After losing the NXT North American Championship, a social media post led to speculation that Carmelo Hayes might be leaving NXT altogether.
Though he briefly lost the title to Cameron Grimes, Carmelo Hayes reigned atop NXT as the North American Champion for the better part of a year, with his two reigns totaling 271 days.
Ahead of the September 13th episode, WWE put out a poll to let viewers choose Hayes’ next challenger who would face him on that episode. Given the choice between Von Wagner, Joe Gacy, and Wes Lee, the audience chose for Wes Lee to get another shot at championship gold after having to relinquish the NXT Tag Team Championship earlier this year.
However, when the result of the poll was revealed, Hayes and Trick Williams sought to make sure that Lee didn’t make it to the main event of the show and attacked him backstage, slamming his head in a locker.
However, the pair were shocked by the arrival of Solo Sikoa ahead of the main event, and even more shocked when Sikoa managed to defeat Hayes and become the new NXT North American Champion. Because he joined his brothers The Usos and his cousin Roman Reigns in the Bloodline at Clash at the Castle, it was believed that Sikoa was gone from NXT, but this clearly wasn’t the case.
Taking to social media after losing the championship he’d held for so long, Carmelo Hayes fueled speculation that he might be leaving NXT altogether as he posted an image of him giving a peace sign, an indication that he could be saying goodbye.
— Carmelo Hayes (@Carmelo_WWE) September 14, 2022
It remains to be seen whether Carmelo Hayes is bound for WWE’s main roster following his loss, and what this could mean for his tag team partner Trick Williams.
Elsewhere on the September 13th episode of NXT 2.0, Pretty Deadly retained the NXT Tag Team Championships against the Creed Brothers, and security guard Hank Williams made his in-ring debut, scoring a shock victory over Javier Bernal.