Published: May 2, 2026 by Liam | Last Updated: May 2, 2026 by Liam
Liam has been reporting & analyzing wrestling news for over eight years, and is currently the Managing Editor at WrestleTalk.com. Immersed in wrestling for 18 years, he has over 11,000 published articles in addition to leading and overseeing WrestleTalk.com's coverage.
WWE
A United States Championship rematch between Trick Williams and Sami Zayn has been added to WWE Backlash 2026.
At WrestleMania 42, Williams in his Mania debut defeated Zayn to win the US Title.
Their issues have continued since then, with Williams and Lil Yachty continuing to poke fun at Zayn with their Gingerbread Man mascot.
Tonight on SmackDown, Zayn had the Gingerbread Man set up himself in the ring on a mannequin and bizarrely cut a promo on it and then started attacking it.
This brought out Williams who then got into a brawl with Zayn and later followed up in a backstage interview.
In that interview, Williams announced a WrestleMania rematch for WWE Backlash where he will defend the US Title against Zayn, in addition to looking to avenge the Gingerbread Man as well as Lil Yachty who Zayn attacked last week.
Williams even went to the medical room backstage for a medical update on the Gingerbread Man after he’d requested for it to the stretchered out following Zayn’s attack.
Upon Williams hearing the sad news that Zayn had KILLED the Gingerbread Man, WWE showed a joke memoriam graphic saying Rest In Pieces.
It’s also been announced that there’ll be a a funeral for the Gingerbread Man on SmackDown next week.
BREAKING
The Gingerbread Man has sadly passed away 💔
He was killed by Sami Zayn on tonight’s WWE SmackDown show pic.twitter.com/SUqsQ0HdJ0
— WrestleTalk (@WrestleTalk_TV) May 2, 2026
Other matches confirmed for Backlash so far are Asuka vs IYO SKY, Bron Breakker vs Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Jacob Fatu.
The Double Turn Of Trick Williams & Sami Zayn
Since his WWE main roster debut, fans have taken to Trick Williams without him really going to any particular efforts to turn babyface.
This, coupled with a portion of the fanbase’s growing frustrations with Sami Zayn in recent months, have led to a situation where a natural double turn has essentially happened with Williams being the babyface and Zayn being the heel in their feud, without an outright “turn.”
Zayn murdering the Gingerbread Man tonight could be the closest thing to an actual ‘heel turn’ that we’ve seen.
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