NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes Appears On SmackDown

There was a surprising cameo on SmackDown this week as the NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes, accompanied by Trick Williams, made an appearance on the blue brand.

The pair were situated ringside during the Money in the Bank qualifier between the Brawling Brutes’ Butch and Baron Corbin, watching on. This comes in response to Corbin attacking Hayes two weeks ago on an episode of NXT, utilising his free agent status by appearing on the developmental brand.

Hayes got some manner of revenge for the attack as he made his presence known during this Money in the Bank qualifier by distracting Corbin and helping Butch get a big win. Hayes and Williams ambushed Corbin afterwards, but they were separated by security. This all looks to be setting up an NXT Championship match between the pair. This also comes after Nick Khan’s comments this past week wherein he said the goal is for NXT to stand out as its own brand, meaning that this NXT incorporation onto main roster programming and vice versa is no coincidence.