Lil Yachty has revealed that WWE didn’t come up with the “Gingerbread Man” name that became a major part of his storyline alongside Trick Williams and Sami Zayn.
Speaking on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, Yachty explained that neither he nor Williams initially expected the idea to work. “So funny, it was not supposed to work. I remember when me and Trick got in, we were like, man, y’all sure?” Yachty said. “But then we just tried to make the most of it. When I got the gingerbread shirt printed and we did the song, and we were really clowning him.”
According to Yachty, WWE didn’t actually pitch the Gingerbread Man name. Instead, it emerged while he and Williams were joking about Zayn. “Funny enough, they didn’t actually pitch Gingerbread Man. That was something we said, because he was ginger,” he said.
Yachty said he and Williams continued developing the concept themselves, including the cookies and insults that eventually became recurring elements of the storyline. “Just me and Trick clowning and calling him Gingerbread Man. Then I got the gingerbread cookies and we just had fun with it,” Yachty said. “Me and Trick, we always get on the phone or text and s***, be together and we just think of ideas. How we gonna say this? What we gonna do? We’ll spend the whole day in my dressing room just trying to figure out how we gonna clown, or what jokes we gonna make. And it just stuck, and then it turned into a thing, and it was so fun.”
One of the angle’s most elaborate moments came with the Gingerbread Man funeral on SmackDown. While the segment divided opinion among fans and reportedly within WWE itself, Yachty remains a supporter of the concept. “I thought the Gingerbread Man funeral was so funny, and the fact that the face of the Gingerbread Man looks completely different now that he was gone. It was so silly,” Yachty said. “People forget it’s entertainment, and it’s supposed to be funny. It’s supposed to be fun, and yeah, it’s good wrestling, but it’s entertainment and fun. Have fun, man. Don’t be so uptight. Sometimes I be thinking it’s like, damn, you just want a card full of five-star matches.”
Yachty also revealed that his Undertaker-inspired sit-up from inside the casket required some preparation. “I had to practice that, bro. They had to pad my feet up so I could push. I don’t have the abs for that. That’s ab work, man,” he said. “Shout out to the Undertaker, bro. That’s ab work, sitting up.”
The Gingerbread Man character first appeared on SmackDown ahead of WrestleMania 42, where Zayn kicked it. Williams defeated Zayn for the United States Championship two nights later at WrestleMania.
During Williams’ championship celebration the following week, the Gingerbread Man was revealed to be Zayn in disguise, leading to Zayn attacking Williams and Yachty with a candy cane. Zayn destroyed the costume on the next show, prompting Williams to throw up the X sign as the situation was treated like a legitimate injury. Joe Tessitore later announced on commentary that the cookie had died.
That set up the May 8 funeral segment in Jacksonville. Williams wore black and poured out milk, while WWE aired tribute videos inserting the Gingerbread Man into famous moments from wrestling history. A choir was also brought in for the funeral.
Zayn interrupted a moment of silence and criticized the spectacle before attacking Williams. Yachty then sat up inside the casket, removed the Gingerbread Man head and attacked Zayn with a candy cane kendo stick, allowing Williams to finish the segment with the Trick Shot.
Williams went on to retain the United States Championship at Backlash the following night.
Yachty isn’t alone in defending the storyline, as Zayn has also publicly supported the angle. However, WrestleVotes Radio reported at the time that the character’s heavy usage received notable pushback from some members of WWE creative, with one source reportedly viewing the material as hokey and archaic. The character has not appeared since.
Yachty has continued appearing alongside Williams on WWE television. Williams regained the United States Championship from Baron Corbin at Sunday Night’s Main Event on September 6 after Yachty survived a five-minute challenge against Corbin earlier in the show.
Zayn, meanwhile, is now the Undisputed WWE Champion after defeating CM Punk on the September 11 episode of SmackDown in Mexico City.
