Former WWE Champion admits that he pretended to like new gimmick pitched by Vince McMahon

The very first episode of WWE's Feel The Power podcast featuring The New Day provided an insightful peek into the life and times of one of the greatest, if not the greatest, stables of this generation.

Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Big E spoke about the formation of their faction and how it all came along.

The trio touched upon their initial days as a team, when the company pitched them the idea of being preachers and how they reacted to Vince McMahon's idea.

Woods, Kingston and Big E wanted the opportunity to succeed in the competitive landscape of the WWE and they ran with the unappealing plan.

Woods revealed that they had various discussions with the WWE management before the preachers' gimmick was offered to them.

The first reaction, as you may have expected, was not a positive one. Xavier Woods stated that they had mentioned that they didn't want to be involved with three archetype gimmicks that were usually reserved for black wrestlers.

"Hey. There’s three archetypes in wrestling for black wrestlers. You’re either the big strong black guy, which was E. You’re the foreign black guy, which at one time was Kofi. Or you’re the dancing black guy, which was me. And those were the three characters that black guys and girls have.

"And we want to make sure that we are none of those, because we want to make something new, and make sure that kids understand that you can be whatever you want, regardless of shape, color, race, gender, whatever.’ And then we were told, ‘You guys will be preachers.’ And we were like, ‘That — well, that kind of…ah…'”

Big E then went on to reveal the meeting they had with Vince McMahon in which the boss told them about the direction that the company had for them.

The plan to push The New Day as gospel preachers reportedly hit Vince like a bolt of intuition. Big E explained that they sensed there was some flexibility from the boss' end with the gimmick. While the idea was not great on paper, they realized the importance of the opportunity. McMahon had even chalked up a few ideas for their promos and vignettes.

Woods knew that getting the characters over with the WWE Universe was easier said than done.

Kingston even went on to reveal that they pretended to like Vince's pitch, as, in their heads, they knew the gimmick was bound to be a failure.

“That was the point where we’d been travelling together for like, you know, every weekend, talking on text or whatever, five months straight, you know? Really had our connections. So we’re just sitting there smiling and nodding at Vince. But we can all hear each other in our heads, like, ‘NOOOOOO! This is never gonna work!’ What are you doing?!?! Preachers, nooooo!’ We’re just smiling and nodding, like, ‘Yep! We’ll take the opportunity, Vince!’ Like, the biggest contrast in what was happening.” H/t Credit: 411Mania

Seven tag team title wins, record-breaking merchandise sales, and the well-deserved WWE Championship win for Kofi Kingston are accolades that would make anyone envious.

There is always a lot of talk about the proverbial brass ring in the company. Well, The New Day grabbed it, made the necessary changes to their initial gimmick and have cemented themselves as the most prolific stable of this decade.