Carmelo Hayes has been blessed with many amazing moments so far in WWE. WWE NXT’s big head-to-head episode against AEW Dynamite certainly stands out as a huge moment in his career, because The Undertaker put him over in a big way, especially after the show was over.
The Undertaker, John Cena, Cody Rhodes, and other stars made appearances on the October 10 episode of WWE NXT. In the closing moments of the show, The Undertaker performed a chokeslam on Bron Breakker and shared an embrace with Hayes. Following the conclusion of NXT, Hayes and The Undertaker raised their arms together while walking backstage.
While speaking to the Black Rasslin’ Podcast, Carmelo Hayes was asked about the star-studded show and his off-air moment with The Undertaker. He said that it was a crazy experience, and it also took a few days to set in that it actually happened.
“It’s crazy. In the beginning, I’ve been around ‘Taker, I’ve been around Cena. I’ve been fortunate enough to have an hour conversation with Undertaker, an hour conversation with Cena before. So luckily, I wasn’t unfamiliar with these guys. But just being around them is always cool. You’d be surprised at how chill and laid back they really are. This was a day off, and they were kind of just chilling. You could see, they were so happy to be around the youth of it all. The coolest thing was probably seeing all of them interact, like Shawn and ‘Taker and John and Paul. Just seeming them all interact, I was just like kids, like this is freaking cool. But again, it was just business, and we was pros, and we had to handle it like that. Obviously, we had to let to let our inner human being kind of hold that down for a little bit.”
Carmelo Hayes reminisced about his unexpected encounter with The Undertaker, emphasizing his surprise at the occurrence. According to Hayes, he was heading backstage alongside the legendary WWE Hall of Famer, unaware of what was about to unfold. He recounted the moment when The Undertaker instructed him to raise his arm. Once they had returned backstage, Hayes admitted that his excitement had surged, especially after receiving a friendly pat on the back from The Undertaker.
“I remember doing the whole thing with Taker, I didn’t know that was going to happen. I was just following him back. I didn’t know what we were doing. I’m just standing there like, ‘Undertaker,’ and we’re off-air, and I’m just kind of following him around like a lost puppy. Then he’s telling me, ‘Wait.’ I go, ‘Oh shoot.’ He’s like, ‘Alright, on three, turn back.’ I’m thinking, okay. Turn back. ‘Alright, back.’ Turn back. ‘Alright. When the music drops. Throw up the arm.’ I was like, ‘Oh sh*t.’ One, two, three, boom. Then he’s like, ‘Alright, let’s go.’ I got to the back, I was like, ‘That was so freaking cool.’ He just patted me on the back. That’s where I finally let go of all that professionalism and allowed myself to really take it in. It took me three or four days to really soak all that in. That was just amazing. But we gotta do a TV next Tuesday, so I’ll leave that be where that was and focus on what’s next.”
Carmelo Hayes has a chance to get the NXT Title back from Ilja Dragunov at NXT Halloween Havoc Night 2. Only time will tell how that turns out, but he certainly has experienced a ton of great things in NXT already.
What’s your take on Carmelo Hayes and The Undertaker’s big moment? Let us know what you think about it in the comments section!