Last weekend at WrestleMania 32, uber-popular tagteam New Day made an eye-catching entrance by emerging from a giant box of their "Booty-O's" cereal, dressed as Dragon Ball Z characters.

(L-R) Xavier Woods, Big E and Kofi Kingston make their entrance at WrestleMania 32.

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“ mixing my love for cosplay into my love of wrestling...it’s cool that people appreciate it.

Xavier Woods at WrestleMania 32.

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The WWE trio is known for their pop-culture references and tributes to movies, anime, video games and more. We spoke with New Day member Xavier Woods about the DBZ entrance, as well as his love for anime.It’s pretty amazing because when you’re a kid and you want to be a pro wrestler, you think about WrestleMania. It’s like the pinnacle of everything. So you think, that’s the stage I want to be on, I want to have matches there. I want to have fans cheering for me or booing for me or whatever. But it’s not something you can really prepare for mentally because it’s such a large thing. It’s a spectacle. It’s a rock show. There’s lights. There’s fireworks. There’s action. And you’re wrestling in front of 100,000 people. So it’s essentially the gauge telling me that I haven’t wasted 29 years of my life on something that I wasn’t good at. [laughs]That was my idea. I don’t have have a problem taking credit for that one! But Kofi does like Dragon Ball Z. [Big] E wasn’t really an anime guy...he’s more of a old-school hip-hop head. But we showed him a picture of the stuff that what we wanted to wear, and he was all in. And it’s nice because there are people that caught the attention to detail. So like, their suits didn’t have tails and mine did. So you could tell that if there was a full moon, then we wouldn’t have had a problem winning the match. Or if I turned into a great ape it would have been all good. Essentially, mixing my love for cosplay into my love of wrestling and have it not be outlandish...it’s cool that people appreciate it.The ones who knew what it was, they were pretty into it.The other people that didn’t were still pretty into it because it just looks different and kind of cool, you know?Oh, definitely! Definitely!Oh, we didn’t see him until right before we went out. It’s funny, because we’ll always have some kind of harebrained idea, and then he sees it right before we go through the curtain, and just kind of gives a little grin and thumbs up.It’s to a point now where we kind of have a little bit more trust than we did when we started. And they know we’re not going to go out there and do something that’s going to mess up a sponsorship or anything like that. Things we do are going to do are going to be in-bounds for our PG parameters. Still be fine for kids, but then have something that’s a little bit for adults. We liken it to Shrek: we’re in PG parameters but there’s jokes in there for adults if you’re paying attention. But they’ve kind of given us leeway in the sense that we have gone out there and are just having a good time and getting people--luckily--into what we’re doing, because you know it’s always hit or miss with the entertainment industry. But we’ve been lucky enough to kind of hit a pretty good stride right now, and so the company’s been pretty good to us for that.Two months, I think? I do a bunch of cosplay stuff with a guy by the name of Michael Mosley. He’s fantastic. We always go to an event called DragonCon together every September. And so, I was talking with him about it, and he’s got a business called Heroes for Hire where he makes costumes for people who do kid’s parties and stuff, and he was stacked with stuff so he couldn’t make it. So I went to my buddy Adam Roberts at Main Event Gear. He makes wrestling gear for me, Kofi and E. And I showed him the pictures [of DBZ characters] and was like “hey, you think you can make this?” And he goes “I can definitely try!” And that was the finished product. And I think he knocked it out of the park. It was awesome.I’m really into this anime called Food Wars. I don’t remember the name of the one that rocks the apron... Isshiki? I think it’s Isshiki. So, if I could somehow rock a PG Isshiki, then I’d be real happy!Oooh. That is difficult...because there’s some good ones. I immediately go to….Inuyasha. I think it’s like the third ending theme. But it’s not intense at all. It’s like this sad and romantic love songs, but it’s one of my favorite anime songs. That, or this song from Cowboy Bebop called “Call Me.” Again, not an intense song, but for some reason--oh! Kuroko’s Basketball! I think one of the second or third themes--those are pretty hype. I don’t know. There are so many good anime songs.Lord, yes! I listen to this mix of smooth jazz, independent hip-hop, chiptunes and anime music.OK, so it half counts as anime but then half video game: the soundtrack for Danganronpa 2. It’s like a lawyer game, but it’s all super anime. That, and then things from DJMAX Technika Tune. One of my favorite rhythm games. [That’s] also in my arsenal. And that’s lots of anime stuff, too.They’re usually down with it because I always ride with Big E and Kofi. Once in awhile we’ll add in Tyler Breeze, because that’s our other buddy. But uh, everybody’s down for listening to anything because they’re into video games and so they’re fine with a little high-pitched Japanese girl singing some sweet music. Hopefully. We have a good rotation so it sort of works out.Pretty much.Hmm. OK. Well, how long do you have? [laughs]

Continue to Page 2 as Xavier Woods talks about more of his favorite anime.