Carmelo Hayes learned a lot from Shawn Michaels during his time in WWE NXT.
WWE Superstar Carmelo Hayes recently spoke with Steven Muelhausen of Sports Illustrated. When asked what he learned from Shawn Michaels during his time in NXT, Hayes revealed a key piece of advice that Michaels gave him early in his WWE career.
“Yeah. He told me straight up. He said, ‘Look, because of your size, you can never take a day off. You have to be a little bit better at everything. You have to be,’” Carmelo Hayes said. “I know I have a lot to work on, I won’t come in here and say, ‘I’m the top-notch.’ I still have a lot to work on. I’m just getting to work with the guys at the highest levels, like Randy, Cody, and even Andrade. Andrade is great.
“I’ve learned from working with Andrade, but there’s still more I have to learn. A lot of my mindset is from Shawn. I always tell this analogy. He said, ‘You guys want to put your roof on so quickly without building the foundation, like the bricks and stuff.’ I always think about that. I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m still laying down the bricks. Why am I worried about putting up windows when the bricks aren’t laid?
“Everybody wants the freaking roof and a chimney and start decorating the outside and painting the outside of the house when there’s no foundation.’ This is a period of building my foundation on SmackDown, and then, eventually, we’ll get to that point. We’ll put up a door. We’ll put in some windows, and then we’ll start working on a roof, and then we’ll have a storied career.”
READ MORE: Carmelo Hayes: Winning WWE United States Title Is My Destiny
What do you make of Carmelo Hayes’ comments? Do you think Shawn Michaels’ advice helped prepare Melo for the main roster? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
