WWE’s Trick Williams Compares NXT Championship Battle to Shrek

WWE NXT Superstar Trick Williams will finally get his shot at the NXT Championship this Sunday at NXT Vengeance Day, and it’s an opportunity he isn’t about to waste. It won’t be easy though, as Williams will have to take down a force of nature in Ilja Dragunov to make that happen, and that’s after Williams competes alongside Carmelo Hayes in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic on the same night. ComicBook.com had the chance to speak to Williams ahead of the anticipated battle, and during a conversation that spanned basketball, Booker T, and more, Williams compared the challenge of taking down Dragunov for the Title to the animated classic known as Shrek.

When asked what defeating someone like Ilja for the NXT Championship would mean, Williams said “Oh man. I think Shrek may be the perfect example for this. For Shrek to rescue Princess Fiona, he had to slay the dragon. So as I walk into Vengeance Day, Trick Williams needs to slay the Mad Dragon to receive his prize, which would be the NXT Championship.”

Williams earned his shot at the NXT Championship in a thrilling Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge match at NXT Deadline, a match that came down to the wire. Williams was able to come back from behind in the final minutes and win the match, and that moment has been celebrated through a number of stellar online reactions. One of the best though, at least if you’re a Rockets fan, was the comparison to Tracy McGrady’s famous 13 points in 33 seconds comeback against the San Antonio Spurs, and it turns out he’s a huge McGrady fan as well.

“Before I answer your question, I got to say I knew I liked you from the jump because Tracy McGrady is my favorite basketball player of all time too,” Williams said. “So that whole moment was so befitting. But while we’re on the topic, when we talk about sports, Trick Willy’s been balling his whole life, and if you really look at the structure of that Deadline match, it’s very sports-like. It’s almost basketball-like, soccer-like, where the time is working against you. So when it came down to the fourth quarter, 3.4 points, it don’t matter, 33 seconds, as you know, it don’t matter. I got to go get it.”

Those who have watched NXT for a while know that during Wade Barrett’s stint on commentary, he attempted some of Booker T’s trademark ad-libs, and it didn’t go so well. Williams brought some of Booker’s trademarks into his recent promo as well, so I proposed having some sort of promo battle on the microphone between the two, and Williams is all for it.

“I do feel that is a special moment, man. I would love that. We’ve got to run it by Booker, see if we can have a little something, do a little something special for everybody who’s been following the journey, but that sounds great to me, man,” Williams said.. “It’s funny talking to Booker too because he really relates to everything I’m going through right now. So who is more of a fit to share that moment with than Booker T? That’s doing something special for that moment. That’d be awesome.”

You can find the current card for NXT Vengeance Day below.

• NXT Championship Match: Ilja Dragunov (C) vs. Trick Williams
• NXT Women’s Championship Match: Lyra Valkyria (C) vs. Roxanne Perez
• NXT North American Championship Match: Oba Femi (C) vs. Dragon Lee
• Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals: Baron Corbin & Bron Breakker vs. Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams
• Six-Person Tag Team Match: Tony D’Angelo, Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo, and Adrianna Rizzo vs. Bronco Nima, Lucien Price and Jaida Parker
• No Disqualification Match: Dijak vs. Joe Gacy

Are you excited for NXT Vengeance Day? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!