tournament.[21] On May 8, Creed and his partner Kota Ibushi were eliminated from the tournament in the first round by the team of Gedo and KUSHIDA.[22] Creed returned to New Japan on June 28, 2010, teaming up with IWGP Heavyweight Champion Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma in the J Sports Crown Openweight 6 Man Tag Tournament.[23] After defeating Tamon Honda, Kentaro Shiga and Makoto Hashi in the opening round, the trio was eliminated from the tournament in the second round by Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka and Tomohiro Ishii.[23][24]

On July 10, Creed defeated Brian Milonas, U-Gene and Tommaso Ciampa to win East Coast Wrestling Association's 2010 Super 8 Tournament.[25][26]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE

Developmental territories (2010–2013)

On July 22, 2010, it was announced that Watson had signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).[27] Watson, using his real name, made his debut for WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling on July 29 in a tag team match, where he and Percy Watson were defeated by Brodus Clay and Donny Marlow.[3] Following his debut, he was then added to FCW's official website under the name Xavier Woods.[4] In October, Woods began to team up with Wes Brisco and they took part in a tag team turmoil match on October 14, where they defeated three other teams.[28] On November 4, Woods and Brisco defeated Johnny Curtis and Derrick Bateman to become the Florida Tag Team Champions.[29] On December 1, Woods and Brisco vacated the Tag Team Championship after Brisco was sidelined with an injury.[30][31] With Brisco sidelined with an injury, Woods teamed up with Marcus Owens to take on Damien Sandow and Titus O'Neill for the vacant Florida Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful.[28] Following this, Woods began performing as a singles competitor throughout 2011 and 2012, though without much success.[28]

After WWE rebranded its developmental territory, FCW, into NXT,[32] Woods made his televised debut on the October 31, 2012 episode of NXT with a loss to Leo Kruger.[33] While picking up wins on NXT over the likes of El Local and Jake Carter, Woods began using the gimmick of a fanboy of 1990s popular culture[34][35][36] that saw him implement his legitimate fandom of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Dragon Ball Z, and other 90's pop culture into his matches and attire.[37] He stopped using this gimmick once he was called up to WWE's main roster.

Teaming with R-Truth (2013–2014)

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Main article: R-Truth and Xavier Woods
Woods (right) in the ring with R-Truth in January 2014

On the November 18, 2013 episode of Raw, Woods made his main roster debut as he teamed with fellow TNA alumnus and former tag-team partner R-Truth to defeat 3MB (Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal) after Woods pinned McIntyre.[38] The following week on Raw, Woods defeated Heath Slater in his singles debut match while being accompanied by R-Truth and The Funkadactyls (Cameron and Naomi).[39] On the November 29 episode of SmackDown, Woods began a feud with Brodus Clay after Clay took offense to Woods using his entrance music and The Funkdactyls as his valets earlier in the week on Raw. Later that night, Woods suffered his first loss when he and R-Truth lost to Tons of Funk (Clay and Tensai) after Clay pinned Woods.[40] On the December 2 episode of Raw, Woods and R-Truth defeated Tons of Funk in a rematch after Woods pinned Clay. On the December 9 episode of Raw, Woods faced Clay in a losing effort. Then on the December 11 episode of Main Event, Woods and R-Truth defeated Tons of Funk and ended their feud.[41] On the January 8, 2014 episode of Main Event, Woods and Truth faced The Real Americans (Cesaro and Jack Swagger) in a losing effort. At WrestleMania XXX, Woods competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal that was won by Cesaro. Woods and R-Truth then competed sporadically in the first quarter of 2014. They started a feud with the Bulgarian newcomer Rusev and were defeated by him in singles and handicap encounters. After a loss in another 2-on-1 handicap match to Rusev at Extreme Rules, Woods and Truth quietly separated as both would become singles competitors. On the May 5 episode of Raw, Woods competed in a 20-man United States Championship battle royal which was won by Sheamus. On the June 16 episode of Raw, Woods competed in a WWE World Heavyweight Championship ladder match qualifying battle royal which was won by Roman Reigns. At Battleground, Woods competed in a 19-man battle royal for the vacant Intercontinental Championship which was won by The Miz.

The New Day (2014–present)

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Main article: The New Day
Woods (right) with Kofi Kingston and Big E as The New Day in January 2015

On the July 21, 2014 episode of Raw, after Big E and Kofi Kingston suffered another loss as a team in a recent string of defeats, Woods came down to address them. He went on to state that they could not "get ahead by kissing babies and shaking hands" and that now is "their time" and offered to form a stable. The duo accepted Woods' offer,[42] and on the next day's Main Event, Woods managed Big E and Kingston to a decisive victory over Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil.[43] On the July 29 episode of Main Event, Woods' filled a commentary role while he and his group observed a match wrestled by the WWE Tag Team Champions, The Usos.[44] Woods also joined the broadcast team alongside Rich Brennan on August 28, 2015 episode of WWE Superstars. New Day then temporarily separated as on the August 8 episode of SmackDown, both Big E and Kingston reverted to wrestling singles matches with no sign or mention of the other two members of the group.[45][46] Despite being disbanded on WWE television, Big E, Kingston and Woods continued their alliance at house shows.[47][48] On the September 26 episode of SmackDown, Woods competed in an Intercontinental Championship No. 1 Contender Battle Royal which was won by Cesaro.

On the November 3 episode of Raw, WWE began airing vignettes for Woods, Big E, and Kingston, as face characters, with the stable billed as "The New Day".[49] The New Day made their in-ring debut on the November 28 episode of SmackDown in a winning effort against Titus O'Neil, Heath Slater and Curtis Axel.[50] At WrestleMania 31, Woods competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal where he was eliminated by eventual winner, the Big Show. On the April 6, 2015 episode of Raw, New Day started developing heel traits as they would start interfering with the others' matches to help each other gain unfair competitive advantages. Woods especially would trash-talk with their opponents and the crowd during matches. At Extreme Rules, Big E and Kingston defeated Tyson Kidd and Cesaro to win the WWE Tag Team Championship after a distraction from Woods. Woods was then given a share of the title and the trio defended the titles under the Freebird Rule. Kingston and Big E retained their titles in rematches on both SmackDown and at Payback, with Woods interfering in both matches.[51] At Elimination Chamber, New Day retained their titles in the first ever tag team Elimination Chamber match, where all three members were allowed to compete.[52] At Money in the Bank, Woods and Big E lost the titles to The Prime Time Players (Titus O'Neil and Darren Young).[53] Big E and Kingston would also lose in their championship rematch at Battleground. New Day would win the titles for a second time after they defeated the Prime Time Players, Los Matadores, and the Lucha Dragons in a tag team fatal 4-way match at SummerSlam. The next night on Raw, after Big E and Kingston defeated the Lucha Dragons, they were attacked by the returning Dudley Boyz, which ended with Woods being hit with a Dudley Death Drop (3D) through a table. On the September 14 episode of Raw, New Day defeated the Prime Time Players in a tag team championship match, setting up a defense against the Dudley Boyz at Night of Champions. New Day would lose the match via disqualification but retained their tag team titles. On the September 28 episode of Raw, Woods answered John Cena's United States Championship Open Challenge where Cena retained via disqualification after Kingston and Big E attacked him. The Dudley Boyz appeared afterwards to save Cena; this led to an impromptu six-man tag team match between The New Day against Cena and The Dudley Boyz where The New Day were victorious after Kingston pinned D-Von. In a Night of Champions rematch at Madison Square Garden, Woods would similarly get their team disqualified, saving their title reign in the process but once again being slammed through a table. They retained once again at Hell In A Cell after Kofi pinned Bubba Ray.

Personal life

Watson graduated from Furman University with a master's degree in psychology and a bachelor's degree in philosophy. He is currently working to obtain his PhD in educational psychology from Capella University.[54]

Watson's life was spotlighted, along with Raymond Leppan and Matt Polinsky on ESPN's E:60 special on WWE titled "Behind The Curtain", which aired May 5, 2015.

Watson is an avid fan of video games. He has a tattoo of the Hylian Royal Crest from The Legend of Zelda series on his left forearm.[55] In 2015, Watson started a YouTube channel called UpUpDownDown, where he invites WWE performers, gaming personalities, and friends to play games.[56] He also has a Twitch account under the username AustinCreed.

Following Dolph Ziggler's call-out to Bronies in September 2014,[57] Watson revealed himself to be a member of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom the following March.[58]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

File:Creed como campeón.jpg
Creed as one half of the NWA Anarchy Tag Team Champions

1 All three members of the New Day were named champions under the Freebird Rule.

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  58. ↑ 2K Tournament of Champions: Xavier Woods 6 March 2015 (wearing a BRONY shirt) "Xavier Woods here, reigning and defending 2K champion. This year at WrestleMania, people are gonna come and try to take my title, take my championship. That cannot be done, you ban't neat me! Brony: don't care, what up? Step up, and get bought!"
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External links

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