Carmelo Hayes knows how important it is for him to have a great showing at NXT Battleground.
NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes was a recent guest on The Ten Count with Steve Fall to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about NXT Battleground coming to Lowel, Massachusetts, which is very close to his hometown, Hayes said it’s a homecoming feeling but a comfortable one.
“Yeah, I feel comfortable. I feel like I’ve been here before, so it’s like you’re not going to catch me out of my comfort zone,” Carmelo Hayes said. “Also, on top of that, I put in a lot of work here before I got signed to WWE. So you know there’s a fan base that’s here that has yet to see me as Carmelo Hayes, especially as NXT Champion. So it is a kind of homecoming feeling, a very comfortable feeling. But the big focus at hand is Bron Breakker still, and I won’t lose sight of that.”
When asked where he’d like to see NXT go, Hayes named locations such as Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
“Japan, Mexico, UK, anywhere overseas would be amazing just because we do have a market,” Carmelo Hayes said. “NXT does have a big market in the UK and overseas, and I get a lot of times when I do interviews with people from the UK, ‘Oh, we can’t wait to have you.’
“And you know, I don’t know if that’s going to be a main roster thing, but I’d love to be able to be the first to bring NXT — I’m not sure if they’ve done NXT at all ever out of America. But anywhere in Europe would be great. Like I said, even Japan would be so cool. Even if we were to piggyback off of a PLE of the main roster or something, that would be amazing.”
While the black and gold brand has ventured to Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan, the latest iteration of NXT has not, so it would be cool to see this brand spread its wings across the world.
If he can defeat Bron Breakker at Battleground, the NXT Champion has his sights set on international superstar Dragon Lee for a future title match down the line.
“For me, It’s Dragon Lee. He’s great. He’s fantastic. And I’m a fan of his work,” Carmelo Hayes said. “And I think he’s somebody that I’d like to get in the ring with. I think I’d have great chemistry with him. I think that he will push me to my limit. And being the NXT Champion, that’s kind of what I wanted out of this. I just wanted the very best of the best, and I consider him to be — there’s many guys, but you know, he’s somebody that I look and consider probably one of the best of the best that we have.”
READ MORE: Carmelo Hayes Aims To Bring Back ‘Black And Gold Era’ Style Wrestling To NXT
What do you make of Carmelo Hayes’ comments? Would you like to see a match between himself and Dragon Lee in the near future? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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