There are a lot of hot takes made in professional wrestling and sports entertainment. More often than not, those “takes” are nothing more than an attempt to generate clicks, views, and headlines. But sometimes, there’s some truth behind the words that come out. One such situation is upon us, as WWE Hall of Famer Booker T had some comments about Trick Williams. Regardless of how fans may feel about Booker, he was right with what he said about Trick.
“Trick Willams is the future of this company,” Booker T said while speaking to Esports Insider. “He’s my guy. I see myself in Trick. He’s not the greatest wrestler in the world, but you don’t have to be the greatest wrestler in the world to be the biggest star; you just have to be a really good performer. I think that’s what Trick has picked up on more than anything, on how to go out there and be a really great performer and make fans watch you for so many different reasons than they watch other wrestlers.”
To some, that may be a controversial statement, but it is dead on the truth. Think about some of the biggest stars to ever stand out in professional wrestling. It is rare that they are also the best wrestler of their generation. Individuals will remember performers like Hulk Hogan and John Cena, while overlooking others who outperformed them during that time, like Bret Hart and Bryan Danielson. The list of the biggest stars in wrestling will not include the best bell-to-bell wrestlers, and the inverse of that is also true.
Trick Williams is not the best performer in the ring today. Carmelo Hayes, Ilja Dragunov, Nathan Frazer, and Axiom are just a short list of performers who are miles ahead of him when the match is going. But Williams has the potential to eclipse them all when it comes to what WWE presents as a superstar. He can work the microphone; fans are already behind him, even as he plays the heel, and he looks the part.
The only thing standing against him, and some will think otherwise, is how Triple H will book him when he reaches the WWE main roster. It has only been a few years with Triple H as the leader of the promotion’s creative arm. But he has not done well by the Black men on the roster. Fans continue to point out how PLEs come and go without matches that feature Black male talent, or how a Black male singles performer hasn’t won on a PLE in years. Those are drastic issues that cannot be ignored, even as Triple H and some of its loudest champions try to do just that.
Trick Williams has all the makings of being one of the biggest stars of this generation. Will he reach that height? Only time will tell, but Booker T is right about what he sees in the young superstar.