NXT Stand & Deliver has its marquee match.
In the next chapter of one of the most compelling feuds in pro wrestling, Carmelo Hayes will wrestle Trick Williams at this year’s NXT Stand & Deliver, Sports Illustrated has confirmed.
The event takes place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 6–only hours before Night One of WrestleMania 40. This marks only the fourth Stand & Deliver card, which has become an NXT staple under Shawn Michaels, the wrestling legend–and now WWE’s Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative–who oversees the brand. If it closes out the show, which a match of this magnitude certainly could, it will mark the second straight year for Hayes in the Stand & Deliver main event.
The backstory between Hayes and Williams is rich, which further amplifies the intensity embedded in the match. And while both have been partnered together for the past three years, they each took exceptionally different routes to arrive at this moment.
Williams, whose real name is Matrick Belton, 29, is a rising star. He has made exceptional progress after signing a developmental contract with WWE in 2021 after a successful collegiate football career at the University of South Carolina, and there is every reason to believe he will eventually play a major role on the main roster.
Hayes–who is Christian Brigham–blazed his own trail on a more traditional path, committing his life to pro wrestling and breaking through the independents before signing with WWE in 2021. Only 29, the 10-year wrestling veteran possesses a rare combination of knowledge, skill, and hunger, which has helped elevate him into a starring role in NXT.
A detailed storyline between the two, which began as friends and has evolved into this bitter rivalry, will culminate in WWE’s most significant weekend of the year at Stand & Deliver.
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