WWE’s fastest-rising star reveals how John Cena’s secret advice changed his career

Trick Williams is making waves in WWE, and he’s been learning from arguably the greatest of all time.

The current United States Champion, who will defend the gold against Baron Corbin at SummerSlam this weekend, features heavily in the new season of Netflix’s WWE Unreal docuseries, and one scene shows him and Oba Femi getting a pep talk from John Cena before their first-ever WrestleMania matches earlier this year.

As Trick exclusively told Metro, their bond goes deeper than that one moment.

‘I’ve talked to Cena [on] multiple occasions, all the way back at NXT. He would come back and make himself available to all the new and upcoming talent way back then,’ he revealed.

‘I would say Cena’s more of a psychological guy. He thinks, “What’s the story? Why are we doing what we’re doing?” He makes you think about the business, the ABCs of wrestling.’

The 32-year-old star revealed Cena, who retired from his own in-ring career in December, ‘focuses more on the ideology’ when he’s giving out advice, including encouraging him to ’embrace the moment’.

Trick recalled a conversation back in NXT, when he asked Cena how to know ‘when it’s your time’.

‘What he said is, “Man, you got to take that opportunity by the horns, man. It’s no perfect time, but you got to make it your time. You got to believe within yourself that now is your time,”‘ he revealed.

‘Ever since that moment when I decided, like, hey, “Trick Williams is gonna do this thing on his own”, I’ve been living in this realm of “every day is my day”. Approach it with everything I got. Make sure I’m the best version of myself, and here we are today.’

Luckily for Trick, he’s formed an instant and natural connection with the fans, who have embraced his undeniable charisma and chanted ‘Whoop that Trick’ every time he makes his way to the ring.

During Unreal, fans have seen him rehearsing his entrance without the fan interaction, and it’s clear how much they had.

‘The coolest part about my theme is that there’s no lyrics, because everything that you hear is from the fans, and the fans have decided to interact with my theme song,’ he smiled.

‘We can go overseas, Canada, Europe, UK, Saudi Arabia, and everybody’s whooping that Trick. It doesn’t matter what language you speak.’

Another key piece in the Trick Willy puzzle is rapper Lil Yachty, who’s gone beyond a celebrity cameo and become a bona fide great wrestling manager. But there’s more to come.

‘Yachty’s special, man. He loves the business. He’s a smart guy. He’s a talented guy. And shoot, man, he may just have a match sometime soon,’ the US Champ teased. ‘We’ve been training.’

Trick hailed the rapper as a ‘natural performer’ in their sessions, admitting it was his idea to get Yachty in the ring.

‘He’s been working hard,’ he added. ‘I’m excited to see when and what he does with his opportunity.’

On-screen, Yachty presented Trick with a custom United States Title belt for him to wear, featuring white fur instead of the traditional leather strap.

It’s been divisive, particularly with purists, but the champ is pleased.

‘I love it, man. I got my own legacy title! Eight months into the game on SmackDown, legacy title, all white fur, Trick Willy fur edition,’ he raved. ‘It’s a beautiful thing, man. I’m grateful for it. I mean, it looks good on me.’

For anyone buying one off WWEShop when they drop ‘soon’, they’ll have to follow Trick’s footsteps by dressing the part.

‘You gotta be careful. You can’t just put it with any, you know, cashmere, polyester, or anything like that, man,’ he explained. ‘If you wear a shirt, it’s gonna get stuck on you.

‘That means you gotta get your core right. You gotta make sure that you’re hitting your abs, so you can sport the title the way it needs to be sported. No shirt, vest open, let the people just see the product.’

On Sunday, Trick will have the custom title and Yachty by his side when he defends the gold against the recently-returned Corbin.

‘You mean the bald-headed bum, Baron Corbin? [He] thinks that he can just hop in and hop on Trick Williams in the middle of his title run, the hottest thing on SmackDown,’ Trick ranted.

‘For what? So Baron Corbin gets a few more moments in the spotlight next to a real one, so he can make a few more cheques, make a couple more million, just so he can go get another Maserati, add some to his house, buy a few cigars, and ride off into his fantasy island?’

Trick insisted he’s ‘here for the long haul’, with his sights set on years of WrestleMania main events, and becoming a ‘cultural icon’ around the world.

‘What I’m trying to do is way bigger than what people can even imagine. Especially a bald-headed bum like Baron Corbin. He doesn’t want it like I want it,’ he said. ‘He ain’t here for the long haul. He don’t got it in him to influence the way Trick Willy’s ready to influence. It’s a no-brainer.’

WWE Unreal season 3 is available on Netflix now. SummerSlam is live on Netflix August 1 and 2 at 11pm.