– Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso, WWE Hall of Famer and NXT executive producer Shawn Michaels discussed former NXT Champion Trick Williams and his future in wrestling. Below are some highlights:
Shawn Michaels on Trick Williams: “Trick has an incredibly bright future. He’s amazing to work with on a day-to-day basis. He’s so receptive. He’s one of the hottest things in the business as a whole, but he’s still a humble kid working and digging to get better every day. I really respect that.”
On comparisons between Williams and Hall due to their size: “It’s interesting–Scott was a big guy who never worked big. Just last week I said, ‘Trick, you’re just so deceptively big and tall. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to slam you.’ It’s like having to slam a 10-foot ladder. He’s like 245 and well over 6’3”. So the Scott analogy, it’s something we’ll talk about. That’s the first time I’ve heard that, a connection between the two. Thinking about it, that’s what was so awesome about working with Scott. He’d have no problem shooting off and taking a tackle from me. Trick’s the same way. You forget how big he is.”
On Hall not working as a big man in the ring: “Plenty of guys work the big guy gimmick that aren’t even Scott’s size, but he never did. You didn’t think about him as being so big. It’s funny, I never put Scott in the same category of big man as Kevin Nash because of the way Scott wrestled. And Kevin wrestled an innovative style, too. Scott could have wrestled like a big guy and he could have gotten away with it, but he never did. That’s what made him so special.”
His thoughts on the goal for Trick Williams: “I read on social media that he’s already main-roster ready. I don’t think that’s the goal for Trick. He doesn’t want to just go and exist on the main roster–he wants to go there and thrive as a main player. I appreciate his maturity and wisdom. He’s a joy to come work with, and I’m excited to see what he does next.”
Trick Williams lost the NXT Championship to Ethan Page during a Fatal 4-Way Match at NXT Heatwave. The following night, he teamed up with Joe Hendry, and they beat the team of Page and Shawn Spears in a tag team bout.
