WWE United States Champion Trick Williams has reflected on his debut WWE television appearance as Apollo Crews’ bodyguard.
Since making his WWE main roster debut, Trick Williams has been touted as one of the fastest rising stars in the company, with him already capturing his first championship at WrestleMania 42, defeating Sami Zayn for the United States Championship.
Trick officially signed with WWE in 2021, making his debut on the debut episode of NXT 2.0 that September, but his first WWE television appearance came just two weeks after he signed with the company.
Trick Williams Was Apollo Crews’ Bodyguard On SmackDown
Trick was featured on an episode of SmackDown in March 2021, where he and Denzel Dejournette played bodyguards for Apollo Crews during his time playing his character of Nigerian royalty.
Speaking on What’s Your Story with Stephanie McMahon, Trick opened up on his debut appearance coming just two weeks after he signed.
He said:
“My class is pretty special. We the 2.0. group. Bron Breakker, The Creed Brothers, Tony D’Angelo, Carmelo Hayes, Grayson Waller. All us, we all came in together. This is still during COVID, that funny time right there. And I remember them just throwing us into the deep end. I was there for two weeks, I get a dot on my TR app that said, ‘You’re going to SmackDown.’ I was like, ‘Oh shoot.’ They said, ‘Yeah, you’re going to SmackDown but don’t get a big head, you didn’t deserve it yet.’ Ok, let’s just see what’s going to happen.
“This is when Apollo Crews is doing his Nigerian gimmick and I’m one of his Nigerian bodyguards. I didn’t know where the hard camera was, I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I just see a bunch of monitors and everything looking at me. It was a crazy time.
“All the producers, everyone in the back said they loved the segment and everything like that. The next week I get COVID, so they said let’s leave those NXT boys down there, we can’t chance that.
“So that’s how that whole thing started and ended for me. I wasn’t tripping. I wasn’t ready. It was definitely beneficial for my career. My first time going through Gorilla, I wasn’t even on NXT TV.”
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Trick Williams’ Potential In WWE
Trick Williams, Je’von Evans and Oba Femi all made their way up to the WWE main roster at the beginning of 2026, with all three being connected together through their time in NXT and now onto the main roster.
Trick already finds himself among the most popular wrestlers on the SmackDown brand, with him potentially set to undergo an official face turn during his current rivalry with Sami Zayn.
With Trick already being heavily featured on the shows and marketing so soon into his main roster run, the sky is the limit for his eventual potential on the main roster.
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