Carmelo Hayes On Feud With Andrade: I Don’t Know If It Was Fully Planned, Who Knows How Far We Will Take It

Carmelo Hayes teases that he’s not done with Andrade.

Carmelo Hayes teases that he’s not done with Andrade.

Former NXT Champions Carmelo Hayes and Andrade clashed on the July 19th episode of WWE SmackDown. They then faced off four more times over the course of the next several weeks. Andrade won the series by beating Hayes on the September 13th episode of WWE SmackDown.

Speaking with Steven Muehlhausen for The Takedown on Sports Illustrated, Carmelo Hayes was asked about his feud with Andrade culminating on the September 13th episode of WWE SmackDown, and he teased that it wasn’t finished.

“Did it culminate? Maybe on one side. Maybe on one side, it’s culminated,” Hayes said.

Muehlhausen then compared Hayes’ series of matches with Andrade to an NBA playoff series and asked him what it was like to be part of something that has been rare for WWE, at least in recent years. Hayes highlighted how it was an opportunity for guys who were hungry. He also said that he didn’t know whether it was fully planned.

“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,” Hayes said.

Hayes recently said that winning the WWE United States Championship was his destiny. Check out his comments here.

Click here to see what Hayes had to say about working with Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton.

Fightful will have coverage of WWE SmackDown as it airs on September 20th.