Nowadays, Trick Williams is a champion on WWE’s principal roster, but he almost had a really different profession path. Williams opened up about his journey from football to pro wrestling during an appearance on “Battleground Podcast.”
“I’d say the toughest part, for me, was accepting the undeniable fact that I used to be now not a football player,” Williams said. “Once I tried out [for WWE] for the primary time, this was at the top of 2018. I’m fresh out of [training] camp with the [Philadelphia] Eagles. … I’d been playing football for 20 years as much as that time, and my identity was form of wrapped up in being a football player.”
Williams was excited to have a possibility with WWE, but that first tryout didn’t lead to him joining the corporate. After that, he experienced a period of doubt, feeling unsure if he should proceed to pursue football or pro wrestling. That call was made even harder because he had no contacts inside the wrestling industry, and had no idea the way to handle things like getting his gear or constructing a persona.
“There was a moment in time where I had to actually sit all the way down to think, ‘This 10,000 followers I actually have on social media, or regardless of the case is – everybody knows me as Matrick Belton, the football player,'” Williams continued. “Am I okay with eliminating all of that? What everybody knows me as?”
At that crossroads, Williams made the tough alternative to go away football behind him and put all his effort into learning the wrestling business. It paid off. Belton began training and eventually signed a developmental contract with WWE in 2021. He has since change into a two-time WWE NXT Champion, an NXT North American Champion, and Williams captured the US Championship at WWE WrestleMania 42.
For those who use any of the quotes in this text, please credit “Battleground Podcast” and supply a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.