Dave Meltzer is not a fan of one of the most popular stars on the WWE NXT roster.
At Stand & Deliver over WrestleMania weekend, former friends Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams faced off in the main event of the show. Looking for revenge after being betrayed by Hayes earlier in the year, Williams defeated the former NXT Champion to a big ovation from a packed crowd inside the Wells Fargo Center.
With Hayes refusing to accept defeat, Melo attacked Williams once again on the next episode of NXT, leading to a steel cage match between the two on the April 16th episode, which once again saw Williams pick up the victory.
Discussing the cage match on Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez stated that both matches had something missing, to which Meltzer responded as follows:
“Trick isn’t that good, that’s the reality. He’s got incredible charisma, but you put him in a main event match. Granted he did look really good against Ilja, but Ilja is one of those people that gives you a false perception of the ability of the other person, it’s like wrestling Ric Flair or a tag team wrestling the Young Bucks, you always look better. You see all these tag teams against the Young Bucks and think these guys are great, but they’re never great against anybody else, and Ilja is the same way.”
For reference, Meltzer rated Williams and Hayes’ match at Stand & Deliver 3.5*.
Dave Meltzer Addresses WWE Fan Backlash
Back in February 2024, Raw star Maxxine Dupri saw a groundswell of support from online fans after a video of her being criticised at a non-televised event went viral on social media. With the topic dividing opinions of wrestling fans, Dave Meltzer gave his thoughts on the Maxxine Dupri criticism.
H/t to WrestleTalk.