Austin Watson (September 4, 1986) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) performing on the Raw brand under the ring name of Xavier Woods. In WWE he is a three-time WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champion. Watson was formerly one-half of the FCW Florida Tag Team Champions with Wes Brisco. He previously worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he was a two-time World Tag Team Champion (once with Adam "Pacman" Jones and Ron "The Truth" Killings, as Team Pacman, and once with Jay Lethal, as Lethal Consequences. Watson has also worked for NWA Anarchy and other independent promotions. His Creed persona was based on Apollo Creed from the Rocky movie series.
Early life
Watson was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1986 and graduated from Sprayberry High School in Marietta, Georgia in 2004. That same year he began studying psychology and philosophy at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Watson graduated from Furman University with two degrees a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and philosophy on May 29, 2008. At his time at Furman University, Watson had a brief stint as an accomplished cheerleader.
Career
Early career and NWA Anarchy (2005–2007)
While attending Furman University, Creed began training for a career in professional wrestling and, in 2005, began wrestling part-time with Rob Adonis's Ultimate Christian Wrestling promotion. While in the Greenville, South Carolina-based World Wrestling Council, run by former NWA professional wrestler Brodie Ray Chase, he developed his current ring persona based heavily on the character Apollo Creed from the Rocky series.
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. In 2006, Creed won NWA's Most Popular Wrestler, voted for by the NWA fans.
Deep South Wrestling (2007)
On July 12, 2007 Creed defeated Murder-One to become the first DSW Heavyweight Champion since the split from WWE. He also worked with The Assassin while in Deep South Wrestling.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Pursuit of the X Division Championship (2007–2008)
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. His union with Ron Killings was made to be a play on words, with Killings' nickname "The Truth" being combined with Creed's nickname "Consequences" to form Truth and Consequences, which is similar to the name of a town, (Truth or Consequences, New Mexico named for an old game show).
On October 21, 2007, it was reported that Creed had signed a contract with TNA. The signing was reported when Creed appeared on the radio show Trash Talking Radio on October 23 with Tommy Cairo and Sabian. His signing was also confirmed later at a NWA Anarchy show where Creed was presented the contract by TNA Booking Director Bill Behrens. Following Bound For Glory, Creed was not seen on TNA television for months after Killings asked 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 edition 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 edition 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. During the match, Creed eliminated Shark Boy, but was later eliminated by Curry Man. Creed would later wrestle in the first ever TerrorDome match at Sacrifice, which was won by Kaz.
At Hard Justice, Creed faced Petey Williams for the TNA X Division Championship, but lost after interference from Sheik Abdul Bashir. On the September 4, 2008 edition of TNA 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. The match was changed to a triple threat after Bashir repeatedly attacked Creed. Bashir won the match and the X Division title.
Lethal Consequences (2008–2010)
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.
On January 8, 2009, fellow Frontline member Lethal chose Creed to cash in his Feast or Fired briefcase with, and the pair won the TNA 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. 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 as his head hit the mat.
Independent circuit (2010)
On April 4 New Japan Pro Wrestling announced Watson, using his Consequences Creed ring name, as a participant in the first Super J Tag Tournament. 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. 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 6 Man Openweight Tag Team Tournament. 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. On July 10 Creed defeated Brian Milonas, U–Gene and Tommaso Ciampa to win East Coast Wrestling Association's 2010 Super 8 Tournament.
World Wrestling Entertainment (2010-present)
Florida Championship Wrestling (2010)
On July 22, 2010, it was announced that Watson had signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. 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. He has since been added to the company's official website under the name Xavier Woods. On November 4, Woods teamed with Wes Brisco to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship by defeating Johnny Curtis and Derrick Bateman.
NXT (2012-2013)
He competed for a time on NXT where he would promote himself as an appreciator of 1990s culture, such as thick cellphones.
Teaming with R-Truth (2013–2014)
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. 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) and using Tons of Funk's entrance music. 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 managers 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. 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 Brodus Clay in a losing effort. On the December 11 episode of Main Event, Woods and R-Truth defeated Tons of Funk. On the January 8 episode of SmackDown, Woods and Truth faced The Real Americans (Cesaro and Jack Swagger) in a losing effort. On the January 10 episode of SmackDown, Woods defeated Fandango. On the January 31 episode of SmackDown, Woods faced Fandango in a losing effort, 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. On the February 3 episode of Raw, Woods, Truth and Dolph Ziggler faced The Wyatt Family in a six-man tag team match where they lost. On the March 21 episode of Superstars, Woods and R-Truth defeated 3MB (Mahal and McIntyre). On the April 3 episode of NXT, Woods faced Brodus Clay in a losing effort. At WrestleMania XXX, Woods competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but failed to win the match. On the April 14 episode of Raw, Woods faced Rusev in a losing effort. On the April 28 episode of Raw, Woods faced Rusev again which ended by disqualification when R-Truth interfered. At Extreme Rules, Woods and R Truth faced Alexander Rusev in a 2-on-1 handicap match but lost the match. On the May 5 episode of Raw, Woods competed in a 20-man WWE United States Championship Battle Royal which was won by Sheamus. On the May 30 episode of Smackdown, Woods faced Bo Dallas in a losing effort. On the June 9 episode of Raw, Woods faced Bo Dallas in another losing effort. On the June 16 episode of Raw, Woods competed in a WWE World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match Qualifying Battle Royal but was eliminated by Rusev. On the June 24 episode of Main Event, Woods and R-Truth faced Curtis Axel and Ryback in a losing effort. At Battleground, Woods competed in a 19-man battle royal for the vacant Intercontinental Championship but was eliminated by The Great Khali.
The New Day (2014–present)
On the July 21, 2014 episode of Raw, after Big E and Kofi Kingston suffered another loss as a team, Xavier Woods confronted them, declaring that they could not "get ahead by kissing babies and shaking hands". Instead, it would be "their time" to "take". The duo accepted Woods' offer, 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. 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. However, Woods' group quickly and quietly disbanded, as on the August 8 episode of SmackDown and on the August 12 episode of Main Event, both Big E and then Kingston reverted to wrestling singles matches with no sign or mention of the other two members of the group. Despite being disbanded on WWE television, Big E, Kingston and Woods continued their alliance at live events. On the September 26 episode of Smackdown, Woods competed in an WWE Intercontinental Championship #1 Contender Battle Royal which was won by Cesaro
From the November 3, 2014 episode of Raw, WWE began airing vignettes for Woods, along with Big E and Kingston, with the stable now being billed as "The New Day". 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. On the December 5 episode of Smackdown, Woods and Kingston defeated Cesaro and Tyson Kidd. On the January 12, 2015 episode of Raw, Woods and Kingston defeated Cesaro & Tyson Kidd. On the January 13 episode of Main Event, New Day defeated Cesaro, Tyson Kidd & Adam Rose in a six-man tag team match,
After accompanying his New Day mates Kingston and Langston in the pre-show of the 2015 Royal Rumble (they lost against Masters of the WWE Universe) Xavier tweeted support during the Rumble for Curtis Axel, saying he was never eliminated. On the February 16 episode of Raw, Woods and Kofi Kingston defeated Gold and Stardust. On the February 19 episode of Smackdown, Woods and Big E faced The Ascension in a losing effort. On the March 9 episode of Raw, Woods and Big E defeated the WWE Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Tyson Kidd in a non-title match with Woods pinning Kidd. Woods made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania 31 in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal where he was eliminated by Big Show. On the April 18 episode of Main Event, Woods faced Jimmy Uso in a losing effort.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- As Xavier Woods
- Limit Break (Ropewalk diving elbow drop)
- Culture Shock (Diving DDT) – 2010–2011
- Lost in the Woods (Inverted stomp facebreaker) – 2013–present
- Tornado DDT – 2011–2013
- Shining Wizard
- As Austin Creed
- ACT – Austin Creed Test (Diving DDT) – 2010
- Fireman's carry cutter – 2010
- MontiFisto (Three left-handed punches followed by splits and finished with a right-handed hook)
- As Consequences Creed
- CreeDDT (Hammerlock legsweep DDT) – 2007–2008
- Fireman's carry cutter – 2008–2009
- As Xavier Woods
- Signature moves
- Arm drag
- Military press double knee gutbuster
- Right-handed hook
- Honor Roll (Rolling thunder clothesline, with theatrics)
- Springboard one-handed bulldog
- Swinging cradle suplex
- Hadouken
- With Jay Lethal
- Finishing moves
- Fireman's carry cutter by Creed followed by a diving elbow drop by Lethal
- Signature moves
- Lethal military presses the opponent in order for Creed to perform a springboard one-handed bulldog
- Vertical suplex (Lethal) / Diving crossbody (Creed) combination
- Finishing moves
- Nicknames
- "Awesome"
- "Awesome Consequences"
- "Consequences"
- "The Valedictorian"
- Managers
- Wrestlers managed
- Entrance themes
- "Consequences" by Dale Oliver (TNA)
- "Living in America" by James Brown (TNA / Independent circuit)
- "Somebody Call My Momma" by Jim Johnston (WWE; November 25, 2013; January 8, 2014 - June 2014)
- "Little Jimmy" performed by Ron Killings and composed by Jim Johnston (WWE; used while teaming with R-Truth) (November 18, 2013 – June, 2014)
- "Who's the Man?" by CFO$ (June 2014 – ?)
- "New Day, New Way" by Jim Johnston (WWE; used while a part of The New Day)
Championships and accomplishments
- Florida Championship Wrestling
- FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Wes Brisco
- NWA Anarchy
- NWA Anarchy Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Hayden Young
- Most Popular Wrestler (2006)
- NXT
- NXT Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Kofi Kingston
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #93 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2009
- World Wrestling Entertainment
- WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) - As a member of The New Day w/ Big E & Kofi Kingston
- WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship (5 times) with Big E & Kofi Kingston (4) and Kofi Kingston (1)
- WWE Raw Tag Team Championship (2 times) with Kofi Kingston
- King of the Ring (2021)
