For much of his NXT tenure, Trick Williams was nothing more than a side performer, the Marty Jannetty to Carmelo Hayes' Shawn Michaels, even if they were positioned more as friends than a traditional tag team.

Sure, Trick Willie looked the part, acted the part, and even talked the part, but Melo was “Him,” an indie standout-turned-developmental star with an incredible resume and all the makings of the legit Superstar. Factor in Williams coming from football instead of any sort of wrestling background, and it made sense to use the 29-year-old as a heater instead of a bright green singles star.

And yet, after seeing Hayes' storyline on top of developmental come and go, Williams as suddenly been thrust into action as a singles star, with a featured spot at Deadl1ne set to close out his year.

Asked how it feels to be given such a forward-facing spot in NXT by Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture, Williams noted that, after being by Hayes' side for years, he's ready to take his chance to shine.

“This is the vision that I had for myself all along. This is what I wanted for myself, I wanted to be a Superstar, I wanted to be the guy,” Trick Williams said via FIghtful. “With that being said, I was brought into WWE alongside Carmelo Hayes, which is one of the best NXT Superstars to ever do it, and I’m very fortunate for that. With me being so close to him, I got to learn a lot. I got to see how you conduct business, your mindset going into these big matches. I got to be in the light, even though it’s kind of more his light, but I didn’t have the pressure. Being at those big stages, okay, this is what it feels like, this is what it’s about right here. Being able to build connections with the crowd, it was awesome for me and it’s also able to build my hunger, because when you see your boy eating, it makes you want to have some success on your own too.”

So how was Trick Willie able to overcome the odds, cut through all of the backstage politics, and earn a chance to shoot his shot at one of the biggest opportunities NXT has to offer at Deadl1ne in the Iron Survivor Challenge? All he had to do was go to Shawn Michaels' office and ask for the ball.

Trick Williams asked Shawn Michaels for the ball and got it.

So, you may ask, how did Trick Williams go from being a hypeman and occasional tag team partner to a singles star with a North American Championship belt on his resume – albeit with just three days reign – and the potential for even bigger opportunities just over the horizon? Well, it's simple really; Trick asked Shawn Michaels to give him the ball a la his days as a wide receiver at South Carolina, and he's run with it ever since.

“That’s just what it was to the point where I had to go to Shawn Michaels myself and say, ‘Shawn, I want the ball.’ I played football before I was wrestling, and I played wide receiver. Wide receivers are the guys who catch the ball and if you don’t catch the ball, you can’t eat, you can’t score the touchdowns, the camera is not on you. Me being able to go to Shawn Michaels off and say, ‘I want the ball’, is probably the best thing I could’ve ever done because he looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘A lot of people come in my office and say they want the ball, but they’re not ready for it.’ He gave me the opportunity and thus far, I’ve been making plays.”

In football, not all receiving yards are created equal. Some are possession specialists who only really take what a defense gives them but are reliable catchers of the football, while others are YAC specialists who can take a bubble screen to the house due to their incredible vision, lateral quickness, and agility. How many of Williams' proverbial yards are by design, with his singles run always part of the plan, and how many of those yards came from his own abilities, turning a side gig into a legitimate shot at the big time? While fans may never know, it's safe to say Williams is having a moment right now, and if Hayes really does turn heel on him, he could end up having a top-level NXT feud the likes of which have put over performers like Sami Zayn and Johnny Gargano in the past.