Vengeance Day 2024 was a big one for Trick Williams, as he not only competed alongside his then-best friend Carmelo Hayes in the finals of the Men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic final, the 2023 Men’s Iron Survivor also got his NXT Championship match against “The Mad Dragon” Ilja Dragunov. The dramatic breakup of Trick Melo Gang had been brewing for weeks and was imminent going in to the premium live event, with Hayes not liking the fact that his number one rival in “NXT,” Dragunov, was respectful of Williams going in to their match.

Dragunov would warn his opponent about his best friend, but Williams didn’t listen. At one point, Hayes even attacked his tag partner backstage, and blamed it on Dragunov, something fans wouldn’t know until the weeks following the breakup. Williams didn’t have the best start to the night, as he and Hayes lost to Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin in the Dusty Cup final, but he looked more than ready to face off against Dragunov in the main event, not knowing what was to come after.

Williams came out of the gate hot against Dragunov, but he couldn’t keep the “Mad Dragon” down for long. The champion was busted open early, bleeding from his nose, which seemed to only make him more dangerous, and Williams was bleeding from his mouth, as well, as he tried to compete with the physicality of Dragunov’s brutal in-ring style.

Dragunov didn’t forget about Hayes at ringside throughout the bout, at one point, dragging Williams to the outside to hit a German suplex, followed by a Death Valley Driver on the apron, all while staring down Hayes. The champion and challenger continued to go to war back in the ring, and Williams impressively hung right in there with the “Mad Dragon.”

Williams dodged the H-bomb and hit the First 48, but couldn’t capitalize fast enough to get the cover, and the match broke down into a slug fest. Williams somehow survived two H-Bombs, including one from the second rope, and dodged a Torpedo Moscow for an extremely near fall that had the arena on its feet. Hayes inevitably got involved and there was a referee bump, so when Williams had Dragunov pinned, there was no official there to make the count. In the end, it was a Torpedo Moscow that had Williams down for the count after an incredibly impressive showing.

Despite Hayes turning on him at the end, this match was an incredibly impressive showing for Williams. If an “NXT” fan hadn’t started to believe in him after his Iron Survivor win, the way he hung right in there with Dragunov’s extremely hard-hitting style would have made anyone a believer.

Written by Daisy Ruth