Carmelo Hayes shares stark reminder amid WWE absence

After being absent from last week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, Carmelo Hayes has shared a stark reminder about what he is capable of via a social media update. The former NXT star’s run on the main roster has been rather subdued.

The 30-year-old hasn’t been involved in a substantial storyline despite winning this year’s André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. After confronting Damian Priest backstage during the June 27 edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Hayes was nowhere to be seen last week.

Carmelo Hayes took to Instagram stories to share a user’s post about his successful outings at two different editions of The Great American Bash. In 2022, he defended the NXT North American Championship against Grayson Waller. The following year at the event, he defeated Ilja Dragunov to retain the NXT Championship. He added a simple yet powerful message with the post.

“Never forget who I am,” he wrote.

Here is a screenshot of the Instagram story:

WWE Superstar Carmelo Hayes opens up about his finisher

In an interview with No Holds Barred earlier this year, Carmelo Hayes spoke about his finisher, Nothing But Net. The SmackDown star has been using the leg drop from the top rope for some time now.

Hayes noted that he had perfected the move, and it does not take a toll on him, contrary to the general belief. However, the 2025 André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner added that since he could perform a large number of moves, he was looking for a new finisher.

“People think it takes more out of me than it really does. I’ve perfected it. I understand exactly where I need to land so [that] I’m not taking the brunt of it. I understand how far I need… You know what I mean? I can hit it at any point. I’ve done it over a hundred times. So I mean, that’s kind of what I’m going with. Now, I am playing with finding a different finish. Because I have a deep moveset that I can throw in there here and there. So, I’m looking into something else possibly,” he said.

Check out his comments in the video below:

No Holds Barred: WWE Superstar Carmelo Hayes

Carmelo has yet to win a match since winning the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. It remains to be seen what plans WWE has in store for the 30-year-old.

About the author

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alt=”Ankit Verma” height=”72″ width=”72″>

Ankit Verma is a WWE news writer with over four years of experience in the writing field. He graduated with a Master’s degree in Physical Sciences, but his love and passion for writing and pro wrestling led him to create content about it.

He writes his articles putting himself in the readers’ shoes, making sure it’s as simply written, informative, and straight to the point as possible while being devoid of opinion. Ankit strives to present accurate information by ensuring the source is credible and cross-checking all facts and figures.

Ankit would have liked to have managed Kane during The Attitude Era, helping to take the Big Red Monster to greater heights than his brother/rival, The Undertaker. His favorite pro wrestler of all time is AJ Styles.

When Ankit is not writing for Sportskeeda, he enjoys spending his time studying astronomy and playing cricket.

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