These resurfaced clips of Hudson and Connor before Heated Rivalry answer lingering questions

Heated Rivalry was the project that made Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, but they obviously did exist before arguably the most popular show of 2025/2026.

Before Heated Rivalry, both Hudson and Connor had acting credits in various short films, independent projects, and questionable internet shows. Connor even had a minor part in Joker: Folie à Deux.

Their lives were changed forever when show creator Jacob Tierney yoinked them from obscurity for the filthy hockey romance, but these videos have stood the test of time.

They also answer a glaring question people are still asking: Were Hudson and Connor always zesty, animated, and over the top, or was it a calculated move for the benefit of their TV show?

Hudson Williams was still Hudson Williams before Heated Rivalry

@spaggers7

shanehollander hudsonwilliams oldspaghettifactory

♬ New Sun – Chihei Hatakeyama

Just before getting booked for the project that would put food on the table for years to come, Hudson Williams had been putting food on other people’s tables at The Old Spaghetti Factory in New Westminster, British Columbia.

That’s where this first clip originally comes from, and it shows Hudson in his uniform dancing with some female coworkers.

“He’s got the sadness in his eyes that only people in the service industry have,” one person wrote.

Another said: “Oh I just KNOW he was everyone’s work crush.”

This one is not a video, but it NEEDS to be talked about

yes they are the same person pic.twitter.com/BIB9cK0qhd

— papi (@pqwnc) February 9, 2026

Look, I’m not one of these people who is going to pretend that ageing isn’t a normal thing, but this is insane, right?

Baby Connor was in a production of Grease

Today is the last day to see Grease with a 1 o'clock show & a 7 o'clock show!! Don't miss out! pic.twitter.com/JUUnUHQucl

— Alexa Kasparian (@AlexaKasparian) November 21, 2015

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Back in 2015, which would have made Connor around 15, he was performing in a small-scale production of Grease. One of his co-stars, Alexa, shared a video on Twitter at the time, and it showed our Connor being, well, the exact same as he is now.

“This is how I find out Connor Storrie was in a production of grease omg,” one person said.

Hudson might want to be wary of this fan

@brokelittleviberater

saw hudson 2 years ago apparently 😐 #hudsonwilliams #heatedrivalry #fvdedinthepark

♬ original sound – leilani

After discovering that Hudson attended the same music festival as her in 2024, this TikToker went through her old videos and found a video of him. If you can’t spot him, he’s the one aura farming.

These videos are a lot more recent than you might think

@liliesawesome

before heated rivalry hudson was always land leopard 🥹 #hudsonwilliams #shanehollander #heatedrivalry #fyp #viral

♬ original sound – liliesawesome ༄.°

Before Heated Rivalry, Hudson Williams did a bunch of short films, which I imagine he was paid pennies for. Clips have since been shared far and wide on TikTok and Twitter, but shockingly, they’re actually fairly recent. This is why accusations of queerbaiting are so unbelievably stupid – just look at him, he’s just built like that.

Most of the short films came out in 2025, the same year he booked Heated Rivalry.

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Featured image credit: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock