I have known Austin (Xavier) for about 10 years and in that time I have known very well that he is a gamer, a fanboy, and a lover of all things nerdy. He has always let his geek flag fly high. When looking at selections for cosplayers of the month for this year, Austin was a no-brainer. I am super excited for those who may not know his WWE persona to meet our FIRST male cosplayer, the awesome Austin Creed/XavierWoods.
Can you tell us, what was it that got you interested in cosplay?
I went to dragoncon and had no cosplay and had no cosplay and felt like such a chump so we vowed that we would never again be at Dragoncon without cosplay. That’s how it began.
You have done a lot of cosplay concepts. How do you come up with new cosplay ideas?
My best friend Mikal Mosley, who builds all of my cosplay stuff, and I sit and try to think of things that we haven’t seen done. Things that bring feelings of nostalgia but are sill main stream enough to get a rise out of people at the conventions. Then we talk it out for a few weeks, then figure out logistics of how detailed he will be able to make it, then we decide yes or no.
You incorporate quite a bit of cosplay fandom into your WWE gear. When it comes to the tag 
team efforts, do you come up with the ideas for The New Day yourself, or as a group?
Its a bit of both. Kofi is into anime and video games as well so sometimes its him. E is great for thinking up practical applications to the outfits so by the end of the talk all of us has contributed an equal amount to the brainstorming session.
We know you are a gamer but what is something you enjoy doing when you are not cospalying/gaming or in the ring?
Rollerblading. Since I was a little kid, rollerblading was always kind of a nice escape for me. Something about flying around on wheels listening to 90’s southern booty music jut makes me happy.
Speaking of being a gamer, first of all, congrats on the awesome stuff you are doing over at Up, Up,
Down, Down. We are curious; do you ever plan on bringing full cosplay into episodes Up, Up, Down, Down?
I would love to but with wrestling, the gaming channel, family, I’m already stretched pretty thin but cosplay elements are definitely coming. Hopefully as we add regulars to our uudd roster there will be more cosplay stuff included.
What would you say that being a cosplayer has changed about you as a person?
Nothing at all. Its helped me bring out who i actually am. Knowing that there are other people with the same likes and interest who are jut as weird as I am makes me feel a lot more comfortable and confident in my own skin.
If you could cosplay with anyone in a partner cosplay shoot, who would it be?
I don’t really have an answer for that. My idols are Jackie Chan and Lenny Kravitz but I don’t think they are heavy into anime or games like I am so i don’t know if it would be fun if they weren’t into it ya know?
What are the top three cosplays that you have done?
Mojo Jojo – that was done this year at Dragoncon and it was incredible. Prosthetics galore were used and I was completely unrecognizable.
P
owerline – It took me like 4 years to convince the group to get this one in there so its near and dear to my heart. Especially cause i love a goofy movie so much.
Joshua Benton – This was a genderbend Jem, from jem and the holograms, genderbends are cool cause it allows you to cosplay as literally whatever and whoever you want without constraints and I love that.
What is the next event we can expect to see cosplay from you?
As of right now, next year at dragoncon. That’s the main one that I get to go to and I will go to it forever.
What is your advice to those just getting into cosplay?
Don’t worry if your cosplay isn’t great. As long as you’re having fun, making friends and jut being yourself then you’re doing it right.
Where can we find you online?
@xavierwoodsphd on IG and twitter and “usedfood” on snapchat
