Summary

El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. answered Carmelo Hayes’ United States Championship open challenge on the March 6 episode of WWE SmackDown.

Before the match, Nick Aldis told Hayes backstage that an opponent had been selected for the open challenge, and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. then made his entrance.

Hayes retained the US title, and both wrestlers shared a moment of respect after the bout.

Carmelo Hayes retention keeps SmackDown US title run active after open challenge payoff

Carmelo Hayes retaining against El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. gave the open-challenge segment a clean in-ring payoff, because the mystery-opponent setup moved directly into a completed title defense on the same show.

El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. appearing as AAA Latin American Champion also gave Hayes’ defense cross-promotional flavor while keeping the WWE US title run intact.

For setup context from earlier in the week, see the initial open challenge announcement.