Top NXT Star Tells Shawn Michaels “We Need To Talk”

Carmelo Hayes seems unsure about his future.

The NXT Champion appeared throughout the night in backstage segments and did not appear his usual confident self. The August 29th show opened with a surprise return appearance from The Street Profits, who caught up with Hayes and the Tag Team Champion Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo. The Profits asked Melo what is next for the title, with the champ responding that he needed to erase the asterisk from his record before walking away.

The asterisk in question is Ilja Dragunov, who Hayes did defeat at The Great American Bash, but it was under controversial circumstances. The closing moments of the match saw Dragunov dive to the outside to take out Trick Williams but seemed to hit his head on the NXT Championship in the process. Hayes would capitalise on a stunned Dragunov to retain the title.

Still unsure of himself, Hayes confided in Trick Williams later in the show, who was defeated by Dragunov on the Heatwave special episode the week prior. Hayes asked Williams if he thought that he could beat Dragunov again, with Williams hesitantly saying he could. An irate Hayes stormed out before Williams finished his response, which was that he knew that Hayes could beat Draguov.

The final segment of the show saw Hayes enter Shawn Michaels’ office saying that they needed to talk as the show went off the air, seemingly setting up the rematch.

NXT Continues The Build To No Mercy

The Tuesday night brand will next host a Premium Live Event on September 30th, which will see the return of the No Mercy event. Providing Shawn Michaels makes the rematch official, expect this to be the location of Hayes vs. Dragunov II. Also on the show, Dominik Mysterio announced that he will be the special guest referee for a match between Mustafa Ali and Dragon Lee on September 5th. The winner of that match will face Dirty Dom for the North American Championship at No Mercy.