Carmelo Hayes Opens Up About Working With Shawn Michaels

Earlier this week, "NXT" star Carmelo Hayes spoke with Cameron Hawkins from The Ringer ahead of Saturday's "NXT" Halloween Havoc.

During the interview, Hayes spoke about working with WWE Hall of Famer and current Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels.

"You'd be surprised how often [Shawn] pulls me back," Melo says. "And there's times where I have to be like, 'Hey, don't forget who you were.' But he reminds me, like, 'Hey, don't do as I did. Do as I say.' And he reminds me [that it] was a different point in his life. And if he could go back, I'm sure he probably would change a lot of those things."

"[Shawn] told us, 'Hey, we need to get you guys doing something, but maybe we'll throw you guys in a barber shop or something like that.' OK, no problem. We get a couple of people, and we really just riff, man." "We just sit in the barber chair and we just talk how we would talk. And obviously, we still got to pull back on a lot of things that we would say we would do, but yeah, man. So smooth, man."

Hayes is one of the "NXT" stars that will be part of the 5-Man North American Championship Ladder Match at Halloween Havoc. Oro Mensah, Wes Lee, Von Wagner, and Nathan Frazer are also set to be in the match.

Hayes has been with WWE since February 2021. He made his "NXT" in-ring debut in June of that year after he answered former WWE Superstar Kushida's open challenge for the Cruiserweight Title.