Carmelo Hayes Says His Pose With Undertaker After Recent NXT Wasn’t Planned

Carmelo Hayes shared the Undertaker’s iconic pose following the star-packed episode of NXT earlier this month, and Hayes says the moment wasn’t planed. Hayes appeared on the Black Rasslin’ Podcast and during the conversation he talked about the moment, which saw him and the Dead Man raise their arms together as they walked to the back after the show had ended. You can check out the highlights below, per Fightful:

On being part of the star-heavy show: “It’s crazy. In the beginning, I’ve been around ‘Taker, I’ve been around Cena. I’ve been fortunate enough to have an hour conversation with Undertaker, an hour conversation with Cena before. So luckily, I wasn’t unfamiliar with these guys. But just being around them is always cool. You’d be surprised at how chill and laid back they really are. This was a day off, and they were kind of just chilling. You could see, they were so happy to be around the youth of it all. The coolest thing was probably seeing all of them interact, like Shawn and ‘Taker and John and Paul. Just seeming them all interact, I was just like kids, like this is freaking cool. But again, it was just business, and we was pros, and we had to handle it like that. Obviously, we had to let to let our inner human being kind of hold that down for a little bit”

On sharing that moment with the Undertaker: “I remember doing the whole thing with Taker, I didn’t know that was going to happen. I was just following him back. I didn’t know what we were doing. I’m just standing there like, ‘Undertaker,’ and we’re off-air, and I’m just kind of following him around like a lost puppy. Then he’s telling me, ‘Wait.’ I go, ‘Oh shoot.’ He’s like, ‘Alright, on three, turn back.’ I’m thinking, okay. Turn back. ‘Alright, back.’ Turn back. ‘Alright. When the music drops. Throw up the arm.’ I was like, ‘Oh shit.’ One, two, three, boom. Then he’s like, ‘Alright, let’s go.’ I got to the back, I was like, ‘That was so freaking cool.’ He just patted me on the back. That’s where I finally let go of all that professionalism and allowed myself to really take it in. It took me three or four days to really soak all that in. That was just amazing. But we gotta do a TV next Tuesday, so I’ll leave that be where that was and focus on what’s next.”