A WWE NXT Superstar got some love and acknowledgment from the crowd and The Rock during tonight’s SmackDown, and that Superstar is none other than Trick Williams. After The Rock came to the ring and started to set up for a song-style promo, the crowd started chanting “whoop that Trick”. The chants were hard to hear at first but they soon picked up steam, and that’s when The Rock stopped what he was doing for a second to listen. As they gained momentum, Rock smiled and let them play out, and WWE would even highlight the moment on social media, calling it The Trick Williams Effect. You can see the moment play out in the post below.
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It was a cool moment for fans of the NXT Superstar, but it was also one Williams very much appreciated, as he responded to the moment on Twitter. In a Tweet Williams wrote, “S/o to Memphis . Iykyk And @ALKaponeMemphis”.
Williams has hit a new gear in 2024 and is one of the most over superstars on the NXT roster. His last appearance on SmackDown was warmly received as well, and brought even more of those chants. During an interview with ComicBook, Williams revealed his initial reaction to the chants when they first became a thing, and he admits to not knowing if they were good or bad at the time.
“The funny thing is people started chanting whoop that trick, this is during the 2.0 time, and I remember the first time I heard it and Melo kind of looked at me and he was like, ‘they for us or they against us?’ I’m like, ‘I think they for us, dog’. We just kind of roll with it,” Williams said. “Slowly but surely the chants just kept being louder and louder and louder and louder over time. Whenever I had a moment, whoop that trick, whoop that trick.”
“And then once the theme changed and once I came out to face Dragunov and the theme changed, it was so crazy because the whole crowd was in unison, almost like, man, we don’t have any plants. They was right there,” Williams said. “It’s like everybody knew, oh, this is the moment we’re going to bring it in the right way. And the new theme played and they was right there, whoop that trick. Oh, this is tough right here. This is tough.”
Williams was recently betrayed by Carmelo Hayes, and he made his return and ran Hayes out of the ring. The two will face each other at Stand & Deliver to put this feud to rest, and that will likely be the first step in Hayes moving to SmackDown full-time. As it stands, Williams might not be far behind him, as the SmackDown crowd already loves him.
What did you think of The Rock’s promo and that Trick Williams moment? Let us know in the comments, and you can also talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
