Monday’s Money In the Bank go-home edition of WWE RAW saw WWE NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes make his red brand in-ring debut with a loss to Finn Balor. Earlier in the night, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins pointed to Hayes in the crowd and thanked him for having his back on last week’s NXT, right after the successful title defense over Bron Breakker. Balor ended up attacking again during Rollins’ RAW promo, but Hayes made the save for him a second time. This led to Hayes vs. Balor, and a solid video package on Hayes before the match.
A new report from insider Better Wrestling Experience notes that everyone was excited for Hayes before last night’s match. After the match, Hayes returned backstage and was met with an applause at the Gorilla Position.
It remains to be seen when Hayes will be called up to the main roster. While Monday’s RAW marked Hayes’ red brand in-ring debut, this was his fourth main roster match. He teamed with Trick Williams for a dark match loss to The Viking Raiders at the November 12, 2021 SmackDown, then defeated Cedric Alexander on the October 13, 2022 WWE Main Event episode, and defeated Akira Tozawa on the March 6 Main Event episode.
Hayes is set to defend the NXT Title against free agent Baron Corbin on tonight’s NXT Gold Rush Week 2 episode. As seen below, Hayes spoke with Byron Saxton for a post-RAW interview and said he’s not 100% going into tonight’s title defense. This could just be a storyline reference to the sneak attack by Corbin on the May 30 NXT, which kept him off TV for one week. Saxton asked about the loss to Balor.
“I can’t take away from Finn Balor and The Judgment Day,” Hayes said. “Finn is one of the best in the world… if I gotta take a loss from one of the best in the world, I can accept that. But listen – the important thing is tomorrow and Baron Corbin for the NXT Championship. I’m not 100% but I believe I can beat Baron at 75%, at 50%, at 25%. I know he’s going to put up a great fight, but I’m ready, man. I might have taken a loss but when I look in the mirror I’m still Carmelo Hayes and that’s a W.”
Below are related clips from last night’s RAW:
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