During a recent appearance on “Busted Open Radio”, WWE NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes commented on his mindset in WWE, telling Shawn Michaels he wanted to be a top WWE Superstar, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On winning the NXT North American title and his mindset when he entered WWE: “This is something I’ve been preparing for. When I signed to WWE, I had the mindset of, ‘whatever comes, I’m going to make the most of it and take it.’ I had a conversation early on with Shawn about how I wanted to be a top guy eventually. He was like, ‘Alright, we’ll give you the ball and you can run with it and we’ll get you to where we need to get you.’”
On being unsure of his direction when he first joined the company: “When I first came in, we weren’t really sure if I was going to be babyface or heel. It was more or less, ‘see how they react to you in the match with Kushida.’ It took awhile, but I think after the Adam Cole match, I think people started to get more respect for me. Definitely after the NXT Breakout Tournament, I felt like I earned the respect of the crowd. I really didn’t play too much of a babyface or heel, I just went out and tried to be myself and that was something that resonated with the people and I hope that’s why they got behind me. It’s been pretty wild. They gave me the ball and I’ve just been trying to make plays every opportunity I got.”
On having a conversation with Shawn Michaels about wanting to be a top star in WWE: “The conversation happened where I explained to him, this was back in June with a lot of things going on with 205 Live and I really didn’t want to be a 205 Live guy, especially being smaller, just because I saw more for myself. Not saying anything is wrong with 205 Live, I just didn’t want to get pitched into that category. I spoke up and I truly believe that if you speak up, closed mouths don’t get fed. I spoke up the first opportunity I had and said, ‘Shawn, I see myself becoming a top guy. Help take me there.’ I think that gave him like the, ‘Okay, this kid is a little different.’ On top of that, my mindset is every time I go out, it’s WrestleMania, no matter what. I’m not just happy to be here. I truly want to be great. Through my work, actions, attitude, training at the PC and gym, I’m just working hard and I want to work harder than anybody else.”
