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Busted Open

Instant Reaction to Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods Parting Ways with WWE

02 May 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.031 - 22.904 Denise Salcedo

Hey guys, this is Denise Salcedo with Rick Uccino and welcome to the Busted Open Podcast. To kick off the show, Rick and I react to the breaking news that the New Day, amongst others, have parted ways with the WWE. This is the Busted Open Podcast. New Day's Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods have mutually decided to part ways with WWE.

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Chapter 2: What are the immediate reactions to Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods parting ways with WWE?

23.465 - 53.628 Denise Salcedo

This was confirmed by both Fightful Select and Body Slam that have put this out there. We also learned, I cannot believe it, JC Mateo, the former Jeff Cobb, is among the new group of WWE Departures. As well as Tonga Loa is also part of the new group of WWE Departures. I do not know if there are any additional names as of right now. This is what has been shared.

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54.709 - 64.598 Denise Salcedo

Rick, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, JC Mateo, Tonga Loa now added to this list. What is your reaction as hearing this news right now?

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65.641 - 77.708 Rick Ucchino

Man, this is tough. This is tough. The thing that stands out to me is Kofi and Woods, obviously, are the headliners.

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Chapter 3: Who else is included in the recent WWE departures alongside Kofi and Woods?

77.748 - 100.106 Rick Ucchino

No disrespect to JC and Tonga, but it's like they've been with the company for so long. They are... without question, first ballot WWE Hall of Famers. They are one of the greatest tag teams, one of the greatest groups of all time. Kofi Kingston, by himself, has one of the greatest moments in the history of WrestleMania when he won the WWE Championship from Bryan Danielson.

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100.306 - 122.917 Rick Ucchino

There's a lot of memories and wonderful moments that these two have been a part of. It's very interesting to hear that they have mutually agreed two part ways. Like, And I'm very curious to know what has happened to that relationship because it wasn't that long ago. It was reported that these guys had resigned with the company for the long term.

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122.978 - 137.295 Rick Ucchino

And now all of a sudden, here we are post WrestleMania 42, and they have decided to walk away from the company, at least in part, according to this report. Man, it's it's so. Yeah.

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137.275 - 158.845 Rick Ucchino

it's it's hard to really kind of collect my thoughts and my feelings on the matter I never want to see anybody lose their job ever like ever ever ever um and I and I feel for JC and and Tonga as well like because they were key cogs with uh with Solo Sokoa and his his MFTs and it's

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159.922 - 184.326 Rick Ucchino

it's really hard to wrap my mind around this, but that mutually agreeing for the new day, man, it's, I I'm, I'm dying to know what, what, what, what went down, what deteriorated that relationship for as long as they have been with WWE and been key contributors and, and merchandise sales and fan favorites and all that stuff. Like it's man, this one's tough.

185.352 - 200.374 Denise Salcedo

So, of course, you know, with all of the releases, it's one of those things that you never want anybody to lose their jobs or anything like that. You mentioned quite a bit about Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, and we all know that these guys like they're bound to be.

200.354 - 222.919 Denise Salcedo

they're bound to be hall of famers someday there's no way there's not because of the longevity that they've had in their careers as well as everything that they've accomplished multi-time tag team champions you mentioned the merch selling you mentioned all of that like they are they are huge but you know what's crazy is i think to myself i remember when they did the biggie angle

222.899 - 239.001 Denise Salcedo

And I remember thinking like, oh, I remember that day that that night I had my post raw show and I remember going on. And to this day, it's one of my highest viewed raw post shows that I've ever done because people were so like crazy.

238.981 - 255.572 Denise Salcedo

in awe of what they did with that biggie turned it was such an impactful moment that people loved it they ate it up because it it generated so much emotion from them and the unfortunate part though after that was that the follow-up to that

Chapter 4: What legacy do Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods leave behind in WWE?

573.429 - 583.133 Denise Salcedo

They announced it last week. He had a confrontation against Cody this week. And it looks like the former friends are no more. How did you feel about what you saw last night?

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583.501 - 606.294 Rick Ucchino

Look, with the second that Ricky's music hit last night, I jumped out of my chair because this is exactly what I wanted. I wanted them to have something big planned for Ricky. I didn't want him to just come out there and have that, you know, okay, I'm going to beat, you know, The powerhouse Hobbs, excuse me, Royce Keys spot last night where he beat Angel in two minutes.

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606.314 - 625.004 Rick Ucchino

I wanted something better for Ricky than that. I wanted him to have that big spot. And right out of the gate, He's right there in the ring with the WWE champion. And I'm going, okay, perfect. This is exactly how you need to introduce a former NXT, former NXT North American champion on the show.

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625.444 - 647.353 Rick Ucchino

Let people know right out of the gate that this is a spot that he's going to be in, that he deserves to be in, that he has earned his way into. And did he get the biggest pop? No. But by the time he came out to the ring later that evening, you had people in the crowd who were doing his thing as he was doing his entrance. I thought he did well in the promo exchange with Cody.

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647.614 - 666.423 Rick Ucchino

I thought his match was great later. This is exactly what I wanted to see. Win, lose, or draw, that didn't matter. Just being in the moment with Cody, I think, sent a massive message from the creative team that said, hey, this is what we think of Ricky Saints. This is what you can expect him, the kind of spots for him to be in. Very reminiscent of Carmelo Hayes when he got drafted, right?

666.464 - 689.343 Rick Ucchino

Carmelo Hayes right out of the gate, wrestled Cody his first night. And by the way, the thing I loved about this, and this was something that I had to be reminded of, Ricky Saints debut in AEW when he was Ricky Starks was in an open challenge against Cody Rhodes for the TNT championship. His first match on the main roster in WWE is against Cody Rhodes when he's the WWE champion.

689.503 - 691.268 Rick Ucchino

I love the full circle moment there.

691.568 - 714.191 Denise Salcedo

And the fact that Cody mentioned, he kind of alluded to, hey, you know, you and I, we've stood across from the ring from each other before. And he said, what's different this time? And Ricky threw me off when Ricky said, you. And I'm thinking, you? As in Cody? And I thought, you know what? That's fair. Because Cody's different, Ricky's different, so that is truly fair.

714.251 - 727.684 Denise Salcedo

But one of the things that you mentioned, though, was the crowd reaction. You mentioned that there was really no pop there. Now, we have seen, kind of with a little bit of all of the different call-ups on both Raw and SmackDown, one of the things that I've noticed is that

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