Carmelo Hayes Reacts To Not Being Called Up In The WWE Draft

While many NXT standouts like Cameron Grimes, Indi Hartwell, and Pretty Deadly received the call to join the "Raw" and "Smackdown" rosters during the 2023 WWE Draft, one name that remained on the black and gold brand was Carmelo Hayes. 

Many members of the WWE Universe proudly proclaim that Hayes is a big star and would argue that he's ready for a bigger stage. However, the reigning NXT Champion is perfectly happy with where he's at in his career right now.

On "Cheap Heat," Hayes shared that he's completely fine with the fact that he wasn't drafted this year. Considering that he had just defeated Bron Breakker for his title at NXT Stand & Deliver a few weeks prior, "The A Champ" wants to have a memorable reign before getting called up to the big game.

"It didn't bother me one way or another," Hayes said. "Obviously, we all want to go, we all want to move up and be able to experience main roster and that grind and everything, but I had just been focused on everything I was doing now ... My time is my time, and when my time comes, that's when I'll go. I'm trying to do the best I can possibly do down here in NXT before I leave, leave a legacy, have a couple of banger title defenses, and just go out on top. It would have been too early for me to get pulled up at that point, I think."

While he's been keeping tabs on Dominik Mysterio and The Bloodline, he would love to face legends he grew up watching like Edge, Rey Mysterio, and MVP. But Hayes said that his dream match would be against fellow Massachusetts native John Cena, at WrestleMania.