Tracy Williams aims to bust one more bracket en route to winning the ROH Pure Championship.
Williams recently spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard ahead of his final round meeting with Jonathan Gresham in the ROH Pure Tournament. “Hot Sauce” is pumped for the weekend at hand and first spoke about how he got there, defeating Jay Lethal in the semifinal round. Many expected Lethal to be a lock in the finals, but Williams’ victory last week had some calling it an upset. Williams says he understands how big the win is but is hesitant to call it an upset for good reason.
“It’s a big accomplishment for sure. I struggle with the word ‘upset’ because I think sometimes that takes away something from a win and a win is a win. It was a clean decisive win, so it was definitely a big accomplishment. I definitely don’t take Lethal’s standing in the company lightly or his history as a wrestler lightly. I know how big of a deal it is, it really sank in when it aired and I got to see the reaction from everybody. I think as a wrestler, so much of the perception of ourselves or our accomplishments are is based on how other people react to them. So in this environment where there’s no crowd and until it airs on television,” Williams said, “we didn’t have that feedback right away. It really only sunk in the other day how big of a deal that is and it is a big deal. Maybe you can say it is an upset but I think it was well-earned.”
Williams says he enjoyed playing spoiler, noting that Lethal “didn’t even mention my name” in the build-up to the semifinal match. He says he’s still carrying a chip on his shoulder, adding that people have also said this tournament was “made” for Jonathan Gresham as well.
“I’m seeing the same thing now. I’m seeing people going online and saying ‘Williams did a great job throughout this thing but it was clearly made for Gresham, this is his[tournament to win].’ So yeah, I’m carrying that same chip into the finals,” Williams said, “I’m looking to bust brackets every step through this thing.”
The final round matchup in the ROH Pure Tournament airs this weekend on ROH TV, and Monday night on FITE.
