Carmelo Hayes will be defending the NXT Championship against Bron Breakker at Battleground on May 28th in Lowell, MA which is not far from his hometown of Framingham, MA. In an exclusive for WrestlingNews.co, Steve Fall spoke with Hayes about the upcoming match (scroll down to watch the video interview).
“I feel comfortable,” Hayes said. “You know, I feel like I’ve been here before, so it’s like, you’re not going to catch me out of my comfort zone. Also, on top of that, I put in a lot of work here before I got signed to WWE. There’s a fan base that’s here that has yet to see me as Carmelo Hayes, especially as NXT Champion. So it is a very kind of homecoming feeling, a very comfortable feeling, but the big focus at hand is Bron Breakker.”
How he felt when he won the NXT Championship:
“There was a moment leading up to it when I told myself, ‘I’m gonna live in this moment’ because you don’t get very many of those types of moments. I said, ‘I’m gonna frickin live in that.’ I remember sitting there. I think they caught it on TV as we were closing out while I was on turnbuckle. I looked up and I said, ‘Man, I worked so freaking hard for this’, and I looked down at the title. It was caught on TV, but then after we went off air, I remember sitting on the ring apron and just reflecting and just thinking of the journey it took to get there. Everybody’s screaming, ‘Melo.’ It was just surreal. Now that I’m speaking it out loud, it’s almost like I’m feeling it again. It was a lifetime experience. I mean, I’m just so grateful that I got to do that.”
On if we could see more NXT Premium Live Events moving to Saturdays
“Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you look at the market of wrestling in total, you know, it’s thriving right now and it’s more popular than ever if you look at the numbers as far as what live events are doing with WWE, especially with these PLEs, like we’re breaking all sorts of records left and right. So I think the market is hot right now and I think that we’re going to capitalize on that, NXT, WWE, everybody.”
On if he was disappointed that he didn’t get called up to RAW or SmackDown in the draft:
“No sad feelings. At the end of the day when you’re thinking about a draft, you’re thinking about getting the very best that there is to offer, so it was a little surprising that a couple of names weren’t mentioned. I’m not saying that those guys aren’t great talents and those girls aren’t great talents because they are and they deserve that main roster. But I think I have unfinished business here and I think that I’m totally okay with holding it down in NXT. This is what I asked for. This is what I wanted. I wanted to be the face of the brand and I wanted to be the champion and defend this championship and take it to newer heights and newer levels. This was kind right on pace for me. Moving up to the main roster, it’s a goal of mine, obviously, but you know, it’s not going anywhere and I’m only going to be better. Having these defenses are only going to make me sharper, are only going to make me better, so I’m looking forward to when the time comes, but right now I’m doing my thing.”
On who he would like to face besides Bron Breakker:
“It’s Dragon Lee for me. He’s great, he’s fantastic, and I’m a fan of his work. I think he’s somebody that I like to get in the ring with. I think I’d have great chemistry with him. I think that he would push me to my limit, and being the NXT Champion, that’s kind of what I wanted out of this. I just wanted the very best of the best, and I consider him one of the, there’s many guys, but he’s somebody that I look at and consider probably one of the best of the best that we have.”
Here is the card for NXT Battleground:
- Carmelo Hayes (Champion) (with Trick Williams) vs. Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship
- Roxanne Perez or Tiffany Stratton vs. Cora Jade or Lyra Valkyria in the Tournament final for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship
- Noam Dar (Champion) vs. Dragon Lee in a British Rounds Rules match for the NXT Heritage Cup
- Wes Lee (Champion) vs. Tyler Bate vs. Joe Gacy in a Triple threat match for the NXT North American Championship
- Ilja Dragunov vs. Dijak in a Last Man Standing match
These two can't stand each other!
It's going to be an absolute war at #NXTBattleground! 👊👊👊@Carmelo_WWE @bronbreakkerwwe #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/BLT4CWnnU9
— WWE (@WWE) May 17, 2023
This interview is exclusive to WrestlingNews.co. If you use these quotes, please include a link back to this page.
