Carmelo Hayes Has Been Getting Advice From Former WWE Champions

Since moving to WWE's main roster in 2024, Carmelo Hayes has been fortunate to work with a number of in-ring veterans, many of whom are former world champions. According to Hayes, it's those figures that have also particularly helped him grow in WWE, where he now resides as the United States Champion.

During an interview with "Good Karma Wrestling," Hayes identified the names that have aided in his personal WWE journey so far. "It takes a village a lot of time with WWE. We're so grateful to the fact that we have so many legends and OGs still around," he said. "I got to give credit to Shawn Michaels, first and foremost. He was just one of those guys that believed in me from the jump. He was one of the first guys that put me in front of Triple H at the Performance Center just saying, 'Hey, look at this kid.' He's been a big help. But then guys now today, it's everybody up there, man. It's the Codys, it's the Randys, it's the Miz, even [Triple H]. Everybody, top to bottom, has just been so monumental in trying to help the youth. CM Punk, Seth [Rollins], all those guys."

In his initial run on the "WWE NXT" brand, Hayes soared under the direction of Triple H, then Shawn Michaels, the latter of whom has served as WWE's Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative since 2022. Now on WWE's main roster, Hayes takes creation instruction from Triple H, the Chief Content Officer. Through that, Hayes has personally wrestled some of the aforementioned veteran names on "WWE SmackDown," including Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, and The Miz.

In early 2025, Hayes and The Miz formed a tag team, known as Melo Don't Miz, with their first outing producing a victory on "SmackDown." When Hayes later attempted to pursue singles gold, however, The Miz turned on him.

Regardless of their on-screen beef, Hayes has nothing but praise for Miz behind-the-scenes. Hayes specifically called Miz a "necessary" person to have in WWE.

"I remember at one point, despite whatever we have going on storyline wise, I was like, 'Bro, just thank you for being here. I'm so happy that you're here' I just had to tell him that. I was like, 'I'm just so happy you're here, I'm here at the same time, and I'm getting to learn from you,'" Hayes recalled. "There's a lot of times where I was feeling low. I was like I don't know what's going on, and the only person that's ever been able to explain it to me is The Miz because he's been high, he's been low, he's been in the middle. He's done it so many times."

With his first-hand experience at all levels of WWE, The Miz has implored Hayes not to get frustrated by his low moments, but rather view them as learning opportunities. "He gave me some advice where he told me, 'Hey, when you're at the top, it's going to be easy because you figured out how to manage at the bottom,'" Hayes said. Furthermore, The Miz assured Hayes that everyone would get a chance to shine at the top of WWE at some point.

In his current reign as WWE United States Champion, Hayes has successfully defended his title against the likes of Ilja Dragunov, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Rey Fenix. Earlier this month, he also picked up a non-title win over The Miz.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Good Karma Wrestling" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.