These days, Trick Williams is a champion on WWE’s main roster, but he almost had a very different career path. Williams opened up about his journey from football to pro wrestling during an appearance on “Battleground Podcast.”

“I would say the hardest part, for me, was accepting the fact that I was no longer a football player,” Williams said. “When I tried out [for WWE] for the first time, this was at the end of 2018. I’m fresh out of [training] camp with the [Philadelphia] Eagles. … I’d been playing football for 20 years up to that point, and my identity was kind of wrapped up in being a football player.”

Williams was excited to have an opportunity with WWE, but that first tryout didn’t result in him joining the company. After that, he experienced a period of doubt, feeling unsure if he should continue to pursue football or pro wrestling. That decision was made even more difficult because he had no contacts within the wrestling industry, and had no idea how to handle things like getting his gear or building a persona.

“There was a moment in time where I had to really sit down to think, ‘This 10,000 followers I have on social media, or whatever the case is – everybody knows me as Matrick Belton, the football player,'” Williams continued. “Am I okay with getting rid of all of that? What everybody knows me as?”

At that crossroads, Williams made the tough choice to leave football behind him and put all his effort into learning the wrestling business. It paid off. Belton began training and eventually signed a developmental contract with WWE in 2021. He has since become a two-time WWE NXT Champion, an NXT North American Champion, and Williams captured the United States Championship at WWE WrestleMania 42.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Battleground Podcast” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

As both a former AEW World Tag Team Champion and a two-time Ring of Honor World Champion, Bandido has made a name for himself in recent years as an exciting performer to watch in the ring. Sitting down for an interview with Denise Salcedo, Bandido offered some insight into his biggest inspirations, all of whom are luchadors with innovative offense.

“The first influence was Mistico, then I just became more into the lucha libre world,” Bandido said. “Then Ultimo Guerrero became my idol, which – he is my teacher, which is good. And then I started to watch ‘wrestling’ [instead of lucha libre] and I discovered, ‘Booyaka, booyaka, 619!’ Rey Mysterio Jr., and that was amazing for me. I say, ‘He’s small[er] than me. He is not big like the other wrestlers. … I want to be like him.'”

Bandido then identified Mysterio as not just an inspiration to himself but to many people around the world. Before Mysterio made his return to WWE for his current run, Bandido was able to wrestle Mysterio at the first-ever All In, which took place in 2018. “That was fantastic for me,” Bandido continued. “That was a dream come true.”

Following in the footsteps of his brother, who was already a luchador, Bandido got his start in CMLL around 2011, but he didn’t adopt his current name until 2016. Bandido also revealed that, before he decided on pro wrestling, he wanted to pursue a career as a professional soccer player. He’s far from alone there, as Bandido stated that many children in Mexico want to follow that path before most eventually decide on something else.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Denise Salcedo and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Hendry continued by reflecting on those who he’s learned from both before and during his time with WWE, as he credited three respected individuals in the business who helped him make the transition from a comedic character to a main event star. 

“A lot of people don’t know that as well as Shawn and what he’s doing with NXT, Terry Taylor has his influence like all over modern wrestling. Like if you look at what like Oba [Femi] and Trick [Williams] and Je’Von [Evans] are doing, like they’ve learned so much from Terry and his principles … there’s been certain people who have really helped me get to the next level in my career and I met them at the right time. Like when I got to TNA, working with Ace Steel really helped me take things to the next level and go from like a a comedy guy to a main event guy there. And I feel like Terry and Shawn helped prepare me to be a main event guy in NXT.”

Hendry was hoping that if he dedicated himself to training at the Performance Center that it would eventually lead him to become NXT Champion, and when he did win the title in February, he stated that it was the most rewarding victories of his career because of how disciplined he became to achieve that goal. Now that he’s a full-time main roster star, Hendry claimed that he’s been impressed with the fast-paced nature of Triple H’s creative process so far.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Insight” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

WWE star Finn Balor’s Demon character is one of the most unique personas in pro wrestling, and he recently detailed how he came up with it.

Balor debuted the persona during his time in NJPW, recalling how he came up with the idea for his match against Kota Ibushi at Wrestle Kingdom in 2014. 

“So the original concept behind the body paint was, I’d been squeaky clean white meat babyface in Japan for a long time. I’d recently turned heel, and I was against a new up-and-coming babyface, Kota Ibushi, who’s an incredible athlete. And it was Wrestle Kingdom, which is WrestleMania of New Japan, and I’m in a singles match against him. My idea was that I wanted to be like light versus dark, like good versus evil,” he said on “What’s Your Story?” “And my idea was he wears white gear. So then I thought, ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be cool if it looked like, from the people who were way up in the back — this is a baseball stadium — if it looked like he was wrestling against a shadow?'” 

Balor revealed that the initial idea was for him to wear black paint all over his body, but he eventually added the Demon features to create his unique look.

“So I was just gonna paint myself completely, head to toe, black paint. So it looked like from the people far away, he was wrestling a shadow. And in the time that I came up with this idea and we actually executed it, it morphed into more of a demon look than a shadow,” he added.

Balor seldom uses the Demon gimmick on WWE television, with the character’s most recent appearance coming at WrestleMania 42, where he defeated Dominik Mysterio. The former Judgment Day star has tried to keep the use of the Demon to a minimum and hasn’t necessarily been pleased with how WWE has treated the persona in recent years.