Carmelo Hayes talks about Shawn Michaels reigning him in.
Since the NXT rebrand back in 2021, Carmelo Hayes has been one of the most successful superstars on the entire brand. In a little over a year, Hayes has notched two reigns with the NXT North American Championship, both of which lasted over 100 days. Hayes has also been involved in quite a few notable matches outside of his two championship reigns.
Back in October, Hayes made a comment about how Shawn Michaels has to sometimes reign him in to prevent him from making the same mistakes that Shawn did back in the day. In a new exclusive interview with Fightful, Hayes shed some light on some of the things Michaels reigns him in on.
"It’s mainly things that I say. I like to say a lot of cultural references, and I think what it comes down to is the disconnect between our generations. He’s in his 50's, there are a lot of things that I want to say that kids are saying and people my age are saying, and he doesn’t understand what it means. I think his big thing, being in the position that he’s in, he doesn’t want me to say anything that is disrespectful or anything that might come off the wrong way. You also have to remember, we have sponsors and are on USA, I don’t want to ever make the brand look bad so I can get in a cool bar. Him and I will collab on a lot of things. ‘Hey Shawn, can I wear this t-shirt?’ ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Can I say this?’ ‘What does it mean?’"
Hayes went on and further explained this notion, saying that Michaels told him that he wished he had someone to reign him in when he was 28.
"Shawn is a different man now. His big thing with me is ‘do as I say, not as I do.’ There’s a lot of things that he did and he’s like, ‘Yeah, that was the old me. Knowing what I know now, if I could tell myself now,’ he sees a lot of himself in me in a lot of ways, attitude-wise and stuff. He tries to prevent me from, not making a mistake, because it’s not a mistake, but almost like, ‘Hey, if I could have someone reign me in when I was 28, I would have done that.’ There’s a lot of times where he has to do that."
Hayes also revealed that sometimes he has to step back and realize that he works with one of the most decorated professional wrestlers of all time.
"I don’t want to say I feel pressure, at the end of the day, I’m doing what I’m doing. I’m not changing anything up, I’m doing the formula that I’ve stuck to and it works for me, but I don’t take it lightly and I do take it as a responsibility. It’s Shawn Michaels. We’re around him so often and sometimes I have to step out of my shoes and realize ‘that’s the Heartbreak Kid. That’s Mr. WrestleMania.’ For him to say those type of things, it makes me want to work harder and motivates me and makes me realize that I can’t let him down. I can’t let him down. That keeps me on my toes for sure."
Carmelo Hayes is set to compete in the Men's Iron Survivor Match at NXT Deadline on Saturday, December 10. To see Deadline's full card, click here.
Elsewhere in the interview, Hayes discussed Solo Sikoa's recent NXT North American Championship win. To learn more, click here.
