Summary

Carmelo Hayes addressed his WWE United States Championship loss for the first time since dropping the title to Sami Zayn on the March 27 episode of SmackDown. Hayes said he is still processing the result, which came after Trick Williams accidentally struck him during the match.

Hayes also pushed back on online rumors about why the title changed hands, and said his planned wedding with Kelani Jordan is set for later in 2026. The comments add another layer to recent fallout, including Trick Williams publicly supporting Hayes after the loss.

Quote from Carmelo Hayes

"This is probably not the platform for that. I mean, we got SmackDown on Friday. I think that’ll be a more appropriate platform to kind of address what is going on. I mean, you know, I’m heartbroken that I’m not champ anymore. That was something that I took a lot of pride in. We’ll see what’s on the table for WrestleMania but, as far as that goes, I think SmackDown’s probably the appropriate platform for that… Please don’t believe everything you read on the internet, bro. Please don’t believe it."

Hayes later went on to say:

"There was definitely names. I wish I could have worked with a lot of people from Raw. I wish I could have worked with Kofi (Kingston). There’s guys high up that obviously, yeah… Kofi was one of ‘em. Rey Mysterio was another one of them. I think that was on the table at one point. Guys like that. There’s a ton of guys. I went out there every week, different styles, different companies, different opponent levels all over the place and I had to adjust and that was a great learning experience for me, that whole process. I don’t know how many weeks it was… Somebody said it was like three months, and it was like eight defenses or something like that so, I learned a lot from that, from that open challenge and I feel like I got so much better being a part of that."

What this means for Carmelo Hayes before WrestleMania 42

Hayes openly calling out how much the title run taught him puts his next SmackDown appearance under a brighter spotlight, because he has now framed this loss as both a setback and a reset ahead of WrestleMania season.

With Sami Zayn set to defend the U.S. Title against Trick Williams at WrestleMania 42, Hayes remains connected to that title picture even without the belt, especially after the accidental strike that helped decide the March 27 finish.

Sources

As reported by Fightful.