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"We wanted to go out there and show our skills and talent," he continued. "We wanted to go out there, play with the fans, threaten to leave the kids punished, provoke reactions in people, and make them go home with memories. We were at a convention and someone showed us a pancake they had kept for 10 years. We are very proud to make people feel like their money was worth it."
"We wanted to work. As far as tag team wrestling goes, it really wasn't a priority, so we looked across the pond and saw The Young Bucks, FTR, Cope and Christian, Private Party, The Dogs, and all those tag teams offering incredible matches. We thought: 'What if we could be part of that?' It seemed like they were having a lot of fun. You watch AEW's pay-per-views and I'm jumping out of my seat like a fan again. I'm excited to see that show. We thought: 'What if we could be part of it and add ourselves as one of the best teams in history, if not the best?'. That was really the deciding factor."
"We're going to do what we love, feel passionate about our work, and feel that we can contribute in a meaningful and impactful way. Having incredible matches every night. That's what this is supposed to be about. You're not supposed to go to work and feel frustrated about what's happening. You want to have the opportunity to have incredible and entertaining matches. That was the goal."
"Four months later, here we are. Manifesting your desires and believing in yourself: that's the main message. When you've had the career we've had, you feel like you're never going to find yourself in a position where you have to bet on yourself again, but we found ourselves in that situation. And if we hadn't tried to do this and follow our hearts, how could I go home and tell my kids to chase their dreams and believe in themselves? Facing unemployment and not knowing what was going to happen, even though everyone knew we were coming here; we honestly didn't know what the future held for us. And that was exciting. Betting on yourself is exciting," he stated.
Ariel Helwani asked Kofi about the rumor that WWE had requested a 50% salary reduction when renewing their contracts. The Ghanaian wrestler not only confirmed the truth of the rumor but also revealed that the percentage was higher than many imagined.
"I'll say it was more than 50%. It was more. Compensation is an important part, no doubt, but the most important thing is being able to go out there and live your dream the way you want to live it and feel appreciated for it. We took everything into consideration and knew that this was the only path we could take," Kofi said.
Were you surprised by WWE's request?
"I was at my kids' soccer game and my phone rang. It was a number with a 213 area code. 'How come I don't have this number?'. A few minutes later I thought: 'We just left WrestleMania not long ago, there are usually layoffs. They're not going to fire us. We've been helping and doing our part'. That was a fleeting thought that crossed my mind, that it could be a negative conversation," Creed replied.
"I got a call from Kofi and he said, 'They called me, they told me this and that'. And I thought: 'How can this be the conversation?'. It doesn't make sense to me considering all we've been able to do, what we bring, and everything we still have to offer to the professional wrestling landscape," he continued. "I called them back, called Kofi, and that was the first time we had the conversation and realized: 'We have to leave. This doesn't work for us. This is not what we want to be doing'. We want to work. We want to be able to have these matches and achieve these goals and dreams."
"When we made that decision, we knew Kofi had never really been in the independent circuit. He had been in WWE for 20 years. I had been in the independent circuit and in TNA. We felt that when we wanted to come back to wrestling, we were going to be able to do really interesting things," he added.
Kofi's version
"When I received the call, it was my son's birthday. We were celebrating at RetroCade and I thought: 'Why are they calling me now?'. I picked up the phone, they told me what they had to say and offered me the terms, renegotiation, and all that. I hung up, and the strangest feeling was as if the world had turned upside down. Receiving a call you never thought you would receive or having to make a decision like that... but it was my son's day. Emotionally, I couldn't afford to break down, collapse, be angry, worried, or whatever, because it was his day," Kofi said.
"When I called Austin, we knew almost immediately what we had to do. We have a collective mind: if I'm thinking one thing, he's thinking the same; (Big) E is thinking the same. We're always on the same wavelength. We knew we couldn't stay, but you want to do things right and consider all your options," he continued. "Am I financially okay? Is my family going to be okay? What do I have to do to be okay? The following days were spent talking to the financial advisor to make sure everything was okay. Once we realized the freedom we had, everything became very exciting, very quickly."
Helwani asked if they believed WWE was happy with their decision to leave the company. "Honestly, I don't know. I'm not sure. I don't know who makes the decisions. We really didn't have the conversation with anyone high up," Creed replied.
When asked if he spoke with any high-ranking executives after making the decision to leave, Austin replied, "no." Creed added that he did not receive any calls, thanks, or text messages from any WWE executives.