Over the past year, WWE has finally begun to focus on elevating it’s future stars, with reliable veterans being let go from the company to spotlight younger names.
One name that also seemed certain for success was Carmelo Hayes, who came up to the main roster in 2024 as one of the most decorated stars in the history of the NXT brand.
Fans continue to hope for more out of WWE’s booking of Melo, but as more time passes it’s becoming increasingly clear that WWE has forgotten about Carmelo Hayes.
First round draft pick to midcard obscurity
While he has been slotted at a midcard level for a long time now, it may be hard to recall that Hayes was initially slated to be one of the top stars of this era of NXT, with him being called up as part of the 2024 WWE Draft.
Hayes was a first round draft pick for the SmackDown brand, with him even facing off with WWE Champion Cody Rhodes on his first night on the roster.
Melo would then have a rather uneventful 2024 despite this, with the highlight being his best of seven series of matches with Andrade on the show, which itself went on to not have an actual conclusion to.
After an unpopular pairing with The Miz as ‘Melo Don’t Miz’, Hayes would finally catch on with the WWE fans in late 2025, with him the going on to become United States Champion on December 26, his first title on the main roster.
2026 seemed like it would be the breakout year for Melo, but WWE would go on to take the title off him just three weeks before WrestleMania 42, opting to leave him off the show entirely.
Then, as WWE was building towards SummerSlam, WWE again sidelined Melo, choosing to go with the returning Baron Corbin over him for the match with Trick Williams at the show instead of the big singles encounter between Trick and Melo that fans have been waiting for.
Can Carmelo Hayes re-enter future star talks?
Carmelo Hayes was unsuccessful at regaining his United States Championship from Baron Corbin in his hometown of Boston
Hayes has been off WWE television entirely since he lost to Baron Corbin in his hometown of Boston, with him confirmed to also not feature in this year’s Money In The Bank Ladder match.
With WWE currently grooming it’s next generation of future megastars, including names like Oba Femi, Bron Breakker, Je’von Evans and Jacob Fatu, Carmelo Hayes should be among those names, but it seems WWE is refusing to let him.
There are a number of ways to get Hayes back in the mix with the rest of the aforementioned names, the simplest being to simply reintroduce him to television and continue doing what he was doing before he was removed.
Now Trick Williams and Baron Corbin’s rivalry is over, hopefully now WWE can let Melo re-enter the title picture and finally deliver on the match between he and Trick.
A move to Monday Night Raw could also do Melo good, as he can face off against a number of new faces like Dragon Lee, Chad Gable, Penta and more.
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