Carmelo Hayes scored a major win at NXT Vengeance Day, but he wasn’t entirely satisfied after the match.
Hayes has been feuding with Apollo Crews in recent weeks. He previously defeated Crews in a singles match, but the former WWE Intercontinental Champion later pinned him in a tag team bout. The two foes clashed in a Two-Out-of-Three-Falls Match at NXT Vengeance Day, and Hayes emerged victorious. Still, Hayes felt like he could have done better.
During an appearance on Busted Open, Hayes reflected on the match and noted that it was a great experience, but there were plenty of things he could have done differently. He noted that they were under a lot of pressure, and he hoped they met the expectations.
“The experience was great,” Hayes said. “I still feel like — I mean, maybe I’m a perfectionist in my work, but I do feel like there was a lot of things that I could have been different and I could have done better. But I mean, the experience was great. I just think, like the connection, I felt with the crowd, there’s certain things that I could have done different, I think, or I could have done better.
“So that was my takeaway from it, but I’m glad that it was received well, and there was a lot of pressure going into it because Shawn had said this was going to steal the show. So, the expectations are already very high. So I’m just hoping that we met his expectations.”
To elaborate, Hayes named the number one thing he wished he could have done better in the match, as he described how he wished they put the stipulation over more effectively. Overall, he stated that he was happy with the match, and he knows they both worked hard. Going forward, he made it clear that he’s ready to one-up the match.
“I feel like we could have put the stipulation of the match over better,” Hayes said. “I think an issue that in my mind was that a lot of people are so programmed to see one fall, one fall, go to a third. So I don’t know if there was something in between; I don’t think people were expecting I was gonna get the two falls as I’m listening to the crowd. I’m thinking that; I think they’re about ready for an Apollo fall at this point.
“I felt like there was down moments where they weren’t coming because they were like, ‘Okay, well, when is Apollo going to get his fall so we can really get cooking here?’ That’s just from a professional standpoint as being in there, being involved. But I was happy with it. Apollo and I, we worked hard, we definitely worked hard, and I thought all of our stuff was good. But you know, I’m ready to get back out and do it again and one up that.”
Hayes confronted NXT Champion Bron Breakker after he defeated Grayson Waller in a Steel Cage Match at the end of NXT Vengeance Day, seemingly setting the stage for a match between the two.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Busted Open Radio with a link back to this article for the transcription.
