CARMELO HAYES

Hayes successfully retained his championship against Cameron Grimes at the Vengeance Day special episode on February 15, 2022. On March 1, edition of NXT, he also retained title against Pete Dunne.

At NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, Hayes lost the NXT North American Championship to Cameron Grimes in a fatal five way match against Grimes, Santos Escobar, Solo Sikoa and Grayson Waller.

Hayes got his rematch in a Triple Threat match at NXT Spring Breakin’ against Cameron Grimes and Solo Sikoa in a losing effort. At NXT In Your House, Hayes defeated Cameron Grimes to regain his North American Championship.

On the September 13th episode Carmelo Hayes lost the NXT North American Championship to Solo Sikoa. His reign lasted 101 days. On the October 11th episode of WWE Main Event, Hayes made his main roster debut defeating Cedric Alexander. Weeks later, he failed to regain the North American Championship in a ladder match at Halloween Havoc. The next month, he challenged Wes Lee for the title in a losing effort.

Carmelo Hayes Wins NXT Championship

Hayes began feuding with Apollo Crews, trading victories with each other, leading to a two out of three falls match at NXT Vengeance Day, where Hayes defeated Crews in two straight falls. After weeks of teasing, a match between Hayes and Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship was confirmed for NXT Stand & Deliver. With help from Trick Williams, Hayes defeated Breakker on April 1, 2023 to win the NXT Championship in the main event of Stand & Deliver. At NXT Battleground on May 28, Hayes successfully defended the NXT Championship against Breakker.

On the May 30th episode of NXT, Carmelo Hayes successfully defended the NXT Championship against Noam Dar. Hayes made his main roster debut on the June 26th episode of RAW, where he was defeated by Finn Bálor in a non-title match. The following night at NXT Gold Rush, Hayes successfully defended the NXT Championship against Corbin. At NXT The Great American Bash on July 30th, Hayes successfully defended the title against Ilja Dragunov.

On the following episode of NXT, Williams told Hayes that he needed to leave and shine on his own, breaking up the Trick Melo Gang. At NXT No Mercy on September 30th, Hayes lost the NXT Championship to Dragunov. His reign lasted 182 days. Earlier that night, Williams defeated “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio to become the new NXT North American Champion. He lost the title back to Mysterio on NXT three days later.

Hayes Debuts on SmackDown

On Night 2 of NXT: Halloween Havoc, Hayes failed to regain the title from Dragunov. On the November 21st episode of NXT, Josh Briggs defeated Hayes to qualify for the Iron Survivor Challenge at NXT Deadline. This led to a match made between Hayes and King at NXT Deadline, which Hayes won. On the December 12th episode of NXT, Hayes accused Dragunov of attacking Williams in October and himself early that night, which Dragunov denied.

On December 15th 2023, Carmelo Hayes made his SmackDown debut. Hayes was chosen by Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels to represent NXT in SmackDown’s WWE United States Championship #1 Contender Tournament. Hayes defeated former rival Grayson Waller in the first round of the tournament but lost to Kevin Owens in the semi-finals the following week.