Austin Watson (born September 4, 1986) is an American professional wrestler and YouTuber. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Austin Creed and is one-half of The New Level with Kofi. They are two-thirds of the AEW World Trios Champions with Swerve Strickland in their first reign. Watson is best known for his 16-year tenure in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Xavier Woods.
Watson previously worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as Consequences Creed, and was a one-time TNA World Tag Team Champion with Jay Lethal as Lethal Consequences. After signing with WWE in 2010, he was assigned to its developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) and adopted the ring name Xavier Woods. FCW was later closed and rebranded as NXT, where Woods worked until he was called up to the main roster in 2013. In 2014, Woods formed The New Day alongside Big E and Kofi Kingston, and has since become a record seven-time SmackDown Tag Team Champion, five-time World Tag Team Champion, and one-time NXT Tag Team Champion, making him an overall 13-time tag team champion in WWE. New Day's second reign with the Raw Tag Team Championship was the longest tag team title reign of any male tag team championship in WWE history until that record was broken in February 2021. In October 2021, Woods became the 22nd winner of the King of the Ring tournament and briefly went by the name of King Woods. With his NXT Tag Team Championship win in 2022, Woods also became a Tag Team Triple Crown Champion.
Since 2015, Watson, as Austin Creed, has hosted a gaming YouTube channel titled UpUpDownDown, where he invites fellow WWE performers, gaming personalities, friends, and guests to play games. He was also a host on the G4 television network, which covers video games, following its revival in 2020 until its end in 2022.
Early life Watson was born in Columbus, Georgia. He graduated from Pebblebrook High School. Later that year, he began studying psychology and philosophy at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. He graduated in 2008 with a master's degree in psychology and a bachelor's degree in philosophy.
Professional wrestling career Early years (2005–2007) While attending Furman University, Watson began training for a career in professional wrestling and, in 2005, began wrestling part-time with Rob Adonis' Ultimate Christian Wrestling promotion. While in the Greenville, South Carolina-based World Wrestling Council, he developed his Austin Creed gimmick, which is 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.
In 2007, Watson took a day off from college to show up unannounced at the main building of Deep South Wrestling (DSW), then a developmental territory of WWE, and apply for a job as a wrestler; coincidentally, his future New Day partner Kofi Kingston (then using the ringname "Kofi Nahaje Kingston") was working in the ring the exact moment he arrived, marking the first meeting between the two. DSW agreed to give Creed a tryout, although WWE would officially cut ties with DSW shortly before he received a contract. On July 12, 2007, Creed defeated Murder-One in a tournament finals to win the vacant DSW Heavyweight Champion, becoming the first wrestler to hold the title without the company being affiliated with WWE; the company closed its doors the following October 11, making Creed the final DSW Heavyweight Champion.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007–2010) X Division (2007–2008)
In 2007, Watson began to train with TNA wrestler AJ Styles. Months later, Styles' wife asked her husband to give Watson a chance. This led to Watson's first match with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling at Bound For Glory pay-per-view, where Waston (under the name Rasheed Lucius "Consequences" Creed) teamed Ron Killings as the replacement for Adam "Pacman" Jones, wrestling AJ Styles and Tomko. On October 21, 2007, it was reported that Creed had signed a contract with TNA. In 2008, Watson was repackaed as Consequences Creed, making his return on the April 10 episode of Impact!, defeating Jimmy Rave in an Xscape match at Lockdown. During the match, Creed eliminated Shark Boy, but was later eliminated by Curry Man. Creed later wrestled in the first ever TerrorDome match at Sacrifice, which was won by Kaz.
Creed wrestled for the TNA X Division Chamionship three times: twice against Petey Williams at Hard Justice and No Surrender and one at Bound for Glory IV against Sheik Abdul Bashir, but he didn't win the title.
Lethal Consequences (2008–2010)
On the October 30, 2008, episode of Impact!, Creed joined the Frontline stable, feuding with the Main Event Mafia stable. He began to work with Jay Lethal and won the TNA World Tag Team Championship from the champions Beer Money, Inc. (Robert Roode and James Storm) on January 8, 2009 (taped December 16, 2008), but lost it 20 days later at Genesis. At Against All Odds, Creed and Lethal got their rematch but failed to regain the titles.
For the next few months, Creed and Lethal teamed with the Motor City Machine Guns to try and unmask Suicide. At Against All Odds, Lethal Consequences lost to Beer Money, Inc., At Destination X, Creed competed in an Ultimate X match for the TNA X Division Championship which was won by Suicide. At Lockdown, Creed competed in a Xscape match for the X Division Championship which was won by Suicide. At Sacrifice, Lethal Consequences and Eric Young defeated The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) and Sheik Abdul Bashir. At Slammiversary, Creed competed in a King of the Mountain match for the X Division Championship which was won by Suicide. At Hard Justice, Creed competed in a Steel Asylum match which was won by Daniels. At Bound for Glory, Lethal Consequences (Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal) lost to the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) on the preshow. at Final Resolution, Creed competed in a Feast or Fired match but failed to win the match. Watson was released from TNA on March 29, 2010.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2010) On April 4, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) announced Watson, under 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 Openweight 6 Man Tag 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/WWE (2010–2026) Developmental territories (2010–2013) On July 22, 2010, it was announced that Watson had signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In a 2016 interview, Watson revealed that he got hired by showing up unannounced to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), a developmental territory of WWE, to apply for a job as wrestler; his future New Day partner Kofi Kingston, who had coincidentally met him on the day Watson had similarly showed up in DSW in 2007, happened to be in the room yet again when Watson entered. WWE had originally wanted to sign Watson full-time, but as he had six months left before finishing college, he turned down the offer; instead, they agreed to let him work part-time until he graduated from college, and gave him a full-time contract afterwards.
Watson, using his real name, made his debut for FCW on July 29, 2010, in a tag team match, where he and Percy Watson were defeated by Brodus Clay and Donny Marlow. Following his debut, he was then added to FCW's official website under the name Xavier Woods. In October, Woods began to team up with Wes Brisco and they took part in a tag team turmoil match on October 14, where they defeated three other teams. On November 4, Woods and Brisco defeated Johnny Curtis and Derrick Bateman to become the Florida Tag Team Champions. On December 1, Woods and Brisco vacated the Tag Team Championship after Brisco was sidelined with an injury. With Brisco sidelined with an injury, Woods teamed up with Marcus Owens to take on Damien Sandow and Titus O'Neil for the vacant Florida Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful. Following this, Woods began performing as a singles competitor throughout 2011 and 2012, though without much success.
After WWE rebranded its developmental territory, FCW, into NXT, Woods made his televised debut on the October 31, 2012, episode of NXT with a loss to Leo Kruger. While picking up wins on NXT over the likes of El Local and Jake Carter, Woods began using the gimmick of a fanboy of 1990s popular culture that saw him implement his legitimate fandom of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Dragon Ball Z, and other 1990s pop culture into his matches and attire. He stopped using this gimmick once he was called up to WWE's main roster.
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). The following week on Raw, Woods defeated Heath Slater in his singles debut match while being accompanied by R-Truth and The Funkadactyls (Naomi and Cameron). 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 valets. Later that night, Woods suffered his first loss when he and R-Truth lost to Tons of Funk (Clay and Tensai). On the December 2 episode of Raw, Woods and Truth defeated Tons of Funk in a rematch. On the December 9 episode of Raw, Woods lost to Clay. On the December 11 episode of Main Event, Woods and Truth defeated Tons of Funk to end the feud.
On April 6, 2014, Woods made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania XXX, where he competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but failed to win the match. Woods and Truth then began a feud with the debuting Alexander Rusev, and were defeated by him in singles encounters. At Extreme Rules, Woods and Truth was defeated by Rusev in a handicap match. After that loss, Woods and Truth's team quietly disbanded.
The New Day (2014–2026)
In July 2014, Woods joined Big E and Kofi Kingston, making their debut as the New Day stable on the November 28 episode of SmackDown.