Carmelo Hayes Retains US Title Against Rey Fenix On WWE Smackdown

Carmelo Hayes is still your WWE United States Champion, defeating Rey Fenix in his latest open challenge on this week’s WWE Smackdown. Friday night’s episode of Smackdown in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia saw Hayes come out for his latest open challenge. He found himself answered by Fenix, who came down to the ring for a match that went a little over 14 and a half minutes.

Fenix was in control for the first part of the match, but Hayes was able to battle back. The two went back and forth a bit until the end of the match. Fenix hit a Fire Stomp and a moonsault but Hayes was able to kick out. Fenix countered a Black Crush but got hit with a Fade Away DDT for a nearfall. After a couple more exchanges, Hayes was able to hit the First 48 and then went up top for Nothing But Net to get the pinfall victory.

Hayes has now defended the United States Championship five times since he captured the title, with his title reign standing at 36 days. He won the championship from Ilja Dragunov on the December 19th episode of WWE Smackdown. You can see highlights from tonight’s WWE Smackdown match below:

.@Carmelo_WWE is on another level! 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/v5fQqi9DWy

— WWE (@WWE) January 31, 2026

Double KO! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/VoLMwMue1B

— USA Network (@USANetwork) January 31, 2026

Another banger from @Carmelo_WWE! Who's next? #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/K7PqECoEKR

— USA Network (@USANetwork) January 31, 2026