Carmelo Hayes Considers Himself Ready For WWE’s Main Roster

In a recent interview with Pwinsider, former WWE NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes discussed his time with the black-and-gold brand and his belief that he is ready to transition to the main roster.

Hayes will challenge Ilja Dragunov for the NXT Championship tomorrow at NXT Halloween Havoc (Night Two).

You can check out some highlights from the interview below:

On his match with Ilja Dragunov at Halloween Havoc: “If you watched the first few matches with Ilja and I, you know you’re going to see something very physical. I have more to lose in this mess than ever. How can I be Him if I’m not NXT Champion? So, my motivation is so much stronger than it’s ever been. And I need to, you know, I need to solidify myself as Him and I need to win back the NXT Championship, otherwise what is my purpose?”

On his first NXT title win: “In the lead up to winning that title, it was kind of like it was the last milestone that I need to accomplish. Winning that NXT Title. Once I won that title, it was okay being the successful defender of the title. Take no prisoners and beat everybody. At that point, there was really nobody to beat, then [Ilja] Dragunov came along. It became ‘Oh, man, I got my hands full.’ When people come at you and you’re defending the title, they come at you at their very best. When you’re defending the title multiple times, you might not be at your very best, but everybody’s always at their best when they’re trying to win titles. So that was something that I learned [during the title run.] I had to turn it up on my end, because I knew Dragunov was going to come at me at 100%, even if I wasn’t 100%. Most importantly, if I’m gonna call myself Him, and I’m going to be the man, then you’re going to have to show for it and it’s having that NXT Title.”

On his time in NXT: “I feel very satisfied with everything I’ve done in NXT. I feel like I’ve helped build the brand back up. I feel like I’ve been a cornerstone to the success of NXT 2.0. I feel very satisfied. I feel like I’ve accomplished everything there is to accomplish there. You know my relationships that I’ve built there, everything that you know, I’m willing to give back if I need to get back in. The next step for me is whenever they’re ready to let me go, I’m ready to take that next step.”

On being accused of attacking Trick Williams: “I mean, it’s just crazy that there’s no evidence and people want to point fingers. That’s really the craziest thing to me. I could see if there was a little bit of evidence, and I was looking a little guilty. I mean, he wanted the NXT Championship, you know, I want the NXT Championship, but I think it’s a crazy accusation to say that I would attack him to get the NXT Championship, you know what I mean? There’s other ways to go around that. A simple conversation probably would have worked. To attack him is a crazy accusation….”

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