Carmelo Hayes Made Himself Take a Moment After NXT Title Win Over WrestleMania Weekend

Carmelo Hayes won the NXT Championship over Bron Breakker at NXT Stand & Deliver over WrestleMania 39 weekend, and he talked about the experience of winning the title on such a grand stage. Hayes appeared on WWE After the Bell and talked about the title win and how he felt going into the weekend. You can check out a couple of highlights below:

On winning the NXT Championship during WrestleMania weekend: “Yeah, when I was doing media that whole week leading up to that, it was just getting realer. The more I was talking about it, it was just getting realer and realer. It was almost like, ‘My God, don’t psych myself out.’ Because everyone just put it like that. ‘Man, main event, kicking off WrestleMania weekend, sold-out Crypto.’ I’m like, ‘OIh man, you guys, I wasn’t thinking about all this.’

“But no, I just felt ready. I think that was the biggest thing going into it. I didn’t feel like the moment was bigger than me. I didn’t didn’t allow it to kinda, you know — I took that pressure with ease, I think. And I was actually very impressed with how well I adapted into that.”

On taking in the moment: “The moment was great. Really, it was one of those things where you always say, ‘I need to stop and take this in.’ I did, I actually did. So I remember thinking to myself, ‘Wait, wait, hold on. Just hold it right here look. And breath this in, because you don’t get a lot of firsts like that, a lot of people don’t ever get to experience that. So it was just a freaking beautiful moment.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE’s After the Bell with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.