Carmelo Hayes was a guest on The Bump, reflecting on being drafted to the SmackDown and facing Cody Rhodes the same night.
On going toe to toe with the Undisputed WWE Champion on the 4/26 edition of SmackDown, Hayes said:
I’m feeling like I see what I could have did to beat Cody Rhodes after I watched the match back. There’s a couple of slip-ups that we could have fixed up, and I might have had him when I had him in that Crossrhodes. Then he tried to catch me with the Cody Cutter in mid-air, but he was just too slow, and I’m too fast.
The former NXT Champion would quickly turn his focus to the rest of the SmackDown roster, promising to prove his worth on the blue brand after a very productive run in NXT.
But all of that removed, I feel like I’m just so ready to put the rest of the SmackDown roster on notice. I’m so much hungrier than a lot of these guys. A lot of these guys have been up there for so long, they’ve been getting paid for so long they’re comfortable.
The one thing you can’t be around Carmelo Hayes is comfortable or complacent because I’m coming for it all, like I did in NXT. I took everything, and I plan to do the same thing on SmackDown.
In addition to winning the NXT Championship at NXT Stand & Deliver 2023, Hayes was the last-ever NXT Cruiserweight Champion, unifying the title with the NXT North American Championship when he defeated Roderick Strong on January 4, 2022.
Source: Fightful