Williams and Hayes turned face on the April 4, 2023 episode of NXT after Bron Breakker turned heel by attacking them.[12] On the August 1 episode of NXT, Williams told Hayes that they needed to part ways so he could achieve his own accomplishments, amicably breaking up the Trick Melo Gang.[13] At NXT: Heatwave on August 22, Williams lost to Ilja Dragunov.[14] On the September 26 episode of NXT, Williams became the number one contender to the NXT North American Championship by defeating Axiom, Dragon Lee and Tyler Bate in a fatal four-way match.[15] Four days later at NXT No Mercy, Williams defeated "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio to win the title.[16] Two days later, Williams made his debut appearance on Raw as the new NXT North American Champion.[17] However, on the October 3 episode of NXT, Williams lost the title back to Mysterio after interference from Mysterio's Judgment Day stablemates, ending his reign at three days and marking it the shortest reign in the title's history.[18] Williams made his Main Event debut on the October 16 taping in a losing effort against Chad Gable.[19]
On the October 17 episode of NXT, Williams was slotted into the triple threat match between Hayes, Dijak and Baron Corbin to make it a fatal four-way match for a NXT Championship opportunity against Dragunov at NXT: Halloween Havoc, causing a rift between Williams and Hayes. Before the match started, Williams was found attacked backstage and taken to a hospital. Hayes then defeated Dijak and Corbin for the title opportunity.[20] At Night 2 of Halloween Havoc on October 31, Williams returned and cost Hayes the NXT Championship match.[21] On the November 14 episode of NXT, he defeated Joe Coffey to qualify for the Iron Survivor Challenge at NXT Deadline.[22] At the event on December 9, Williams won the men's Iron Survivor Challenge to earn an NXT Championship match against Dragunov at NXT: New Year's Evil on January 2, 2024.[23] At the event, it was announced that Dragunov was not medically cleared to wrestle. Instead, Hayes put Williams in a match against Grayson Waller with his Iron Survivor Challenge title match on the line, which he won after interference from Kevin Owens.[24] On the January 16 episode of NXT, Dragunov returned from injury and informed Williams that their title match would take place at NXT Vengeance Day. At the same time, Williams and Hayes defeated Edris Enofé and Malik Blade in the first round of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.[25] Williams made his SmackDown appearance debut on January 26, saving Hayes from a beatdown by A-Town Down Under (Waller and Austin Theory).[26] On the January 30 episode of NXT, Williams and Hayes defeated Latino World Order's Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro to advance to the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.[27]
Whoop That Era (2024–present)
At NXT Vengeance Day on February 4, Williams and Hayes lost to Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker in the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Later that night, Williams failed to win the NXT Championship from Dragunov. After the match, Hayes attacked Williams with a steel chair, ending their partnership.[28] On the following episode of NXT, Hayes revealed that he was the one who attacked Williams back in October 2023.[29] At NXT: Roadblock on March 5, Williams' entrance music was used by Tony D'Angelo to distract Hayes during their match to determine the #1 contender for the NXT Championship at NXT Stand & Deliver. After D'Angelo defeated Hayes, Williams made his return and attacked Hayes.[30] The following week on NXT, Williams challenged Hayes to a match at NXT Stand & Deliver on April 6, which Williams won.[31][32][33] Prior to the event, Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels announced that the match would be the main event, making Hayes and Williams the first two black men to main event NXT Stand & Deliver and a NXT premium live event, and the first two black men to main event a WWE premium live event since The Rock and Booker T at SummerSlam in 2001.[34][35] On the following episode of NXT, Williams called out Dragunov to challenge him for the NXT Championship. Dragunov agreed to a title match at Spring Breakin' on the condition that Williams leave NXT if he loses, which Williams accepted.[36] In a NXT Stand & Deliver rematch on the April 16 episode of NXT, Williams defeated Hayes in a steel cage match despite interference from Hayes' security team to end their feud.[37] On Week 1 of Spring Breakin', Williams defeated Dragunov to capture the NXT Championship for the first time in his career.[38]
On Week 2 of Spring Breakin', Williams declared that his NXT Championship reign will be known as the Whoop That Era. The Meta-Four's Lash Legend appeared and revealed that the stable has a secret that will derail his title reign. On the May 7 episode of NXT in a Supernova Sessions, Noam Dar revealed that in a match between them that was won by Williams, Dar's leg was under the ropes which should have broken the pinfall and called Williams a fraud. Dar proceeded to attack Williams shortly after Legend revealed that she was having a relationship with Williams.[39] On the following week, Dar was found attacked by an unknown assailant. Later that night, Williams assisted Je'Von Evans defeat Oro Mensah.[40] On the May 28 episode of NXT, Williams and Evans defeated Gallus' Joe Coffey and Mark Coffey in a tag team match. After the match, Williams was attacked by a debuting Ethan Page, who revealed himself as the one who attacked Dar previously and Mensah earlier that night.[41] On the following week, Legend broke up with Williams. Later that night, Page officially signed with NXT, whose contract also contains a NXT Championship match at NXT Battleground where Williams successfully retained his title.[42][43] At NXT Heatwave on July 7, Williams lost the title to Page in a fatal four-way match also involving Evans and Shawn Spears, the former of whom Page pinned, ending his reign at 75 days.[44]
After losing the NXT Championship, Williams got into with a bitter feud with Pete Dunne after Dunne derided Williams for seeking advice to recapture the NXT Championship. This led to a match between the two at Week 2 of NXT: The Great American Bash on August 6 where Dunne won.[45] Williams retaliated by costing Dunne in a triple threat match against Joe Hendry and Wes Lee for a NXT Championship match at NXT No Mercy on September 1,[46] where Williams served as the special guest referee for the NXT Championship match between Hendry and Page. After the match, he was attacked by Dunne.[47] Williams responded by releasing a diss track on Dunne[48] which led to the two men brawling with each other throughout the September 3 episode of NXT. Williams and Dunne faced each other in a match later that night with the match ending in a double countout.[49] On the following week, Williams defeated Dunne in a Last Man Standing match to end their feud and to earn an NXT Championship match against Page at NXT's CW premier on October 1.[50]