WWE NXT 2.0 North American Champion Carmelo Hayes was recently interviewed on Busted Open Radio as he spoke about working with Shawn Michaels behind the scenes in NXT and “HBK” trusting him with his gimmick and promos, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
Carmelo Hayes on working from bullet points for his promos: “Still using bullet points, but I’m big on trying to say stuff that I would truly say. So, a lot of the stuff that you hear is 100% from me with their direction. I’ve been lucky enough to where they’ve trusted me to say what I want. That’s really the direction they’re going now, truly. They are trusting guys and giving guys, especially in NXT 2.0, they’re trusting guys to say what we would say because we’re trying to reach a different demographic now. They can’t really tell us…Shawn [Michaels] has said to me straight up, ‘I don’t know what cool is, so I trust you to tell me what cool is.’ That’s the biggest thing that I’ve been able to take away from that. I said, ‘Okay, trust me, I’ll do my part to reach that demographic.’”
On what he was told about NXT 2.0 trying to reach a different demographic: “It was told, ‘Hey, we’re trying to reach a new audience here. This is fresher, younger, brighter.’ Everyone knows that now and seeing what we’re watching now. A lot more focus on characters, less on wrestling, and that’s perfect for somebody like me, that’s what I want to do. If I can be the leader of that and at the forefront of that, then put me in coach. I want to help get that.”
