On last week’s episode of SmackDown, Carmelo Hayes was drafted to the blue brand as part of the 2024 WWE Draft.
Hayes battled Cody Rhodes in a losing effort in the main event of the show.
During a recent appearance on WWE’s “The Bump,” Hayes hyped up his main roster arrival and addressed his performance against Rhodes.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On being beyond dream matches: “I’m so far past dream matches and fantasy matches. I think now that I’m on SmackDown, I’m everybody’s fantasy match, and I’m everybody’s dream match. They should be wanting to get into the ring with me. I just wrestled Cody Rhodes, the WWE Champion. If that doesn’t put me at the top of the pecking order, I don’t know what does.”
On holding his own against Cody Rhodes: “It’s from delivering. All the times that I’ve delivered, all the times that I’ve been put in a high-pressure situation and I’ve delivered, things like that. I know that going against Cody Rhodes was shooting from the logo, but I had no doubt in my mind that, match my skills up against his skills, I might not be WWE Champion, but I believe him and I skill-wise are similar. I do have a lot more I need to learn, but hey, I can get in the ring with Cody Rhodes, and I can get down to the wire. He just barely beat me. He didn’t beat me by a landslide. I hung until the final rounds, the championship rounds with Cody Rhodes. I think that says more about me than people expect.”
On last week’s episode of SmackDown, Carmelo Hayes was drafted to the blue brand as part of the 2024 WWE Draft.
Hayes battled Cody Rhodes in a losing effort in the main event of the show.
During a recent appearance on WWE’s “The Bump,” Hayes hyped up his main roster arrival and addressed his performance against Rhodes.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On being beyond dream matches: “I’m so far past dream matches and fantasy matches. I think now that I’m on SmackDown, I’m everybody’s fantasy match, and I’m everybody’s dream match. They should be wanting to get into the ring with me. I just wrestled Cody Rhodes, the WWE Champion. If that doesn’t put me at the top of the pecking order, I don’t know what does.”
On holding his own against Cody Rhodes: “It’s from delivering. All the times that I’ve delivered, all the times that I’ve been put in a high-pressure situation and I’ve delivered, things like that. I know that going against Cody Rhodes was shooting from the logo, but I had no doubt in my mind that, match my skills up against his skills, I might not be WWE Champion, but I believe him and I skill-wise are similar. I do have a lot more I need to learn, but hey, I can get in the ring with Cody Rhodes, and I can get down to the wire. He just barely beat me. He didn’t beat me by a landslide. I hung until the final rounds, the championship rounds with Cody Rhodes. I think that says more about me than people expect.”