Carmelo Hayes Remains Upbeat Despite WWE Raw Debut Loss

By Sai Mohan
Caremlo Hayes smiling WWE

Carmelo Hayes is not disheartened by his loss to Finn Balor on last night's "WWE Raw," where the "WWE NXT" Champion officially made his main roster debut. In a match that went on for nearly ten minutes, Hayes got in plenty of offense and seemed to gain the advantage when he hit a springboard diving DDT for a near fall. 

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Just as Hayes prepared to launch an aerial assault, the veteran savvy of Balor came shining through as The Judgment Day slid out of the ring and then blocked a kick from Hayes to deliver a gutbuster. The sequence allowed Balor to finish off Hayes with a Woo Dropkick followed by a Coup de Grace. 

After "Raw" went off the air, Hayes reflected on his WWE main roster debut, admitting that he felt no shame in losing to one of the best wrestlers on the planet.

"If I gotta take a loss to one of the best in the world, I can accept that," Hayes said. "But, listen, the important thing is tomorrow night against Baron Corbin, for the NXT Championship, I am not 100 percent, but I believe I can beat Baron at 75 percent, at 50 percent, [or] at 25 percent. I know he's gonna put up a great fight, but I'm ready, man." 

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"I might take a loss, but I look in the mirror and I'm still Carmelo Hayes. That's a W."

While the bout on Monday's "Raw" marked Hayes' first main roster appearance, the young superstar wrestled a few matches on "WWE Main Event" earlier this year and a dark match before "WWE SmackDown" in 2022. Prior to April's WWE Draft, there was chatter of Hayes getting called up, but that was obviously not to be. Instead, the likes of Grayson Waller, Zoey Stark, and Cameron Grimes, among several others, got the call-up. 

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