Should a Former Two-Time NXT Champion Win the 2026 Elimination Chamber?
Last night on the February 20th episode of Friday Night SmackDown, former two-time NXT Champion, Trick Williams, defeated Damian Priest and Carmelo Hayes in a triple-threat Elimination Chamber Qualifier. Williams hit Priest with a Trick Shot to win the match and advance to the chamber alongside Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, LA Knight, and Je’Von Evans, with the last spot available that will be filled on the February 23rd episode of Monday Night Raw. The final spot will either belong to Bronson Reed, Jey Uso, or ‘Original’ El Grande Americano. While the potential winner of the Men’s 2026 Elimination Chamber match will either be Orton or Rhodes, there should be talk to have the former two-time NXT Champion come out on top as well. Williams is a heel at this time, yet the love he receives from the WWE Universe should make creative rethink their choices.
The two-time NXT Champion officially turned heel at TNA Rebellion, helping DarkState defeat Joe Hendry, Hank Walker & Tank Ledger. At NXT Battleground, Williams defeated Hendry for the TNA World Championship. After spending four years in NXT, the former two-time NXT Champion and TNA World Champion announced he was a free agent near the final days of 2025. A week later, it was announced that he signed with SmackDown. Since arriving at the blue brand, Williams has defeated Rey Fénix twice and beat Matt Cardona to qualify for the fatal four-way at the January 24th edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event. However, he lost that match to Sami Zayn, someone Williams has been feuding with for the past several weeks.
Now that Williams is in one of the brutal matches in WWE, he’ll need to conquer some of the best WWE has to offer. With Orton and Rhodes in the chamber, they combine for 16 World Championships. Uso would make it 17 if he qualifies. During the match, the two NXT callups, Evans and Williams, will showcase what they have to offer and prove why they should remain in the main event scene on both Raw and SmackDown, respectively. The two-time NXT Champion has won big matches before, like winning the 2023 Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge at NXT Deadline. He also defeated his former friend in Hayes at Stand & Deliver in 2024. Williams has the experience of being on top of the mountain multiple times, whether that be in NXT or TNA, more experience than ‘The Young OG’.
While it seems unlikely that the former two-time NXT Champion will win, anything could happen within the Elimination Chamber match. WWE most likely doesn’t see it at the right time for Williams to have the opportunity, and it wouldn’t make much sense within the storylines WWE has produced on SmackDown. The feud between WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, Jacob Fatu, and Rhodes has been happening since Fatu’s injury and the mystery of who took him out. We could see Rhodes win the Elimination Chamber and head into WrestleMania with a triple-threat match between him, McIntyre, and Fatu. Also, the possibility of Rhodes vs. Orton could also be on the table, yet does that involve the WWE Championship or not?
If Rhodes or Orton takes one another out of the Elimination Chamber, that could certainly set something up. An elimination from Rhodes to Orton, then an RKO to Rhodes, and someone eliminating him could change the whole road to WrestleMania XLI. This is when someone like Williams can take advantage and come out of this match on top. Turning the former two-time NXT Champion into a babyface would bring a new pop to each audience. Pinning Williams against McIntyre would also be an extremely interesting pull that’s new and something everyone wants to see.
