Trick Williams Reveals What He Learned From Booker T & Shawn Michaels, Discusses Transitioning From Football to Wrestling

Ahead of WWE Sunday Night’s Main Event, WWE Superstar Trick Williams spoke to Paige B. with Black America Web’s The Tap Out Tea to discuss his career and more. Williams also spoke about learning from WWE Hall of Famers Shawn Michaels and Booker T, as well as his transition from college football to wrestling. Below are some highlights:

Trick Williams on Transitioning From D1 Football to Wrestling

“Yeah, the funny thing about football is, you know, on the offensive side, you know, they determine how good you are by how many tackles you can break, you know, how well you can catch the ball. Pretty much how well you are at staying on your feet. The first thing you learn becoming a WWE superstar is how to fall, how to hit the ground, how to flip, how to cartwheel, how to do all these different things. So, as a football player, you know, rolling, bumping, doing all these different things was not natural.

“It wasn’t easy. Look, the ground is lava. You know what I mean? You stay off the ground by all means necessary when you playing football, right? So, I had to learn how to fall and get up, you know, becoming a WWE superstar. Then from there, you just, you know, day by day take it little by little, you learning new uh new skills, new craft,s new moves, you know how do you want to, you know, portray yourself as a character, you know what moves fit, you know what I mean, just learning that from the ground all the way up.”

On What He Learned From Booker T

“Oh man, so much. Booker T. Let’s start with Uncle Book, who emphasizes always looking good for the camera. Like, if you going to put somebody in a headlock, make sure you lock in that headlock so your bicep is pressed up against their forehead and all the cameras can see the veins and everything in your bicep and puts the emphasis on just being cool. No, emphasis on being a star. And that’s one thing that I always thought was really good.”

On Shawn Michaels Teaching Him About Putting on the Best Match Period

“Shawn Michaels, always emphasizing, just put out the best match, period. Make sure the people are chanting, make sure the people are yelling, making noise. That’s the most important part about the business. Some people get worried and caught up in the wrong things. The only thing that matters is the people really going crazy. So, I try to stick to those things.”

On Booker T Mentoring Him

“He’s a history maker. I mean, Booker T five time, five time, five time, five time. So, you know, and the ironic thing bout it is Booker T is one of those guys alongside with the Rock, alongside with, you know, Stone Cold, who I said, if I’m going to get into the business, I wanted to feel something like how they did it. You know, it was magic. It was aura, you know, the way they approached the game. They was very authentic to themselves, and the people responded like that. So him being one of the people who, like, man, I want to be great, something like Booker T, and then people say, ‘Don’t meet your heroes, don’t meet your heroes.’ I’m so glad I met Booker T because it’s the complete opposite scenario.

At last weekend’s WWE Sunday Night’s Main Event, Trick Williams beat Baron Corbin to regain the WWE United States Title.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Tap Out Tea with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.