The October 30 episode of SmackDown saw Trick Williams fail in his attempt to dethrone Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn, and in-turn replace Zayn in his Men’s Crown Jewel Championship match with Roman Reigns in one week’s time.
While “Trick Willy” has been booked very strongly in his first year on the main roster, the result wouldn’t have been a massive surprise to most fans as he already has a championship to his name, and at 32 years old, still has plenty of time to reach the top of the mountain in WWE.
But what exactly will WWE have in store for Trick Williams beyond this week’s events? Here are three potential paths forward:
Remains in the hunt for Undisputed WWE Championship
Few would argue about Trick Williams being a future world champion in WWE, in fact he appears to potentially be on track to potentially reach that milestone as soon as 2027.
However, with so many viable contenders in the mix for Sami Zayn’s Undisputed WWE Title right now, it feels like the wrong time to be pulling the trigger on Trick getting that career-defining win. There’s certainly nothing wrong with having him in the mix for a title shot however.
This short feud with Zayn proved to be a perfect stop-gap program whilst WWE has been building towards Crown Jewel, but with Williams only losing his match with Zayn due to the champion’s underhanded tactics, he may feel aggrieved enough to want another shot at “The Last Real Good Guy.”
Damian Priest steps up as next heel United States Title challenger
Damian Priest turned heel on the September 11 WWE SmackDown by attacking his former tag team partner R-Truth.
During a backstage segment on WWE SmackDown, Damian Priest seemed to tease a future issue with Trick Williams when he questioned Nick Aldis’ decision to give Trick an Undisputed WWE Title shot.
This is the second week running that WWE has planted the seeds for this feud, and while Priest will first have to deal with one of Nathan Frazer or Axiom next week, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Trick in the former World Heavyweight Champion’s crosshairs afterwards.
After knocking off Baron Corbin, Trick is in need of another credible heel rival for his US Title and Priest would certainly fit that bill.
Brings back the United States Title open challenge
Another option for Trick Williams’ United States Title run is bringing back the weekly open challenges for the title that defined Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes‘ runs as champion.
Now, admittedly the open challenge format doesn’t fit Trick’s character all that well and he himself already dismissed the idea when he won the title the first time.
While it would seem a bit of an easy way out creatively, Trick putting the title on the line each week would make way for some exciting new challengers and further improve the champion’s in-ring skills.
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