New United States Champion Crowned On WWE Smackdown

We have a new WWE United States Champion in Carmelo Hayes, who captured the title on this week’s episode of WWE Smackdown. Hayes defeated Ilja Dragunov on Friday’s show to capture the title, his first on the WWE main roster.

The match was set up earlier in the night when Dragunov approached Hayes and said that he was frustrated with how their first title match went down. Dragunov retained the title on the December 5th episode when Tommaso Ciampa got involved without the champion being aware. Hayes agreed and they set a rematch for later in the show.

The match between the two went almost 21 minutes, with the two going back and forth. Hayes eventually took control and hit Nothing But Net for the pinfall victory. After the match, Dragunov put the title around Hayes’ waist in a show of respect.

Hayes is a former NXT Champion and two-time former NXT North American Champion. He ends Dragunov’s reign at 63 days. Dragunov defeated Sami Zayn for the title on the October 17th episode of Smackdown. You can see a clip from the match below:

HE DID IT!!!! @Carmelo_WWE beat @UNBESIEGBAR_ZAR for the United States Championship!! 👏 pic.twitter.com/n56mC6xVzE

— WWE (@WWE) December 27, 2025