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Carmelo Hayes celebrates his relationship with Shawn Michaels after being drafted to SmackDown

Originally posted on ClutchPoints | By Matty Breisch | Last updated 5/11/24

After dominating NXT as one of the true pillars of the post-Black and Gold era, Carmelo Hayes has officially taken his talents to SmackDown as one of the promotion’s first-round picks in the 2024 WWE Draft.

For Hayes, this has been a long time coming, as the former indie standout has won the North American Championship, the Cruiserweight Championship, and the NXT World Championship during his time at the performance center in Orlando, Florida, but after soft debuting on the Blue Brand earlier this year, the former “Christian Casanova” has burst onto the big leagues in a huge way, winning his first match in the King of the Ring Tournament while establishing himself as a performer to watch moving forward.

But just because Hayes is a member of the main roster doesn’t mean he doesn’t still have love for Shawn Michaels, as per his appearance on The Ringer Wrestling Show, the “A-Champ” still lives by HBK’s advice.

“He told me, straight up, ‘You can never take a day off. A lot of these guys can take a day off, and they’ll be accepted, but you can never take a day off or phone it in.’ It sucks in a way, but at the same time, I’m open to the challenge because the bar, for some reason, is raised higher because of my size. People are expecting way more. I can’t make mistakes. Not on top of my size, but being perceived as someone who is being pushed to the forefront. I feel a lot of criticism from people off everything I do. I’ve had the microscope on me for a long time,” Carmelo Hayes told The Ringer Wrestling Show via EWrestling news.

“I’m kind of used to it now, but the bar is very higher. One, when you’re a Shawn Michaels guy. Two, when you’re a first-round draft pick. Three, being undersized. Four, being of color. There are a lot of things that come into play with that pressure. I’m open to that challenge and looking to prove people wrong. As far as Shawn Michaels goes, he gives me that advice all the time. ‘You have to be better than the rest at everything. You can’t lack. What you lack in size, you have to make up for in every other category.'”

Is it easy for some doubters to write Hayes off as just another HBK clone, something NXT has gotten pretty good at producing for both WWE and AEW over the years? Sure, but when it comes down to it, Hayes has always had a fire to prove doubters wrong, and by turning to one of the best to ever do it, he has the mentality to make that happen.

Carmelo Hayes is proud of his work with Trick Williams.

Elsewhere in his appearance on The Ringer Wrestling Show, Carmelo Hayes reflected on his NXT friendship-turned-feud with Trick Williams and noted that, while he ultimately lost to his pal on his way out the door, the feud ultimately helped him out too, as both performers saw their stocks elevated by the program.

“Yeah, I think him (Trick Williams), the culmination of it all, and him winning the NXT Title, it feels like an accomplishment for me as well. Just bringing him in early on and getting his feet wet and kind of helping him along the way and seeing him reach the top, you know what I mean?” Carmelo Hayes told The Ringer Wrestling Show via EWrestling News.

“It was a very kind of proud moment in a way. Despite all the in-between and the this or that. It was a proud moment. It was just like, wow, who — not who would’ve thought… you can’t predict that it would’ve went that smooth. We both reached the pinnacle. Just us two dudes.”

Did it make sense for Hayes to go up to SmackDown before Stand & Deliver only to come back down to developmental to renew his feud with Trick Willie ahead of WrestleMania weekend? Debatable; Hayes could have probably hung low while Willie wrestled Ija Dragunov for the NXT Championship and used that time off to add intrigue to the storyline in a Phantom of the Opera sort of way, instead of working a few matches for Nick Aldis like an on-screen main event match. Still, in the end, Hayes and Williams made it work, produced some of their best promos ever, and ultimately elevated both of their stocks ahead of massive career elevations, just like Hayes asserted. All in all, a perfect situation.