Before WWE fans knew Big E, Xavier Woods, and Kofi Kingston as The New Day, the company had a completely different vision that would have taken the group in a much more controversial direction.
Big E revealed that the original idea was for a faction called “The Clan,” which was planned as a militant Black group heavily inspired by the Nation of Domination.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on the “Insight” podcast, the former WWE Champion explained that the concept was developed during the FCW era and included Big E, Xavier Woods, Byron Saxton, and Abraham Washington, with Washington positioned as the group’s leader.
Big E described the original vision, saying,
“We originally called the group the Clan, and it stood for Citizens Liberation of American Nationalism. It was supposed to be this militant black group, much in the vein of the Nation of Domination.”
He continued by explaining how the group was being put together behind the scenes.
“So we were in FCW. It was me, Byron Saxton was still an active wrestler at the time, it was me, Saxton, Woods, and Abe. We all talked, but Abe was kind of positioned as the leader, and we had this group.”
The idea eventually changed after WWE decided not to move forward with “The Clan,” leading to a renamed concept called “The Plan” before the entire direction was abandoned.
“That group initially, it was initially the Clan, then we became The Plan because the office said we’re not doing that.”
Big E also reflected on Abraham Washington’s involvement in the proposed faction and noted that Washington was someone who often pushed boundaries.
“Abe was very much someone who unfortunately liked to push the envelope a little bit too much. I’m not going to talk about the reason he got fired, you could look that up.”
The scrapped idea would ultimately make way for The New Day, which went on to become one of WWE’s most successful factions and a defining part of Big E’s career.
