Ettore Ewen (born March 1, 1986), known professionally under the ring name Big E, is an American broadcaster, retired professional wrestler and former powerlifter. He is signed to WWE, where he primarily appears as a panelist and analysist as well as a media spokesperson for the company. He is best known for performing in the company as an in-ring competitor from 2009 to 2022, as well as being a member of the New Day stable alongside Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, with whom he became a six-time Smackdown Tag Team Champion and two-time Raw Tag Team Champion. After suffering a cervical fracture during a match in March 2022, Ewen moved away from in-ring competition and ultimately announced his retirement in 2025.
Ewen was a collegiate football player at the University of Iowa and later became a powerlifter and a USA Powerlifting champion. He also won a state championship in high-school wrestling. Upon signing with WWE in 2009, Ewen was assigned to its developmental brand Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) under the ring name Big E Langston. After FCW was rebranded to NXT, he became the second-ever NXT Champion. He was promoted to WWE's main roster in December 2012, had his name shortened to simply Big E, and joined the New Day in 2014. As a part of The New Day, he holds the tandem record for the longest Raw Tag Team Championship reign at 483 days.
In 2020, Ewen resumed his singles career and was eventually separated from his New Day teammates in the 2020 WWE Draft. He won the men's Money in the Bank ladder match in 2021, before successfully cashing it in later that year to win the WWE Championship, becoming the 33rd Triple Crown Champion in the company's history. Additionally, he is a two-time Intercontinental Champion.
Early life Ettore Ewen was born in Tampa, Florida, on March 1, 1986, the son of Margaret and Ettore Ewen. He is of Jamaican and Montserratian descent. Ewen attended middle school starting in 7th grade and High School at Tampa Preparatory School in Tampa, where he won a number of athletic honors, including a state championship in wrestling. After his junior year of high school he transferred to Wharton High School in order to play football and was named Hillsborough County's "Ironman of the Year". Upon graduating, Ewen attended the University of Iowa, where he played American football as a defensive lineman for the Iowa Hawkeyes. He redshirted in 2004 and missed the 2005 season due to an injury sustained in preseason camp, playing a single season as a sophomore in 2006. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After college, Ewen turned his attention to the sport of powerlifting.
Powerlifting career
Ewen competed in his first USA Powerlifting (USAPL) meet on July 11 at the 2010 United States Open Championships at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida. He became the top heavyweight lifter, breaking all four Florida state raw powerlifting records in the 275-pound class and besting raw national records in the deadlift and total. His lifts included a 611-pound squat, a 490-pound bench press, and a 749-pound deadlift for a 1,850 pound raw total. Ewen also won the 2011 USAPL Raw Nationals in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This time, he competed in the super heavyweight division (275+lbs) and broke the raw American and national records in the deadlift (799 lbs) and total (2,039 lbs). All of his national and American raw records have since been broken.
Personal records Set in official competition Squat – 711 lbs (322.5 kg)USAPL Raw Nationals (results) (click "Mens Results" tab on bottom, defaults to Women's) raw without knee wraps Bench press – 529 lbs (240 kg) raw Deadlift – 799 lbs (362.5 kg) raw Powerlifting total – 2,039 lbs 925 kg (322.5-240-362.5) raw without knee wraps
Professional wrestling career
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE (2009–present) Florida Championship Wrestling and NXT (2009–2012) After injuries ended Ewen's dreams of being a professional footballer, he was introduced to professional wrestling by someone who knew Jim Ross. At the suggestion of said person, Ewen was given a tryout in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), a developmental territory of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He signed a developmental contract with WWE in 2009. According to Ewen, although he had been a wrestling fan as a child, he had "never thought this [was] something you could do for a living, and I would never have. ... Thankfully I was in the right place and the right time, and it's something that I have developed a passion for."
Ewen worked for FCW from 2009 to 2012 under the ring name Big E Langston, where he won FCW Florida Tag Team Championship with Calvin Raines. When WWE rebranded FCW into NXT, Langston appeared on NXT. During his first month in NXT, he had a winning streak and also demanded that referees count to five (rather than the usual three) before awarding him pinfalls. He also had a storyline with Vickie Guerrero, who promised a $5,000 bounty on Langston after he rejected her serviced as manager. Langston then began to feud with The Shield, and on the January 9, 2013 episode of NXT, Langston defeated The Shield member Seth Rollins in a No Disqualification match to win the NXT Championship. After successful title defenses against Conor O'Brian, Corey Graves, Brad Maddox, and Damien Sandow, Langston eventually lost the NXT Championship to Bo Dallas on the June 12 episode of NXT, ending his title reign at 168 days, although WWE recognizes his reign at 153 days due to the episode airing on tape delay.
Main roster, Intercontinental champion (2012-2014)
On the December 17, 2012 episode of Raw, Langston made his main roster debut by attacking John Cena and aligning with AJ Lee, thus establishing himself as a heel. Langston went on to act as an enforcer for AJ's boyfriend, Dolph Ziggler. On April 7, 2013, at WrestleMania 29, Langston and Ziggler unsuccessfully challenged Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane) for the WWE Tag Team Championship. Langston wrestled his first singles match on Raw the following night, defeating Daniel Bryan. After Ziggler suffered a concussion in May, Langston competed in a best-of-five series against Ziggler's opponent for the World Heavyweight Championship, Alberto Del Rio, which Del Rio won 3–2. On the June 10 episode of Raw, Langston was revealed as the secret admirer of Divas Champion Kaitlyn; this in turn was revealed to be a ploy by AJ Lee, the number one contender to Kaitlyn's title, to humiliate Kaitlyn. Langston and AJ continued to mock Kaitlyn over the following weeks, with AJ ultimately winning the title at Payback on June 16.
On the July 15 episode of Raw, Ziggler ended his relationship with AJ, which led to Langston attacking him later in the evening. On the July 29 episode of Raw, Langston lost to Ziggler by disqualification after AJ interfered and attacked Ziggler. In a rematch on the following week's Raw, Langston defeated Ziggler following a distraction by AJ. On August 18 at SummerSlam, Langston and AJ were defeated by Ziggler and Kaitlyn in a mixed tag team match, effectively ending their feud.
On the October 18 episode of SmackDown, Langston faced off against CM Punk in a match, where he lost. Afterwards, Paul Heyman came down to the ring and began downplaying Punk's victory over Langston by calling Langston a "marginal at best rookie", and then sent Curtis Axel and Ryback to the ring to attack Punk. Langston, having taken offense towards Heyman's words then aided Punk in fending off Axel and Ryback, turning face in the process. Three days later, on the October 21 episode of Raw, Langston teamed up with Punk to defeat Axel and Ryback, with Langston pinning Axel. He was set to receive an Intercontinental Championship match against Axel at Hell in a Cell on October 27, but Axel was pulled from the match shortly before the pay-per-view due to a legitimate hip injury. Langston instead challenged for the United States Championship against Dean Ambrose, winning by countout. The following night on Raw, he was granted a rematch for the title, winning the match by disqualification after Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins interfered.
On the November 18 episode of Raw, Langston received his postponed championship match with Axel and won the Intercontinental Championship, his first singles championship on the main roster. At Survivor Series on November 24, Langston successfully retained his title against Axel. Langston then successfully retained his championship against Damien Sandow on December 15 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. On January 26, 2014, at the Royal Rumble, Langston participated in the Royal Rumble match, but was eliminated by Sheamus. At Elimination Chamber on February 23, with his ring name now shortened to Big E, he successfully defended the title against Jack Swagger. At WrestleMania XXX on April 6, Big E competed in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which was won by Cesaro. On May 4, at Extreme Rules, Big E lost the title to Bad News Barrett, and failed to regain it the following night on Raw, ending his reign at 167 days. Big E later became involved in a feud with Rusev, which led to consecutive bouts at Payback on June 1 and Money in the Bank on June 29, both of which Big E lost. At Battleground on July 20, Big E competed in a battle royal for the Intercontinental Championship, which was won by The Miz.
The New Day (2014–2020)
During the summer of 2014, Big E was put in a team with Kofi Kingston, and on the July 21 episode of Raw, they lost a tag team match against Ryback and Curtis Axel (known as RybAxel) in what had been a recent losing streak. Xavier Woods then came down to the ring to address them by stating that they could not "move ahead by kissing babies, shaking hands, and singing and dancing like a puppet", and that now is "their time to shine", and that they "do not ask any longer", but "take", and offered to form a stable. 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 (Slater-Gator). The trio then temporarily separated as on the August 8 episode of SmackDown, both Big E and Kingston reverted to wrestling singles matches with no sign or mention of the other two members of the group. Despite being separated on WWE television, Big E, Kingston and Woods continued their alliance at house shows.
In November, WWE began airing vignettes for Big E, Kingston and Woods, with the stable now being billed as The New Day, and presented as overly-positive-minded babyface characters. The New Day made their in-ring debut on the November 28 episode of SmackDown in a winning effort against Curtis Axel, Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil. They started a brief feud with Gold and Stardust, which Big E and Kingston defeated Gold and Stardust at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 14. On January 25, 2015, at the Royal Rumble, The New Day lost to Tyson Kidd and Cesaro, ending their winning streak. Later that night, Big E participated in the Royal Rumble match, but was eliminated by Rusev. At WrestleMania 31 on March 29, they failed to win the WWE Tag Team Championship in a fatal four-way match, as well as being eliminated by Big Show in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.