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Carmelo Hayes Reveals Andrade Feud Status, Advice From Shawn Michaels (Exclusive)

One of the future stars of WWE is here to make an impact.

Steven Muelhausen

WWE.com

On Friday, Sept. 13, WWE SmackDown returned to the USA Network. The show came back with a bang as it featured the return of Roman Reigns and an announced match at Bad Blood with Reigns and Cody Rhodes teaming up to face Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu.

Before the final segment occurred, the final match featured Carmelo Hayes and Andrade in what has been a memorable best of five series. Despite coming up short (for now), Hayes is seen by pundits as one of the key building blocks in the future of WWE.

Ahead of this week's Friday Night SmackDown on USA (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m PT), the former NXT heavyweight champion hints at not being done with Andrade, what he's learned from Shawn Michaels, and much more.

(Editor's Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

The Takedown: I know you’re an NBA fan. We're seeing a lot of that NBA integration. Tuesday had Tyrese Haliburton was on NXT along with him and Jalen Brunson a few months back on SmackDown at Madison Square Garden. You are seeing WWE bringing the sporting culture from outside.

Carmelo Hayes: Everybody wants to be a part of it. I think The Rock said it on SmackDown, ‘Wrestling is cool again’. 

It’s not even just them (from the NBA), but artists. Lil Wayne was at WrestleMania, Meek Mill was at WrestleMania. It's becoming pop culture again. It’s a special time right now.

The Takedown: Why do you think wrestling has become cool again?

CH: I can't put my finger on exactly why it is. But I think it's just becoming accepted. I remember thinking to myself, ‘Man, if I can be something, I want people to watch that don't watch wrestling to want to watch me’. 

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I remember when I was getting into it. There were things on WWE that I was like, ‘Oh God, I can't watch that with my buddies here.’ 

Now, it's just become a bit more of a Reality Era where things are a little more real. The stories are captivating people right now because they're relatable.

The Takedown: You talk about the Reality Era, and then WWE has had the Ruthless Aggression and The Attitude Era. We talk about some of those under Vince McMahon's guidance. And then you talk about now with this new Reality Era or, as some have called it, The Paul Levesque Era. Do you feel as a talent if Paul Levesque isn’t leading this ship, is WWE having this run the company is on right now, including the premiere we saw last Friday night in SmackDown’s return to the USA Network?

CH: I think with the talent that we have, yeah. I think the talent that we have is what's making this go the way it is. It’s stacked. Rosters have been stacked before. People always say, ‘Oh man, this is the most stacked roster.’ 

There have been so many great rosters, but I think everybody's firing on all cylinders, whether that's motivation from one place or another. I don't know. I know me personally, I was going to strive to be great no matter who was in charge. I think a lot of people have that same kind of mindset. It's not that, ‘Oh well, now I can try and work harder. Now I can try and be better’. 

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And it's not that. It's never been that. But I think Hunter is a lot more hands-on with talent individually. So maybe our ideas can come to fruition, as opposed to having one singular idea. I don't know. I wasn't there. I've only experienced this. So I can't speak from the other side, but it's been great. My journey has been fantastic. I couldn't complain if I wanted to. journey's

The Takedown: The Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes segment closed out SmackDown, but you were the final match on the show in a fantastic series of matches that culminated this past week in the return to the USA against Andrade.

CH: (Quickly interrupts): Did it culminate?

The Takedown: it kind of seems like it, Carmelo…

CH: (Interrupts) Maybe on one side. Maybe on one side, it's culminated. 

The Takedown: This feud seems like an NBA playoff format where we're talking best of five, best of seven. Often, fans complain about why Wrestler A is facing Wrestler B. With this series, we get that with the United States Championship as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. What's it been like to be of something that WWE hadn't done too much of in the past, especially with a great talent like Andrade?

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CH: It feels like an opportunity to get guys who are hungry and didn't have a direction at the time. It was like, ‘Hey, we know we got these two studs. Let's see what we make out of it. 

I don't know if it was fully planned, and who knows how far we will take it. But personally, I'm not okay with losing in five when I know there can be seven. I've seen all these other guys go to seven. What makes this different? Why does this only go to five? He didn't sweep me. He's just barely beating me every time. You have to remember that I'm still learning the ropes. I can afford to lose here and there. But believe me, when I figure this thing out, it might be seven matches, but when I figure this thing out, I'm coming out on top. I have to tighten up, and I have to lock in and figure out the next two matches if I want them or what my angle will be. But he has a match against LA Knight for the U.S. title. I guess if that's what you want to call a culmination, and that's a culmination, but don't think I'm not going to spin the block on him or LA Knight.

The Takedown: You look at your run since you've been on the main roster. Night one, you're in there with Cody. You beat Randy Orton. Roman's back, you have Cody, we have seen the rise of Jacob Fatu. How would you characterize your run thus far on SmackDown?

CH: It's my rookie year, man. It's funny that you mentioned that because starting off with Cody. When you start so hot, the eyes are on you. 

You start as a first-round draft pick, and people get it confused. Just because you're a first-round draft pick doesn't mean you win the championship the first year. But you still play good. You still make a name for yourself on your team, and you still put up points. That's the way I've been looking at it. I might not win the championship this year, but believe me, I'm going to put up some freaking points. We're going to win some games. We're going to have game MVP, match of the night. That type of thing. I'm going to steal the show.

That's the misconception I think of coming in so hot that you got to win everything and be champion. And God forbid in today's WWE, if you're not a WWE champion overnight, and you don't win every match, they call you a jobber, or they're blaming Triple H. It's just the weirdest culture right now. But realistically, as a talent, I understand that I have a long journey. I have a marathon journey. I look back at Randy's and (John) Cena’s and all these guys when they started, nobody was killing it the way that people expect you to kill it when you just get there. 

People have that misconception. Everybody wants everything very quickly. Everyone needs to be winning, and everyone needs to be featured. It doesn't work like that, and that's the problem. But personally, I just go out there and do what I do, and I just try to keep moving forward every time. Even if I lose, I lose forward and just make a name for myself because my time is going to come. It's inevitable. 

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The Takedown: Shawn Michaels used to say the goal was always to steal the show. Wins and losses are inconsequential, but if I'm the one people are talking about, I will get to where I want to. Is that one of the things you learned from him is just take it match after match and make the fans notice?

CH: Yeah. He told me straight up. He said, ‘Look, because of your size, you can never take a day off. You have to be a little bit better at everything. You have to be’.

I know I have a lot to work on. I won't come in here and say, ‘I'm the top-notch’. 

I still have a lot to work on.  I'm just getting to work with the guys at the highest levels, like Randy, Cody, and even Andrade. Andrade is great. I’ve learned from working with Andrade, but there's still more I have to learn. A lot of my mindset is from Shawn. I always tell this analogy. He said, ‘You guys want to put your roof on so quickly without building the foundation, like the bricks and stuff.’ 

I always think about that. I'm like, ‘Yeah, I'm still laying down the bricks. Why am I worried about putting up windows when the bricks aren't laid? Everybody wants the freaking roof and a chimney and start decorating the outside and painting the outside of the house when there's no foundation’.

This is a period of building my foundation on SmackDown, and then, eventually, we'll get to that point. We'll put up a door. We'll put in some windows, and then we'll start working on a roof, and then we'll have a storied career.

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Steven Muelhausen
STEVEN MUELHAUSEN

: Steven Muehlhausen is a veteran combat sports writer for various outlets including Sporting News and Yahoo Sports. He can be reached at stevemuehlhausen@yahoo.com and followed on Twitter @SMuehlhausenJr.

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