Carmelo Hayes had an outstanding evening last Friday on Smash. After losing 2-0 to Andrade, the former NXT Champion finally defeated the Lucha Superstar in another thrilling match of their series. After the match, Andrade proved to be a sore loser as he refused to praise Hayes despite some encouragement from Hayes. This led to a brawl that ensures there will likely be a fourth match.
But as the old saying goes, “A wrestler is not made by great matches alone, but by every word spoken in the vignettes.”
Or something like that.
Before his fight with Andrade, Hayes had an amusing moment with Naomi, Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill. As the three ladies discussed their plans for dealing with the Unholy Union, Hayes burst into their conversation. When he asked if they would be attending his after-party to celebrate his victory over Andrade, Cargill taunted him with a heavy dose of truth.
“Isn’t Andrade two points ahead of you? Good luck with that,” Cargill said.
As the trio walked away laughing, Hayes simply shrugged, put on his headphones and grinned before uttering the line of the night: “But they watch my games.”
It was a light-hearted moment that brought a lightness to the programme and reinforced Hayes’ image as a cocky and delusional young upstart. Smash about the 2024 Draft, Melo didn’t fail to get under people’s skin. In several segments with stars like Bobby Lashley, Randy Orton and undisputed champion Cody Rhodes, Hayes was condescending and incredibly conceited.
In short, the work on his characters was great.
In an exclusive backstage conversation with Byron Saxton, Hayes was in no mood to talk about Andrade’s shameful sportsmanship. Instead, he talked about what mattered most – his victory.
“Andrade, I hit you one, two, three punches in the middle of the ring. The whole world said I couldn’t do it. The whole world said I was going to lose 3-0 and Melo was going to miss again. And I told all of you, ‘Melo can’t miss this one, Melo won’t miss this one, and Melo sure as hell didn’t miss this one.'”
