Trick Williams Beats Joe Hendry to Win TNA Title at NXT Battleground 2025

Trick Williams beat Joe Hendry at NXT Battleground on Sunday to win the TNA World Championship, making Trick the first wrestler to ever hold a TNA title while under contract with WWE.

Williams used a timely eye gouge and parlayed it into a flapjack onto the TNA title belt, which he had tried to grab earlier from the referee before it fell to the mat. The flapjack onto the belt dazed Hendry before Williams used a Trickshot for the pin and the win.

Since the aftermath of WrestleMania 41 weekend, Hendry and Williams have been at each other's throats, and things finally came to a head at Battleground.

After falling short in his bid to recapture the NXT Championship in a Triple Threat match against Oba Femi and Je'Von Evans at Stand & Deliver, Trick stepped up to Oba and tried to coax him into granting another title opportunity.

However, Hendry interrupted and threw his hat in the ring as a potential NXT Championship challenger as well, much to the chagrin of Williams.

Hendry was fresh off arguably the biggest moment of his career, as he was Randy Orton's surprise opponent at WrestleMania, losing to The Viper in a short-but-entertaining contest.

Trick poked fun at Hendry's quick defeat at the hands of Orton before escalating things between them at the TNA Rebellion pay-per-view last month.

After Hendry beat Frankie Kazarian and Ethan Page in a Triple Threat to retain the TNA world title, Williams attacked him. Trick also attacked Hendry on the subsequent episode of TNA Impact, costing him and the Hardy Boyz in a six-man tag team match.

On the May 6 edition of NXT TV, Trick cost Hendry yet another six-man tag team match, as his interference caused Hendry, Hank Walker and Tank Ledger to lose to DarkState.

Later in the night, Hendry got his revenge by interfering in a battle royal to determine the No. 1 contender for the NXT Championship. Hendry's distraction got Williams eliminated and cost him the title shot he so desperately needed.

With Hendry and Williams unable to leave each other alone, NXT general manager Ava and TNA director of authority Santino Marella reached an agreement that would see the TNA world title defended in WWE for the first time.

While it wasn't the NXT Championship, Trick still got a title shot at Battleground, and he left with gold in his possession by defeating Hendry and ending his nearly four-month reign as TNA world champ.

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