Trick Williams Beats Carmelo Hayes at NXT Stand & Deliver 2024 After Melo's Heel Turn

Trick Williams got retribution against former best friend Carmelo Hayes by beating him in a heated grudge match at NXT Stand & Deliver on Saturday.

Having failed to put Williams away with Nothing But Net, Hayes looked to finish the job with a steel chair. The referee snatched the chair away, and Hayes' momentary loss of focus created an opening for Williams to deliver the Trick Knee for the win.

When NXT was rebranded as NXT 2.0 in 2021, Hayes brought in Williams as his hype man and sometimes tag team partner. During their time together, Melo enjoyed a great deal of success, holding the North American Championship twice and the NXT Championship once.

Williams wrestled sparingly at first, but he was utilized more and more over time, and he started to get over with the crowd as well.

Hayes seemed visibly annoyed by Trick's rise to prominence at times, and some strange occurrences started to happen.

In October, Williams was added to a match for the NXT Championship No. 1 contendership that already included Hayes, Dijak and Baron Corbin, however, Trick was unable to compete after getting attacked backstage.

Melo pointed the finger at several Superstars in the weeks that followed, claiming that Lexis King and Ilja Dragunov were potentially responsible.

Tension between Hayes and Williams increased even more when Trick won the Iron Survivor Challenge at NXT Deadline in December and became No. 1 contender for Dragunov's title.

Dragunov granted Williams his title shot at Vengeance Day in February, but Trick had already committed to teaming with Melo in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

Williams attempted to pull double duty, and after he and Hayes lost to Corbin and Bron Breakker in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic to start the night, Trick lost to Dragunov in the main event as well.

Hayes was in Trick's corner for the match, but rather than consoling his friend after the loss, Carmelo attacked Williams and put him on the shelf for the next few weeks.

Trick eventually returned to distract Melo and cost him a No. 1 contender's match against Tony D'Angelo, and Williams exacted further revenge as well by taking the fight to Hayes after the fact.

Williams vs. Hayes was made official for Stand & Deliver shortly thereafter, setting the stage for arguably the most highly anticipated NXT grudge match since Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa.

Trick made Hayes pay for turning his back on their friendship, and by virtue of his win, Williams could potentially be in line for another NXT title shot in the near future.

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