Folks, I have news: Trick Williams may be good now. In fairness, I’d only argue the “now” part of that sentence but all jokes aside, Williams is still brand new to the ring. Last time I saw Trick, I adored his personality but that was pretty much his role, seldom working a match of substance. He appears to have gotten more active in recent months though and last week on NXT, he even entered the world of Dave.
Indeed, this tag match, featuring Williams himself, received a star rating: coming in at 3.75* in the famed Wrestling Observer. Such a development has gone completely unmentioned in my circles and so I will now attempt to confirm this news, a breaking story in truth. Here, Williams is alongside Carmelo Hayes as usual, battling the tandem of Apollo Crews and Axiom. Lots going on there, so let’s see what Dave has found for us.
Trick and Axiom get us underway, with the latter earning an advantage until Williams’ power changes the game. Naturally, there is an awkwardness to Williams’ movement, transitioning with a noticeable hesitation. That’s absolutely to be expected, especially when wrestling a pacey veteran, but Williams has an awful lot of strengths also. Every single thing that Trick does comes with a spark of personality, it’s a fun watch even when he’s not really doing much.
Either way, Hayes soon arrives, walking into a flashy flurry from Axiom. Crews’ entry comes next and yeah, there’s something a little different about what he brings. Say what you will about Apollo and what he lacks but that level of execution is simply major league, particularly when coming from a wrestler with such an impressive build. That’s how it should be considering Crews’ experience of course, but it’s noticeable nonetheless.
Admittedly though, Crews and Hayes are somewhat inconsistent with their timing, going from appearing completely in-sync to somewhat unsure on occasion. Axiom and Crews make for a nice team though, combining neatly as Hayes bumps wildly for both men. In picture-in-picture, Hayes then yanked Axiom onto the middle rope, taking control and getting a heat segment underway. That allows Trick to do some standard big man stuff, with the heels understandably restraining themselves as Pizza Hut ads dominate the screen.
There is one bizarre moment however, with Axiom sliding out of a Hayes body slam but not landing on his feet, instead taking a big back bump in centre ring. Miscommunication I suppose, as it feeds into a Crews hot tag anyway, with Hayes simply having to stand there for a moment beforehand. These things happen, it’s no big deal but as an established nerd, this did make me thankful for the famed picture-in-picture gimmick.
The 15% of the screen showing graps suggests that things have gotten slightly weird, which makes me appreciate Crews simply grabbing a front headlock and sitting in it. Respect. He and Hayes wrestle for position some, mostly killing time before Axiom follows suit with his own front headlock. Eventually, we are finally back from the break and go right into a double down, with Axiom and Hayes wiping each other out via clothesline.
They aren’t going to a tag though, with Hayes instead stopping Axiom, resulting in the entry of both illegal men. This allows for another nice babyface sequence until Axiom’s boot is swung into Crews’ face, transitioning us to an actual heat segment, maybe. Structurally, this is an unusual affair. Nonetheless, Hayes snatches a headlock in centre ring and in an instant, any semblance of control is gone again, with Crews entering for a solid hot tag.
In the meantime, Axiom and Williams take themselves out of the game, allowing Crews to secure a quick pin on Hayes. Well, I don’t think this was necessarily bad, but I’d concede that it was probably closer to that term than it was anything particularly good. I don’t know, it was fine I suppose, just felt rather confused, also lacking a consistent quality of work. The latter is to be expected as all involved are at different levels, but the lack of structure surprised me.
To be clear, that’s wrestling and ultimately, Hayes and Williams’ appeal isn’t reliant on tag team psychology anyway. They have a striking charisma and chemistry, which is the headline, this stuff is just for losers like myself. I will say that Axiom and Apollo are a potentially exciting team, one that could stick if the stars align. Nothing much here sadly though, but that’s graps, they’ll go again before long I’m sure, especially with that Dave seal of approval.
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