Carmelo Hayes Reflects On Losing The WWE United States Championship And Missing WrestleMania 42
Carmelo Hayes says losing the United States Championship and missing WrestleMania sucked.
On the March 27 edition of SmackDown, Carmelo Hayes lost the WWE United States Championship to Sami Zayn, with it later announced the Canadian would defend his newly-won title against Trick Williams at WrestleMania 42. While many fans campaigned for Hayes to be added to the match, the 31-year-old ended up missing the ‘Show Of Shows’ entirely, despite being champion less than a month before the event. Now, Hayes has looked back on being left off WrestleMania.
Speaking to Michael Fairman, Carmelo Hayes said losing the United States Championship and missing WrestleMania 42 sucked, though he doesn’t want to mope over it.
“It sucked. It definitely sucked and it was heartbreaking. It felt like I ran the race. I was so close to just throwing my arms up and crossing the finish line, and then I got kind of sidestepped a little bit. Yeah, it sucks and it’s not something that I… listen, I’m a pro. At the end of the day, I’m a pro. I show up to work. What they need from me, I do it and I go above and beyond no matter what every time. It’s one of those things, you got to charge it to the game. It wasn’t a personal thing. It wasn’t a me thing. It was whatever it needed to be, whatever that was and whatnot. It’s not something that I’m gonna sit here and go, ‘Oh, woe is me.’ I don’t move like that. I had a day or two where I was like, ‘What the hell?’ And then after that I was like, ‘You know what? Back to work, man.’ Just a chip on my shoulder and watch what’s going to happen now.”
-Carmelo Hayes
While Hayes’ direction heading out of WrestleMania season remains unclear, there remains a large portion of fans hoping he gets another shot at the United States Championship. Particularly with Trick Williams as champion, WWE could opt to play off their shared history together in NXT, with Williams coming in as backup to Hayes before they became rivals in early 2024.
As for the new champion, Trick Williams spoke shortly after his win at WrestleMania 42 to discuss whether fans can expect United States Championship open challenges to continue. You can read more on his comments here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Carmelo Hayes as soon as we hear more.
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