Carmelo Hayes Is Not H1M

There’s a longstanding history in wrestling of the best laid plans not working out as intended. Think about Lex Luger’s main event push in 1993 that was supposed to culminate in him overcoming the odds at WrestleMania X. Or Vader’s planned trilogy with Shawn Michaels a few years later. There also were Randy Orton’s babyface push in 2004, Batista’s comeback in 2014, or John Cena’s heel turn just this year. All classic ideas on paper but, for one reason or another, they all fell apart. And that’s just examples from WWE.

Another example, on a much smaller scale, is Carmelo Hayes.

WWE presented Hayes as a generational talent and a future megastar pretty much since his first NXT appearance. From day one, WWE told us that he was a future player. Sure enough, his partnership with Trick Williams elevated him to the NXT main event and eventually catapulted him (or H1M) into the WWE main roster where he debuted as part of the 2024 draft. He was SmackDown’s third overall pick, ahead of names like Randy Orton, LA Knight, or AJ Styles. It certainly seemed like WWE had big plans.

But then reality hit.

Carmelo has not really been featured at all since debuting on the main roster. A brief rivalry with Andrade was the most notable use of the former NXT champion up until a few weeks ago.

To be fair, the fact that his run has fallen flat so far is not completely Hayes’ fault. Carmelo is certainly a great athlete and he can work the modern style of wrestling. His interviews need work but he’s still young. There are plenty of other wrestlers that took a little while to get better on the microphone. A certain Shawn Michaels comes to mind.

However, there is an apparent disconnect between his persona – or gimmick, if you will – and what comes across on television. Hayes’ persona is that of the great athlete, the great in-ring performer with the bright future. He is H1M, the One, the next top prospect and mega superstar.

The reality, however, is that he is one among many. There is nothing Hayes has or does that makes him stand out from the pack. Even worse: there are several other NXT call-ups that have overtaken him. Bron Breakker has the intensity and athleticism, along with the pedigree to headline WrestleMania in the next 2-3 years. Tiffany Stratton and Iyo Sky have won over the fans through their in-ring work and unique personalities and quirks. Ilja Dragunov has the underdog spirit and intensity (though he has been sidelined by injuries a lot). One could argue that even Joe Gacy and JD McDonaugh have at least found a place on the roster where they fit in. They are not claiming to be anybody they are not: their ceiling is clear and they are presented in that way.

None of these cases suffer from a disconnect between expectation and presentation like Carmelo Hayes does.

The latest effort by WWE has been to put Carmelo in a tag team with The Miz. Unfortunately, all it has really done is given The Miz the first real spotlight in two years. Next to The Miz, Carmelo comes across as bland and, in the worst sense, Indy.

Just to reiterate: Carmelo Hayes is talented between the ropes, and he is certainly young enough to reinvent himself. There may even be an argument to be made to reunite him with Trick Williams in TNA. But there needs to be a change in his presentation. He needs seasoning and, ideally, he needs it outside WWE. It worked for Drew McIntyre. It worked for Cody Rhodes. It can work for Carmelo Hayes.

Because right now he is many things, but he is not H1M.