Trick Williams: From Football Dream to WWE Empire
Not every road to greatness runs through the door you originally tried to open. For Trick Williams — born Matrick Belton — the path to WWE superstardom was paved with undrafted disappointment, a tryout that went nowhere, and a crossroads moment that forced him to ask a harder question than most athletes ever face: what do you do when the dream you chased the longest finally tells you no?
His answer has made him one of the most electrifying performers in professional wrestling today. But to understand where Trick Williams is going, you have to understand where Matrick Belton has been.
The Football Foundation: Hampton, South Carolina, and an Eagles Tryout
Williams began his college football career at Hampton University, an HBCU with a proud athletic tradition, before transferring to the University of South Carolina. He walked on with the Gamecocks, earned a spot at wide receiver, and posted 11 receptions for 121 yards in 2015 before contributing primarily on special teams as a senior in 2016. It was not a star’s résumé, but a competitor’s.
After going undrafted, Williams refused to let the dream die quietly. He kept the football flame burning through coaching and a stint in The Spring League, before landing a tryout at the Philadelphia Eagles’ rookie minicamp. He gave it everything he had. A contract never came. The NFL window closed.
“Even though wrestling outcomes are predetermined, the physical punishment is real — similar to knowing a play is coming across the middle and still taking the hit.” — Trick Williams on ESPN’s First Take
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The Pivot: Choosing the Ring Over the Gridiron
About seven years before his main-roster WWE run, Williams hit the kind of crossroads that defines careers. He could keep chasing professional football opportunities that grew narrower with each passing season, or he could fully commit to a different stage entirely. He chose to commit.
What drove him there was a deep dive into WWE’s Attitude Era — specifically the crowd command of Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. Williams recognized something in those performances that football had never offered him: total authorship. The ability to hold an arena in your hand, to work the microphone, to build a character the crowd could not look away from. He wanted that, and he was willing to rebuild himself from scratch to get it.
Football Mentality, Wrestling Stage
Williams has been clear that his football background is not a footnote to his wrestling identity — it is the engine underneath it. On ESPN’s First Take, he pushed back hard against any suggestion that what he does is less than what athletes in traditional sports endure. He compared WWE to drawing up a play and executing it under the brightest lights imaginable: you know the spot, but you still have to stand in and deliver. That is football thinking applied to a wrestling ring, and it has served him exceptionally well.
NXT Dominance and a Historic Championship Crossover
Williams signed with WWE in early 2021 and reported to NXT, where his size, athleticism, and charisma made him impossible to overlook. He captured the NXT North American Championship, held the NXT Championship twice, and eventually earned his call-up to SmackDown on the main roster.
Then came the moment that certified his status as something special. In 2025, Williams made history by becoming the first WWE-contracted wrestler to win the TNA World Championship, defeating Joe Hendry at NXT Battleground and immediately dubbing the title the “TrickNA Championship.” His signature “Whoop that Trick!” crowd call has become one of WWE’s most organic and beloved audience rituals — proof that the connection he saw in the Attitude Era and decided to chase is now fully, undeniably his.
Matrick Belton never made an NFL roster. But Trick Williams is exactly where he is supposed to be.
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