Just passing his fifth yr anniversary since joining WWE on February 12, 2021, it seems that way before Carmelo Hayes proved to be an alpha who doesn’t miss the shots he takes, WWE Hall of Famer and showrunner of “WWE NXT,” Shawn Michaels, knew he had acquired gold in “HIM.” In an interview with “Beyond The Bell” podcast, the present and aerodynamic WWE Men’s United States Champion described what an asset it’s to have Michaels in his corner, and the way he received that notoriety from “The Heartbreak Kid.”
“Shawn’s the one which took a probability on me,” the previous NXT Champion said. “I’ll always remember the primary time we had these little matches in front of the PC where I just got to WWE, and I used to be still, like, indie, you understand? And Shawn…I always remember, he was sitting there. It was the primary time we performed in front of Shawn, and I had never really even talked to him or nothing. He’s sitting there, he’s watching, and I suppose he says to anyone like, ‘Oh, we got a few winners here…’ So then, he goes to Hunter and was like, ‘Hey. You gotta watch this kid.'”
Later in his interview, Hayes recounted his first skilled conversation he had with Michaels, which was in an unlikely place.
“He put me in a match against Kushida for the Cruiserweight Title, for my debut…I get to the back, Shawn’s coming out, and I hadn’t really talked to Shawn for real. He’s coming out of the toilet, and I bumped into him,” he recalled. “He’s like, ‘Oh, you understand, I just need to say good job. You will have, I do not know, whatever they call it…’It.’ I told him straight up, ‘Look, I don’t need to be one in every of these ‘205 Live’ guys. I need to be a foremost eventer here…’ and he said, ‘I see that for you, too.'”
And as history showed, it was that incontestable sparkle that caught Michaels’ eye, which led Hayes down a first-ever feat in “NXT,” as he became the one star in company history to have carried the now defunct Cruiserweight, Men’s North American (two times) and NXT Championship. Even though it was on a tape delay, Hayes received what some might call the very best unwrapped present under the WWE tree, when he went bell-to-bell with Ilja Dragunov and toppled the previous champion from his United States Title reign this past December.
In case you use any of the quotes in this text, please credit “Beyond The Bell Podcast,” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.